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It’s easy to think one team is better than the other based on team strength, past performance or just player experiences, some talk of the team gets lucky and so on. While it may be so for some players like Luka Modrick who have continued to displace grace in his performance with his club team as well as his national team. He has showed that he is the type of captain Croatia needs and the type of player that Real Madrid should be keeping very dearly!
We may want to say the same for the likes of Harry Kane, Leonel Messi who have been great performers for their clubs but no where to be seen for their national teams! Lest we forget all the pressure we gave to Mosallah! The guy can’t simply carry the pyramids by himself!
How about France and Croatia’s team journey back in time. France have beat Croatia 3 consecutive times. In 1998, 1999 and in 2000. France have been the World Cup champions (in 1998). They have been on the top 2 finishes 3 times which is 3 times more than Croatia.
This is already history for Croatia given that they are literary stepping foot into the World Cup finals for the first time ever.
If age had anything to do with the World Cup, thanks to the Telegraph UK, we can rank these two teams by their player ages. France with an average age of 26 have the youngest players after Nigeria (Average age of 25.9). Croatia have an average age of 27.9 ranks 15 out of the 32 teams. Argentina, Mexico, Costa Rica and Panama being the oldest of them all rank 29, 30, 31, and 32 consecutively.
Looking at the teams closely, France have 9 players in the home league compared to two from Croatia. France have 5 players in successful EPL teams compared to Croatia with only 1 player in the EPL team. Looking at the player value, France is winning given that most of their players are key players in the respective clubs. How does that compare to Croatia?
Another angle will be system of play. France will probably set up a 4-2-3-1 with Pogba and Ngolo holding CDM positions. This will defiantly be a hustle for Croatia to deal with. Before you give in, all through the World Cup, Croatia have shown they can continuously attack like Liverpool and cause France to break. Additionally, Croatia have shown that anyone in their team can score hence not relying on any particular player to score. This may pose a risk on France who have shown less of the same. They have displayed that their forwards can be shut down.
Again, this is purely speculation on given facts. We have seen how the games have been very unpredictable. To the France fans, they know deep down they can take on Croatia just as much as Croatia fans think they can take on France. Both teams definitely deserve to be in the finals but only one of them will be able to lift the trophy at the end of it all. Who do you think it will be?