When we think of the latest edition of the most important football review, the first thing that comes to mind is the absence of Italy in the 2018 World Cup history of Russia . The bitterness is still a lot because our national team has historically almost always been present, except on 3 occasions (1930, 1958 and 2018) and not seeing it participate bothered us. Sara for next time, on the occasion of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
We Azzurri fans always count on the fact that the coat of arms for our football history will always give us a boost of pride but sometimes, as in 2018, all this is not enough; the most important thing, however, is to get up and start working again to win again andItaly has already done it by obtaining a great triumph at Euro 2020.
In any case, even without the Azzurri, the world championships go and in the final France beats Croatia by 4 to 2, at the end of a fairly spectacular and hard-fought match.
History World Cup Russia 2018 – The Winners Deschamps
‘ France is determined to redeem the defeat at home in the 2016 European Championships , at the hands of CR7 ‘s Portugal . In qualifying, however, not everything goes smoothly and the Blues find it very difficult, even if in the end they manage to qualify as first in their group.
Arriving at the final stage, the transalpine cousins ​​obtain the victories against Australia and Peru and a goalless draw against Denmark. Then they beat Argentina 4-3, Uruguay 2-0 and Belgium 1-0. It is a team full of champions, especially in the offensive department, in which Mbappe and Griedzmann stand out , as well as the absence of Benzema.
The
Goalkeepers : Areola, Lloris, Mandanda;
Defenders : Sidibe, Pavard, Kimpembe, Umtiti, Varane, Rami, Lucas Hernandez, Mendy;
Midfielders: Nzonzi, Lemar, Kante, Matuidi, Pogba, Tolisso;
Forwards : Fekir, Griezmann, Giroud, Mbappe, Thauvin, Dembele.
History World Cup Russia 2018 – The Winners
Croatia is the real surprise of the championship even if, looking at the squad, it is not surprising that it made it all the way to the final. Even for the Croatians the qualifying round is quite difficult; Dalic ‘s team arrives second and defeats Greece in the playoffs, accessing the world championship. In the first round, the Croatians start with a good victory over Nigeria and, in the second race, they trim a sharp 3 to 0 to Messi ‘s Argentina , thanks to the goals ofRebic, Modric and Rakitic ; from here on everyone notices this national team. The third is a formality and for Croatia , who wins by 2 to 1 and moves on to the second round.
Here he meets Denmark and eliminates them on penalties and the same fate happens to the hosts of Russia in the quarters. In the semifinals, Croatia-England is played and Dalic ‘s team manages to recover the initial English advantage thanks to goals from Perisic and Mario Mandzukic , which puts them in extra time.
The
Goalkeepers : Subasic (Monaco), L.Kalinic (Gent), Livakovic (Dinamo Zagreb).
Defenders: Vrsaljko, Lovren, Corluka, Vida, Strinic, Jedvaj, Caleta-Car, Pivaric.
Midfielders : Modric, Rakitic, Kovacic, Brozovic, Bradaric, Badelj.
Forwards : Mandzukic, Rebic, Perisic, Kramaric, N.Kalinic, Pjaca.
History World Cup Russia 2018 – The Final
In the final, France almost totally gave up ball possession and left it to Croatia 61% of the time . Deschamps ‘ team sides with a 4-2-3-1, with Giroud as the only striker, with the support of Griezmann, Mbappe and Matuidi; the latter, however, often folds to lend a hand to Pogba and Kante. Croatia
_uses the same scheme but with more offensive interpreters. Behind Mandzukic , in fact, Perisic, Modric and Rebic are stationed and the team maintains a good part of the domination of the game.
The Croatians start much better but at 18 ‘ France took the lead on the development of a free kick, which Mandzukic involuntarily sends into his goal. Ten minutes later, Inter Perisic equalized with a nice goal, at the end of a hitting and rebounding in the transalpine penalty area. Below is the video of the Croatian’s great game.
At 38 minutes he activates another cold shower for Dalic , since Perisictouches the ball with his hand and the referee blows a penalty that Griezmann converts.
The Croatians continue to attack and build several opportunities to put things back in place but in the 60 ‘ Pogba puts her in with a shot from the edge of the area and goes on 3 to 1. Five minutes later, Mbappe closes all the games by scoring a beautiful goal from outside the box.
There is time for another goal by Mandzukic in the 70th minute, with the complicity of goalkeeper Lloris , who makes a lightness. Croatia continues to try but the situation does not unblock and France wins their second World Cup, 20 years after the first.
