I thought I’d pull together all of my tweets of the games that France and Croatia played and do what I never do – make a prediction for the game.
France
Group Phase
France 2:1 Australia. Great organisation and fitness can win games. But not when you can only do it for 75 mins. That was the story for the Aussies against a deeply underwhelming French side without urgency or invention. The French pen was not a pen, I don’t care what VAR showed
— Pritpal S Tamber (@pstamber) June 16, 2018
France 1:0 Peru.
Peru’s World Cup reinforced the adage that you have to take your chances when you get them. They didn’t have many in this game, that said. France, rejuvenated through Giroud, got their goal and then shut them out. Peru’s relentless energy came to nothing, sadly
— Pritpal S Tamber (@pstamber) June 21, 2018
I missed the Denmark vs France game but it was 0-0.
Round of 16
France 4:3 Argentina.
Quality shone through. As did youth. Argentina ran out of steam, especially against the scintillating pace of Mbappe. France were really well organised throughout. Messi marked out the game.
A special mention for Pavard’s goal; absolutely perfect technique
— Pritpal S Tamber (@pstamber) June 30, 2018
Quarter Final
Uruguay 0:2 France.
Losing Cavani meant Uruguay’s over achievers got found out. For all their energy in the first half, one headed goal and one awful keeping mistake meant they were never getting back into this game. France barely left second gear. Contenders, for sure
— Pritpal S Tamber (@pstamber) July 6, 2018
Semi Final
France 1:0 Belgium.
Belgium only had one chance, to dominate early and score. They did half of it but not the important half. The French know how to defend, how to hold on, and how to let their gazelle Mbappe run defences ragged. Belgium struggled to respond. French look strong.
— Pritpal S Tamber (@pstamber) July 10, 2018
Looking back, you get the sense know that the French know how to hold on, how to ride out a storm. Australia and Peru tested them in the group stage, while Argentina simply ran out of steam in the round of 16. They were lucky that Uruguay lost Cavani in the quarter final and that Belgium failed to capitalise on their dominant first half in the semi final. My gut tells me they have the edge on Croatia in the final.
Croatia
Group Phase
Croatia 2:0 Nigeria.
On the surface this came down to an OG and a daft foul that led to a penalty. But Nigeria just had no answer to how well-organised Croatia’s midfield were. There’s nothing more to say, they were simply out played. Comprehensively.
— Pritpal S Tamber (@pstamber) June 16, 2018
Argentina 0:3 Croatia.
Extraordinarily poor defending culminating in one of the worst keeper errors you’ll ever see started this annihilation. A petulant game that deserved more cards with Messi anonymous. Taking Aguero off was daft. Argentina need to rebuild. Croatia look tasty
— Pritpal S Tamber (@pstamber) June 21, 2018
I missed the Iceland vs Croatia game but it was 1-2.
Round of 16
Croatia 1:1 Denmark
Croatia win 3-2 on penalties
As usual, Croatia buckle under pressure. For all their swash-buckling in earlier games, they looked a team struggling with being favourites. Denmark being well organised was enough to neuter them; they didn’t deserve to lose
— Pritpal S Tamber (@pstamber) July 1, 2018
Quarter Final
Russia 2:2 Croatia.
Croatia go through on penalties.
Despite four goals, this was a poor game. But no one expected Russia to do so well. They are a limited team but they’ve played out of their skins, today as much as the rest of the tournament. Croatia seem to be getting worse
— Pritpal S Tamber (@pstamber) July 7, 2018
Semi Final
Croatia 2:1 England
You have to take your chances. That old saying proved true for an England team that dominated for the first 30. But they didn’t. And Croatia found an ounce of confidence & then their flow. The winning goal was down to a defence that switched off. For a second
— Pritpal S Tamber (@pstamber) July 11, 2018
Croatia have done what they always seem to do; swash-buckle at the start (they were magnificent against Nigeria and Argentina in the group phase) and then simply buckle under pressure (they struggled to find any flow against Denmark in the round of 16 and Russia in the quarter final). But they’re an experienced group of players, able to weather storms without panic and respond to oppositions’ formations, which is what they did with patience and confidence against England. Despite that, as I say above, I think France have the edge on them.
