After over a month wait, Soccer fans have finally found two teams which will be competing for the World Cup trophy on July 15. After beating Belgium and England in the semis, France and Croatia have finally made it to the finals. But first, the third-place game between Belgium and England, who lost in the semis, takes place in Krestovsky Stadium on July 14.

The two teams will go toe to toe for the holy grail in Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow. Stand out performances in the knockout stages earned the two teams the finals places. France defeated Argentina, Uruguay, and Belgium in the knockout stage, while Croatia knocked Denmark, Russia, and England out of the World Cup, according to the BBC.

France was a favorite to be in the finals since the beginning of the competition, especially after beating Belgium, noted ESPN. Not a lot of people predicted Croatia would reach the finals. In fact, it was unexpected that heavyweights like Germany, Argentina, and Portugal would underperform this World Cup. Both the teams have been unbeaten so far, with Croatia winning all six games and France winning five but drawing one against Denmark in the group stages.

What to expect

The odds will favor France to win the match, as they have the strongest squad this year. However, Croatia still possesses the potential to stun them, as they did to England. The fans should expect an action-packed game right from the beginning until the very end.

Undoubtedly, there will be many star players on both sides. The French prodigy, Kylian Mbappe, will look to win the World Cup in his 19s, while Croatia’s exceptional attacking players will try to earn their country a first World Cup title.

Both teams have the strength to win the trophy, as they’ve proven while reaching the finals.

Both have their own strengths and weaknesses. France has a squad filled with outstanding players from top to bottom, whereas Croatia has the prowess of ingenious strategy to daze any team.

Overall, both teams have fought hard to be at this stage of the World Cup and neither deserves to lose.

One of them will have to be the runner-up and the other will celebrate the win for the next four years.

Playing-11 prediction

French boss, Deschamp, is likely to bring an unaltered playing-11 from their last game in the semi-finals. He has barely made any major changes in any of the matches this competition.

France lineup: Lloris, Pavard, Varane, Umtiti, Hernandez, Kante, Pogba, Mbappe, Griezmann, Matuidi, and Giroud.

Croatian coach, Zlatko Dalić, is also unlikely to make any major changes from his last playing-11 against England. However, the striker, Mario Mandzukic was withdrawn in the second period of the extra-time in the semi-final. He could be replaced by another striker but it seems unlikely as the injury didn’t look serious.

Croatia lineup: Subasic, Vrsaljko, Lovren, Vida, Strinic, Brozovic, Rebic, Modric, Rakitic, Perisic, and Mandzukic.
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