The 2018 World Cup Final: Review, Odds, and Prediction
Published July 15, 2018 by Sol FH
Who's it gonna be? France or Croatia? Find out today at 16:00 GMT as the Final gets underway from Luzhniki Stadium.
France and Croatia will meet today at 16:00 GMT in the World Cup Final from Luzhniki Stadium with 81,000 in attendance and hundreds of millions watching from home. France is the outright favorites to bring home the hardware, but, Croatia is a Cinderella story that has played the role of the spoiler since the knockout stages and could surprise the world with the underdog win.
For Croatia, Luka Modric, Mario Mandzukic, and Ivan Strinic have been instrumental in the success of Croatia. With a combined population of 4.2 million, Croatia is the second smallest nation that has made the World Cup Final, Uruguay still holds onto that title as they played in the 1950 Final against Brazil. In that Final, Uruguay surprised Brazil and won, which is something that Croatia hopes will be their fate too.
For France, the combined strengths of Hugo Lloris in goal, Kylian Mbappe, Antoine Griezmann, N’Golo Kante, and Paul Pogba has been the real reason for France’s success, but the entire team has been of the most exciting to watch throughout the tournament.
Getting back to Golden Glove hopeful, Hugo Lloris. He has made some of the best saves of the tournament in the matches in Les Blues’ knockout stage wins over Uruguay and Belgium. There is also nothing bad to say about 19-year-old Kylian Mbappe’s performances this year. He wasn’t even born the last time France won the 1998 Final, so this would be an extraordinary triumph for the young gun.
An Incredible World Cup Final
The fact that France is facing Croatia is an absolute fantastic Final. Even the Swiss President of FIFA, Gianni Infantino has called it a “fantastic, incredible, unbelievable World Cup.” The odds are quite exciting. Now, one would think that Croatia would be a lot further behind in the odds, but they are only at 4.75, while France is at 1.95. If after 90’ minutes the teams are still tied, bet365 Sports offers 3.30. At Winner Sports, Cup winner was 1.44 for France and 2.75 for Croatia, while IW Sportsbook had similar 1.45 on France and 2.75 on Croatia for Cup Winners.
Prediction
This is where things could go very wrong, but, France will be the World Cup Champions when all is said and done today. They are far too fast, too talented, and too focused to let Croatia come from behind again and win. France will most-likely score early, but instead of taking pressure off they will continue to pour it on. Croatia might be able to pull off one lucky goal, but Lloris will be a solid brick wall in net tonight. Expect France to walk away with their first trophy since 1998, after winning tonight by at least a 3-1 win. Even though a Croatia win would be like a fairytale, this is France’s year, and nothing will stop them.
