World Cup 2018 final: France favourite but Croatia have element of surprise

If Mbappe, at 19, can lead his country to the World Cup glory, he will certainly earn a mention in the same breath as Zinedine Zidane - the architect of France's only title in 1998

In a World Cup of surprises, it is only fitting that we have a team in the final that nobody expected to get this far. Twenty years after Croatia first made the football world take notice of their bounteous talent, manager Zlatko Dalic’s side has gone one step further. France await in the final, the same country which denied Croatia a spot in the 1998 World Cup.

In the two decades since, the Vatreni (‘The Blazers’, as the Croatian side is fondly known) have been a team that would often come up short in knockout football. But not in Russia.