France vs Croatia Prediction & Betting Tips - World Cup

Prediction published on 12/07/2018, 09:28  by Valeria Di Meglio | Modified on 13/07/2018 at 10:42 in World Cup Predictions

For the third time in four tournaments, the World Cup final is between two European countries. France take on Croatia aiming to win the trophy for their second World Cup triumph and their first on foreign soil. Their previous win was in the 1998 tournament that they hosted but France have been strong fancies to win the 2018 World Cup for a fair while. They are unbeaten in their last ten matches with only a friendly loss to Colombia in the last 18. A lot is written about their pace and flair in midfield and attack but they have a strong defence too with four clean sheets in their last five matches. They weren't always impressive in the group stages but we began to see what an impact Kylian Mbappe can be for them. France trailed in the last sixteen but eventually got the better of Argentina 4-3 and a final like that would go down a storm after a few low-scoring finals. Wins over Uruguay and Belgium have made them the form favourites to win this match.

With a population of only four million, it's an amazing achievement for Croatia to reach the final of the 2018 World Cup. They had to come through the play-offs just to qualify for Russia but then got off to a great start in the tournament. A comfortable 2-0 win over Nigeria was followed by that excellent 3-0 win over an Argentinian side that would later give France major problems. A win over Iceland with a reserve team saw them win all three of their group games. The knock-out stages have been a bit of a struggle with penalty shoot-out wins over Denmark and Russia before beating England 2-1 after extra-time. They have strength in midfield with Modric and Rakatic with Mandzukic always dangerous up front. They have plenty of players who can score for them but should have lost that game to England if their opponents had taken all those chances in the first half. The fact England's pace caused them problems makes you wonder what Mbappe and co can do to them. For that reason, the tip here is to go for France to beat Croatia and win the 2018 World Cup.