Rain. Buckets of it.
When the final whistle blew at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, the heavens didn't just open; they collapsed. You had Vladimir Putin standing under a massive umbrella while the French players and the Croatian underdogs got absolutely soaked. It was poetic, honestly. France had just secured their second star with a 4-2 victory, but the scoreline barely scratches the surface of what that match actually meant for the trajectory of modern tactical setups.
The 2018 World Cup Final wasn't just a game; it was the moment the "possession is king" era officially died a slow, agonizing death.
If you remember the early 2010s, it was all about tiki-taka. You kept the ball, you suffocated the opponent, and you won 1-0. But on July 15, 2018, Didier Deschamps showed the world that you could win the biggest trophy in sports by basically saying, "Here, you take the ball. We'll just wait for you to mess up." Croatia had 61% of the possession. They looked like the better team for large stretches of the first half. Yet, they went into the locker room trailing because France was ruthlessly efficient.
The Freak Goals and VAR Drama
Let's talk about the elephant in the room: that first half was weird.
It started with a Mario Mandzukic own goal. Think about that for a second. The guy who scored the winner against England in the semi-final becomes the first player ever to score an own goal in a World Cup final. Brutal. Then Ivan Perisic—who was arguably the best winger in the tournament—scores a screamer to level it. You’re thinking, Okay, Croatia is actually going to do this. Then came the VAR moment.
Referee Nestor Pitana had to go to the monitor for a handball against Perisic. It took forever. This was the first tournament where VAR was a thing, and here it was, deciding a final. Antoine Griezmann tucked the penalty away with the coolness of a guy who knew he was about to become a national hero. But the controversy still lingers in Zagreb. Ask any Croatian fan today, and they’ll tell you that penalty changed the psychological flow of the entire match. It felt a bit harsh, didn't it? Perisic's hand was in a natural-ish position, but in the 2018 interpretation of the rules, "natural" was a moving target.
Mbappe’s Arrival on the Global Stage
While the first half was defined by set pieces and VAR, the second half was the Kylian Mbappe show.
He was 19. Nineteen!
When he surged down the right flank, it looked like he was playing against a bunch of tired dads at a Sunday league game. He wasn't just fast; he was purposeful. His goal in the 65th minute made him the first teenager to score in a World Cup final since Pele in 1958. That is the kind of stat that usually gets overused, but in this case, the comparison felt earned. Mbappe’s performance in the 2018 World Cup Final signaled a changing of the guard. Messi and Ronaldo were already out of the tournament by then. This was the official start of the Mbappe era.
Paul Pogba also decided to show up in a big way. People love to criticize Pogba for his hair or his social media, but in that final, he was a monster. His long-range pass to Mbappe that led to his own goal—after his first shot was blocked—was a masterclass in vision. He controlled the tempo when N'Golo Kante, who was actually struggling with a stomach bug that day (which explains why he was subbed off early), couldn't provide his usual energy.
The Croatian Resilience Nobody Predicted
We have to give flowers to Zlatko Dalic's squad. Croatia is a country of about 4 million people. To put that in perspective, that’s less than the population of the South Side of Chicago or a small European city.
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They had played three consecutive extra-time matches before reaching the final. Basically, they had played an entire extra game's worth of minutes compared to France. You could see the fatigue in Luka Modric’s legs by the 70th minute, but he never stopped moving. Modric winning the Golden Ball wasn't just a "pity prize" for the runner-up; it was an acknowledgment that he was the best midfielder on the planet that year.
The game ended with a bizarre Hugo Lloris mistake. He tried to dribble around Mandzukic and gave away a goal. It made the score 4-2 and gave Croatia a glimmer of hope, but France was too disciplined. They sat back in that 4-4-2 mid-block and just sucked the life out of the game.
Why the 2018 Final Still Matters Today
Most people look back at finals and remember one specific moment—Zidane’s headbutt in 2006 or Iniesta’s volley in 2010. But the 2018 World Cup Final is remembered for the sheer volume of goals.
Before 2018, World Cup finals were historically cagey, low-scoring affairs.
- 2014: 1-0 (AET)
- 2010: 1-0 (AET)
- 2006: 1-1 (Penalties)
- 2002: 2-0
Seeing six goals in a final was a shock to the system. It broke the trend of "playing not to lose." It also solidified the "Deschamps Way." Critics called France boring throughout the tournament, especially after they ground out a win against Belgium in the semi-final. But Deschamps didn't care about being "entertaining" in the traditional sense. He cared about winning. He built a team that was physically imposing, defensively sound, and lightning-fast on the counter-attack.
This blueprint—prioritizing defensive solidity over possession—has become the standard for international football since then. Look at how teams played in 2022. Look at the rise of "pragmatic" coaches. It all traces back to that rainy night in Moscow.
Misconceptions About the French Squad
A lot of people think France just "talent-ed" their way to the trophy. That’s a bit of a lazy take.
Sure, they had stars, but the 2010 French team had stars too, and they ended up refusing to get off the bus in South Africa. The 2018 win was about chemistry and sacrifice. Blaise Matuidi played as a "left winger" but he was basically a third central midfielder. Olivier Giroud didn't score a single goal in the entire tournament. Not one. If you told a casual fan that the starting striker for the World Cup winners wouldn't have a shot on target for the whole month, they'd laugh at you.
But Giroud’s role was to be a human battering ram. He took the hits so Griezmann and Mbappe could find space. It was a selfless tactical setup that you rarely see in modern, ego-driven football.
The Legacy of the Luzhniki
What happened after the 2018 World Cup Final is just as interesting. France went on to have a bit of a rollercoaster, winning the Nations League but flopping at the Euros before making the final again in 2022. Croatia proved they weren't a one-hit-wonder by finishing third in Qatar.
But the image that stays with me is the trophy presentation.
The rain was so heavy that the gold medals were probably getting slippery. Seeing Benjamin Pavard—a guy who wasn't even supposed to start the tournament until Djibril Sidibe got injured—lifting that trophy was a reminder of how much luck and timing play into World Cup history. Pavard’s goal against Argentina earlier in the tournament was voted Goal of the Tournament, and he parlayed that momentum into a solid performance in the final.
How to Apply the Lessons of 2018
If you’re a coach or a student of the game, there are a few "unfiltered" takeaways from this match that still apply to winning big tournaments:
- Efficiency over Aesthetics: You don't need the ball to control the game. France controlled the final by controlling the spaces, not the possession.
- The Set-Piece Factor: In a tight final, the first goal usually comes from a dead ball. France's first two goals came from a free kick and a corner/penalty. Work on your deliveries.
- Manage the Fatigue: Croatia’s journey showed that heart can get you to the final, but depth wins it. France was able to bring off the bench players like Corentin Tolisso and Steven Nzonzi to close things out.
- Embrace the VAR: It’s not going away. The 2018 final was the birth of a new era where "clear and obvious" became the most debated phrase in sports.
To truly understand the 2018 World Cup Final, you have to watch the highlights without focusing on the ball. Watch the French defensive line. Watch how Varane and Umtiti communicated. They were a wall. Croatia threw everything at them—crosses, through balls, long-range shots—and the French didn't blink.
The tournament ended with a celebration on the Champs-Élysées that saw millions of people take to the streets. For a moment, a fractured country was unified. That’s the power of this specific game. It wasn't just a sports match; it was a cultural reset for French football, exorcising the demons of their 2016 Euro final loss on home soil.
If you want to dive deeper into the tactics of this era, go back and watch the full match replay of France vs Belgium. It’s the "prequel" to the final and explains exactly how Deschamps perfected the defensive shell that eventually broke Croatian hearts. You can also look up the official FIFA technical report from 2018, which breaks down the running distances and "passing chains" of both finalists—it's a goldmine for data nerds who want to see exactly how much ground Modric actually covered.
Next Steps for the History Buff:
- Watch the "All or Nothing" style documentaries focusing on the French National Team's 2018 run (often found on French streaming platforms or YouTube).
- Compare the heat maps of Antoine Griezmann in 2018 versus his "midfielder" role in 2022 to see how the French system evolved.
- Review the 2018 handball rule vs the 2024 updates to see if that Perisic penalty would be given today (Spoiler: It probably wouldn't).