MOSCOW — France’s first goal arrived off a Croatian’s head, and its second only after the intervention of the Argentine referee.
But it was the next two goals, the low, hard shots that delivered the World Cup back into French hands, the goals that crowned its latest generation of stars, that confirmed what everyone knew even before its 4-2 victory over Croatia was complete: France was the best team in the field this summer in Russia, a potent mix of greatness, grit and good fortune. And now it can call itself the world champion again.
France 4 Final 2 Croatia
Mario Mandzukic (18' OG)
Antoine Griezmann (38' PK)
Paul Pogba (59')
Kylian Mbappe (65')
Final
Mario Mandzukic (69')
Ivan Perisic (28')
“We do not realize yet what we just did,” left back Lucas Hernández said. “When we arrive tomorrow in Paris, we will realize.”
The title is France’s second, and its first since it won on home soil in 1998, and it ended a thrilling run by Croatia over the past five weeks. The Croats survived three consecutive extra-time games — and two penalty shootouts — in the knockout rounds to reach their first final, and they even had the better of the game on Sunday. But bad bounces and a better opponent made all the difference.
“We have no regrets because we were the better team for much of the game,” said Croatia midfielder Luka Modric, who was awarded the Golden Ball as the tournament’s outstanding player. “Unfortunately, some clumsy goals swung it their way.
They will be celebrating, but we can hold our heads high.”
France won by doing what it had done for six previous games: It fought off its opponent when it had to, and punished it when it could. And when the final whistle blew, its players raced off the bench in glee, gathering in jumping hugs and tossing their coach, Didier Deschamps, in the air. Deschamps, a midfielder on the 1998 France team, had become something a father figure for his young team, a guiding hand on the wheel, keeping everything in line on a methodical march toward the title.
When the night ended, when France was the champion again, he became the third man to win the World Cup as a player and head coach. The players honored him with their boisterousness, bursting into his postgame news conference and showering him with Champagne before he could answer a single question.
His 2018 team will not be remembered as the most elegant champions, or the most creative. Instead, it will be remembered for what it was: a team of exceptional talent and ruthless efficiency, a group in which every player knew his job and performed it flawlessly.
But all that it achieved — through diligent planning, hard work, relentless discipline and the occasional brilliance of the young striker Kylian Mbappé, the galloping midfielder Paul Pogba and the steadfast defense of N’Golo Kanté, Raphaël Varane and Samuel Umtiti — was remarkable nonetheless. France was not so much great as fundamentally outstanding: a team of top-class talents willing to sublimate their individual games to a collective mission; a team confident enough to surrender possession against even lesser teams and strike back on the counter; a team capable of scoring superb goals but also willing to accept whatever it was given.
Even on Sunday, as Croatia’s talented midfield of Modric, Ivan Rakitic and Ivan Perisic controlled play in the first half, France still came out ahead. Presented with an own goal and a penalty kick — the first goal in a World Cup final attributed to a video-assistant-review decision — France pulled away with the help of Mbappé’s unmatched combination of speed and skill after halftime, turning one break into a Pogba goal and a second into Mbappé’s third of the tournament.