Croatia National Team – France National Team: Old debt is hard to pay!

In their first appearance at the World Cup, the team in plaid shirts surprised the football world by advancing all the way to the semi-finals.

At the tournament held in France, Davor Suker and his teammates were in the same group with Argentina, Jamaica and Japan. At the end of the group stage, coach Blazevic and his team excellently won 2nd place after Argentina, officially entering the round of 16 strongest teams.

After eliminating Romania in the round of 16 (winning 1-0), Croatia created one of the biggest surprises of France 1998 with a 3-0 victory over Germany in the quarter-finals. The opponent of coach Blazevic and his team in the last 4 was host France. Striker Davor Suker's goal in the beginning of the second half almost made France regret. Unfortunately, at the end of the match, defender Lilian Thuram shined with a double, helping the home team make a successful comeback.

Davor Suker (9) celebrates scoring against France in 1998. Photo: Internet

Croatia had to watch the “Gaul Roosters” play in the final match with Brazil (France won the championship with a 3-0 victory). In the third place match with the Netherlands, Davor Suker and his teammates continued to play excellently. In the end, the plaid team defeated the “orange storm” with a score of 2-1 and won the bronze medal. Croatia had a tournament that was more successful than expected.

20 years have passed, both the French and Croatian national teams have gone through ups and downs. While the “Gaul Roosters” won the Euro 2000 championship, were runners-up in the 2006 World Cup and runners-up in Euro 2016… the plaid team also regularly appeared in major tournaments such as the World Cup and Euro. However, from the 1998 World Cup semi-final until the 2018 World Cup final, the two teams only met once more in an official tournament. That was the match between the French national team and Croatia national team (2-2) in the group stage of Euro 2004.

In addition to the two previous encounters, the team nicknamed Les Bleus also met Croatia in three more international friendly matches. In 1999, France won 3-0, in 2000, France won 2-0 and in 2011, the two teams drew 0-0.

Thus, the blue team has an unbeaten record against the plaid team in 5 matches (3 wins, 2 draws). That shows that the French team is the "nemesis" of the Croatian team. This is also the basis for fans of the "hexagonal country" to have more confidence in a victory for the home team in the final match taking place on July 15.

The French team is showing formidable strength at this year's World Cup. Photo: Internet

Having lost in terms of head-to-head record, Luka Modric and his teammates are also rated lower than their opponents in terms of squad quality. Coach Dalic does not have many "star" faces like his colleague Deschamps, on the other side of the battle line. Besides Luka Modric, Rakitic, Perisic, Mandzukic, Subasic, Lovren have proven their class, the remaining faces are only at the average level. Putting them next to Pogba, Griezmann, Mbappe, Varane, Kante... the difference is too obvious.

Not to mention, entering the final, the Croatian team did not have a good physical foundation like the French team. Luka Modric and his teammates had to go through 3 matches with the Danish team, the Russian team, the English team lasting over 120 minutes, the French team easily defeated the Argentine team, the Uruguay team, the Belgian team in just 2 regular periods. Obviously, the students of coach Dalic played more than 90 minutes - equivalent to 1 match - than the students of coach Deschamps.

It seems that the chance of Croatia winning against France is not really high, if not too small. The debt of 20 years ago between coach Blazevic and his team, coach Dalic, and his team, will be difficult to repay to the French./.

Thanh Hung