It has finally arrived. The moment fans have been waiting for all summer. On Sunday, July 15th, France and Croatia will match wits in the 2018 FIFA World Cup final. The venue will be none other than Moscow's 78,011-seater Stadion Luzhniki with the match commencing at 18:00 local time (11:00 EST/17:00 CET).
Arguably, at the start of this competition, not many fans could have anticipated that either of these two sides would be the last two standing. France, perhaps, but certainly not Croatia, who was placed in the toughest quartet of this tournament. The Vatreni have never featured in a final, while Les Bleus are making their third ever appearance - and first since losing on penalties to Italy back in 2006.
How France got here
With the heartbreak of losing the EURO 2016 final to Portugal still very much a reality, France has been determined to make amends to its loyal supporters for the past two years. Didier Deschamps's side finished top of its group in qualifying to book its ticket to Russia and set up group stage clashes against Australia, Denmark, and Peru.
Although France was not as dominant in its group stage campaign as many would have expected, the team still got the job done. A narrow 2-1 win over Australia was followed up by an even scrappier 1-0 result against a Peru side making its first appearance since 1982. That set Les Bleus up nicely, such that Deschamps opted to play it very safe against fellow European side Denmark.
However, from a neutral perspective, France and Denmark were both guilty of playing out one of the most boring games of this summer's affair, but a drab scoreless stalemate was enough to give both teams what they needed: a spot in the round of 16.
Les Bleus roared to life as they took down an already struggling Argentina in certainly one of the most entertaining games so far this summer. Seven goals were scored, and Kylian Mbappe made history as the second teenager to score a brace in a knockout game. The first? Well, none other than Brazil's Pele back in 1978.
France did not score four in its next game, but it didn't matter. What did count was the fact that Deschamps's troops broke down Uruguay's tough defense, with Antoine Griezmann scoring a brilliant long range effort to make it 2-0 and send Les Bleus through to a tantalizing semi-final with Belgium.
Samuel Umtiti's header was enough to provide France with its desired result, although several bitter Belgian players slammed Les Bleus' tactics as "anti-football". Not that it mattered one bit to France and its excited supporters, and moreover France are where it wants to be: one more win away from winning its first World Cup since 1998.
How Croatia got here
However, Croatia obviously has other ideas. From a wobbly start in qualifying to being this tournament's biggest surprise package, the Vatreni have exceeded expectations from the start. Zlatko Dalic's side is just one of three teams to win all of its group stage games. The others? Belgium and Uruguay. Still, what makes Croatia's showings even more impressive is the fact that the small Balkan side faced an uphill battle from the start.
Unlike Uruguay, who benefited from a very easy group alongside Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and hosts Russia, or Belgium, whose only real challenger was England (with both debutants Panama and minnows Tuinsia not being a threat whatsoever), Croatia had to take on none other than tournament heavyweights Argentina, a young and ambitious Nigeria, and tricky debutants Iceland. In qualifying, Iceland had managed to beat Croatia en route to pipping the 1998 semi-finalists to top spot, so naturally that game was not a given.
But a stunning 3-0 demolition of Argentina had people sitting up and starting to take notice. That had followed a comfortable 2-0 win over Nigeria, but even then, no one really expected the Vatreni to get to this juncture.
Especially given that in the round of 16, it needed penalties to knock out Denmark. The same result happened yet again against hosts Russia, who is another side who has certainly exceeded expectations. In fact, quite a few English pundits were already writing off Croatia's chances ahead of the semi-final clash with the Three Lions given that the Vatreni had played over 240 minutes of football versus England, who had only played one extra-time game.
Well, Croatia showed that fatigue, which was expected by many to be a factor, was no issue. The match did go to extra-time, but Mario Mandzukic's late effort was enough to break English hearts and make sure that the Vatreni didn't have to go to another round of penalties after Ivan Perisic had leveled the scores in regulation time.
And now, Croatia is just a game away from winning its first ever World Cup. This team has gone even further than the heroes of 1998, who, ironically saw their side knocked out by France in the semi-finals. It's now the same France who stand in its way, and the question will be if Croatia can go the distance.
France vs Croatia: How the two sides compare
Croatia is the only team to have won every single one of its games, starting from the group stage.
The Vatreni beat Nigeria, Argentina, and Iceland in the group stages by an aggregate score of 8-1, then edged out Denmark and Russia on penalties in the round of 16 and the semi-finals respectively.
That was followed by a 2-1 win over England in extra time in the semi-finals. All in all, Dalic's side has won six out of its last six games, including penalty shoot-out victories.
France, meanwhile, has won five out of six of its World Cup games. The only blemish was a dull 0-0 draw with Denmark.
However, Les Bleus, unlike Croatia, have settled all of its games in regular time.
Croatia is the 13th nation to reach a World Cup final, and this is the best result the Vatreni have earned since finishing third at the 1998 World Cup.
Meanwhile, France is into the finals for the third time, and is looking to win it for the first time since 1998.
France leads the head-to-head record: Three wins versus two for Croatia.
This will be the second World Cup meeting between France and Croatia; the first was in 1998 during the semi-finals, and Lilian Thuram scored both goals in a 2-1 win for Les Bleus.
Should Croatia win, it will become the second smallest country ever to win a World Cup (after Uruguay).
So, having beaten Croatia before, France will be hoping to do the same yet again - except this time on an even bigger stage. Will Les Bleus succeed? Or will the Vatreni win what will be the biggest title ever in its sporting history? We will all find out in just over 24 hours' time on Sunday.
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Match details, result and original broadcast info
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Live TV coverage and streaming in United States
Live TV coverage and streaming in United States
