France v Croatia was such a bizarre World Cup final

From Alex Blohm

Hello Myles,

What were your thoughts?

I thought it was such a bizarre game.

Apparently, the French are unable to win it without some ridiculous thing happening, like Ronaldo having a fit before a match, or two extremely dodgy / wrong decisions (no free kick, no VAR penalty).

Even the two goals (Pogba and Mbappe), the goalie was screened and hardly dove for the ball in either case. Weird.

WC verdict? The fans go completely nuts the world over, but the quality of football is generally not very good.

The WC basks in the aura of the 1970 Brazil team, quite possibly the best team ever assembled, but in general, despite the quality of individuals and the “12th man” factor (the fans), the WC teams are not remotely as good as most of the Champions League or even English Championship division clubs.

Croatia was arguably, along with Spain, the only team with any craft.

Myles says:

Steady on, Alex. 

Agree on Ronaldo’s fit in ’98.

An ultra-weird mystery that has never been explained. Why was he suddenly so ill? Did Nike insist he played? We will never know.

Kevin De Bruyne can do stuff nobody in the French team can do. And Hazard can score goals without a lot of help.

What I mostly noticed was that South American teams are rubbish these days. Each seemed to be dysfunctional in a different way.

Colombia’s gamesmanship was dismal and utterly pathetic.

And I knew months ago that Neymar is a tart whose antics are hated in Brazil.

This Final? Croatia keeper Subasic didn’t look anywhere near fit.

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer/international/ken-early-cold-blooded-france-won-the-world-cup-in-third-gear-1.3566118