1) A brilliant tournament deserves a brilliant final. For all the magnificence of this World Cup, a 0-0 draw and penalty shootout in the showpiece event would have left a sour taste. Neither of the last two World Cup finals had contained a goal in normal time; we prayed for something different. As ever, the 2018 World Cup delivered. Rarely has a game of such magnitude been so open, but this sensational tournament was determined to show off its best bits: VAR controversy, set-piece goal, own goal, magnificent passes, wonderful finishes and the general sense of glorious chaos. As soon as one team has the advantage, they concede. Every time you think you know what is happening, think again. The 2018 World Cup in 90 minutes, distilled, bottled and sold for you to sip your way through until next time. It has been a vintage tournament. 2) It may sound pithy given that they have won the trophy, but France deserved this World Cup success. Their performances against Australia and Denmark were sluggish, and their group-stage victory over Peru was not without discomfort, but Didier Deschamps’ team have grown in and into this tournament. The reason for inserting this statement of the bleeding obvious is that France have just won a World Cup without playing at their best. They are a team that too often performs – or is made to perform – with the handbrake applied. And yet they beat Argentina, Uruguay, Belgium and Croatia. There is so much potential here. Still, as with Zinedine Zidane at club level, Deschamps now deserves the doubts about his coaching ability to be quashed, at least temporarily. They may have won only one match by more than a single goal on their route to the final, but the first 25 minutes against Belgium and the first 20 minutes of the final were the only times in the entire tournament when you thought France might actually be in danger of elimination, even if they have never quite clicked. At different times in this tournament France’s front three has looked better than Brazil’s, who we thought were the zenith; their midfield three has looked better than Croatia’s, who we thought might be the zenith; their defence has looked better than Uruguay’s, who we thought were surely the zenith. Finally, France’s togetherness and faith in the coach were called into question pre-tournament, but both questions have been answered. Even if the nagging sense that France are succeeding despite Deschamps rather than because of him won’t go away, history will remember him as the third person in history to win the World Cup as a player and manager. 3) And yet this was not easy, at least not until France scored their third goal. This is a very weird French side, one which has won knockout matches 4-3 and 4-2 and yet whose coach seems determined not to make them expansive. Had Deschamps done so, this could have been 17-16. Croatia’s energy levels during this tournament have been sensational, and they deserved to lead at half-time. In the first half they harried and hassled France and made them look ordinary in possession and flustered out of it. They conceded twice against the run of play. In those opening exchanges we remembered the Euro 2016 final and feared for Les Bleus. France’s sole tactic was to hit the ball long to Olivier Giroud, bypassing a magnificent midfield and hoping that their target man could win headers. Hugo Lloris to Giroud was their most regular pass combination of the first half. Croatia won their headers and began to dominate. 4) So of course France then took the lead. Although if you assumed that their attack finally clicked into beautiful gear, you would be mistaken. Firstly, it was a dive from Antoine Griezmann. At best we will say that he ‘engineered’ the contact, but at worst we will drop the euphemisms and say that he dived. Unfortunately, while VAR does intervene for all ‘game-changing’ incidents, that does not include fouls made outside the box. So if you do want to cheat to try and give your team an advantage, do it outside the penalty area. Griezmann himself stepped up to take the free-kick, and delivered it with the type of whip that unnerves a defence. Mario Mandzukic was the unlucky player who got a touch on the ball, succeeding only in flicking it past Danijel Subasic as he tried to head it clear. Croatia’s defending was not good. They were far too deep when the set piece was taken, almost six yards out from goal. Subasic might also feel that he should have done better, flat-footed and a little slow to react. That would become a theme. 5) But the goal should not have been given. When Griezmann made contact with the ball, Paul Pogba was standing in an offside position. He then challenged Mandzukic in the air from behind. Pogba might not have been in Mandzukic’s eyeline, but he was clearly interfering with play. And yet the VAR did not advise the referee that Pogba was offside. “VAR is not changing football, it is cleaning football, making it more honest and transparent and helping referees to make the right decisions,” said FIFA president Gianni Infantino two days ago. “The goal scored from an offside position is finished in football, at least in football with VAR. You will never see any more a goal scored in an offside position, it’s finished because either you are or are not offside, these are clear decisions.” The secret to good comedy is in the timing. 6) If we thought that conceding first might cause energy to sap out of Croatian legs, that overlooks their powers of recovery in this tournament. Against Denmark in the last 16, they scored three minutes after conceding the opening goal. Against Russia in the quarter-final, they scored eight minutes after conceding the opening goal. Against England in the semi-final, they overturned a 1-0 deficit to win 2-1 in extra-time. Against France in the final, they initially trailed for just ten minutes. It was no less than Croatia deserved.<doc-sep>Here we are. The final match of the 2018 World Cup has almost arrived, and it has been as thrilling a tournament as I can remember. As Maximus, Russell Crowe’s character in “Gladiator,” famously yelled, “Are you not entertained?” Over the past four weeks, 32 teams from across the globe have come to Russia to play their hardest and to try their luck. One by one they have all gone home, often in heartbreak. There have been some shocking results, for sure. Germany didn’t even make it out of the first round; the formidable Spain was knocked out by Russia. Brazil looked invincible, and then Belgium brushed them aside. My home team, England, made it further than expected, before a gallant and tearful exit at the semifinal stage on Wednesday. Now it’s down to France against Croatia, on July 15. As we approach the fateful, high-stakes last match, it’s a good time to reflect on what this World Cup has meant and what it has given us. I’ve written before that this tournament is about more than football. It’s also about politics, economics, social issues and history. That’s certainly been true this year — the influence of colonialism on African football, the controversy over doping, the often fraught relationships between diverse national teams and increasingly nationalist European populations. On the other hand, the World Cup can also be pleasantly not about politics. For the past month, much of human civilization, one match at a time, has gone on vacation. The final is like a royal wedding, a moon landing and New Years’ Eve rolled into one: You can’t avoid it. But don’t we all need a little escapism now and then? After all, these are bleak times. Asylum seekers are being separated from their children in the United States, while the European Union’s increasingly hard-line controls on its borders lead to the drowning of more refugees. I’ve enjoyed the chance to lose myself a little bit in the beauty of the game. You probably have, too.<doc-sep>France won the World Cup, but that is far from the whole story. So many players and teams came out of the tournament on towering highs or devastating lows. Here are some of the winners and losers of the 2018 World Cup. Winners Croatia It’s odd to call a team that just lost the biggest game in its history a winner, but Croatia did everything but lift the Cup in a month to remember. Six straight wins over Nigeria, Argentina, Iceland, Denmark, host Russia, and England was one of the most impressive ever World Cup runs by any nation, much less one with only four million people. Luka Modric won the most valuable player award, but if one Croatia player came out with the biggest boost to his stock it was midfielder Ivan Perisic, despite his disputed handball in the final. A fine player for Inter Milan, he may now be in for a big money move to Manchester United, which has wanted him for some time. Belgium Everyone expected Belgium to one day break through, and this was the tournament, with a run to the semifinals that including a signature quarterfinal win over Brazil. Some nations’ Golden Generations are busts; though it did not win the tournament, this one lived up to expectations. Japan Drawn into a tough group, it beat Colombia and sneaked through on a tiebreaker, then went up 2-0 on Belgium before running out of gas. Still, it was the only Asian team to advance.<doc-sep>“Raphaël Varane has just completed the big-time double of winning the European Cup and World Cup in the same year. Which other players have achieved this?” asks Jim George. Well, having done some digging around, we came up with a list and Varane making an illustrious XI. Mind you, Luka Modric would also have completed a team of big-time double winners had Croatia won. Here is the XI: Uli Hoeness (Bayern Munich and West Germany 1974) Gerd Müller (Bayern Munich and West Germany 1974) Franz Beckenbauer (Bayern Munich and West Germany 1974) Paul Breitner (Bayern Munich and Germany 1974) Hans-Georg Schwarzenbeck (Bayern Munich and Germany 1974) Sepp Maier (Bayern Munich and Germany 1974) Jupp Kapellmann (Bayern Munich and Germany 1974) Christian Karembeu (Real Madrid and France 1998 ) Roberto Carlos (Real Madrid and Brazil 2002) Sami Khedira (Real Madrid and Germany 2014) Raphaël Varane (Real Madrid and France 2018) And it occurred to us that there must also be a group of players who have lost the two finals in the same year. Step forward Dejan Lovren to join this tear-stained list: Nils Liedholm (Milan and Sweden 1958) Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (Bayern Munich and West Germany 1982) Paul Breitner (Bayern Munich and West Germany 1982) Carsten Ramelow (Bayer Leverkusen and Germany 2002) Bernd Schneider (Bayer Leverkusen and Germany 2002) Oliver Neuville (Bayer Leverkusen and Germany 2002) Thierry Henry (Arsenal and France 2006) Arjen Robben (Bayern Munich and Netherlands 2010) Mark van Bommel (Bayern Munich and Netherlands 2010) Dejan Lovren (Liverpool and Croatia 2018) Dejan Lovren is consoled only 50 days after Liverpool’s European Cup final defeat. Photograph: Valery Sharifulin/Tass You will notice that Michael Ballack is not on the list of 10. He was suspended for the World Cup final in 2002. In the women’s game we have also found two unlucky losers. Guardian columnist Marta and her Brazil teammate Elaine lost the Uefa Women’s Cup final in April 2007, playing for Swedish side Umea, and then tasted defeat in the World Cup final that September, being beaten 2-0 by Germany in Shanghai. Have we missed anybody? Let us know at knowledge@theguardian.com or tweet @TheKnowledge_GU. The Fiver: sign up and get our daily football email Knocking out whole continents “So, Uruguay fell foul to France,” begins Shane Finan. “That means the French team knocked out three of five South American teams at this World Cup (Peru, Argentina and Uruguay). Has any team knocked out an entire continent at a World Cup?” The answer is yes, Shane. And it’s happened loads of times. Alasdair Brooks trawled through the archives to provide a comprehensive answer. Here we have presented his fine work in a more slimmed-down format: 1934 Hungary eliminated Africa by defeating Egypt in the first round, and Italy eliminated North America by beating USA 7-1. 1938 Hungary eliminated Asia by defeating the Dutch East Indies in the first round; Sweden eliminated North America by defeating Cuba in the second round; and Italy eliminated South America by defeating Brazil in the semi-final. 1954: Hungary eliminated South America by knocking out Brazil in the quarters and Uruguay in the semis. Elsewhere, the odd non-round robin group first-round format makes it a little tricky to decide who knocked out whom, but France appear to have eliminated North America by defeating Mexico in their final first round match. Turkey knocked out Asia by defeating South Korea. 1958: Hungary eliminated North America by defeating Mexico in the final group stage match. 1962: This time around, it was Spain’s turn to eliminate North America by defeating Mexico. 1966: North America and Mexico are eliminated after only two matches – and it’s England who experience what it is like to knock out an entire continent. More famously, Portugal eliminated Asia in the quarters by defeating North Korea 5-3 after going 3-0 down. Eusebio scores one of his four goals in the stunning comeback defeat of North Korea. Photograph: AP 1970: Italy knock out Asia via a 0-0 final group stage draw with Israel (who were yet to switch to Uefa), while Peru eliminated Africa by defeating Morocco 3-0 in the second group stage match. 1974: Oceania, in their only pre-expansion appearance, were eliminated by Chile via a 0-0 draw with Australia. Africa are eliminated in the second group-stage match by Yugoslavia, who crush Zaire 9-0. North America are eliminated in the second group-stage match by Poland, who crush Haiti 7-0. 1978: West Germany eliminated two continents; North America in the second group-stage match by beating Mexico, and then Africa via a 0-0 draw with Tunisia in the final group-stage match. Peru knock out Asia by defeating Iran. “Finally,” writes Alasdair, “despite beating both Mexico in the final first round match and the United States in the semi-final, Argentina didn’t eliminate North America in 1930; Chile’s victory over France earlier the same day meant that Mexico had already been mathematically eliminated before they took the field against Argentina (in the same stadium as the earlier match).” Knowledge archive “What is the current record crowd for a friendly in Britain?” asked Kris Scrimgeour in August 2009. The record for an international friendly is 125,683 – achieved at Hampden Park for a game between Scotland and France, which the home side won 2-0, all the way back on 27 April 1949. That answer was provided by Sean DeLoughry, and so was the record for a friendly between two club sides - 104,493 for Rangers 1-2 Eintracht Frankfurt, also at Hampden Park, in October 1961. An honourable mention goes to Chelsea 3-3 Dynamo Moscow in 1945. While the official attendance for that match was listed as 85,000, many witnesses estimated the true figure at close to 100,000, and according to Damon Maddison: “The crowd were spilling out of the terraces and on to the dog track, while some people even climbed on to the roof of the stands to watch.” The highest official gate for that tour was actually at Ibrox, however, where 92,000 saw Dynamo draw with Rangers. For thousands more questions and answers take a trip through the archive. Can you help?<doc-sep>
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP): Kylian Mbappe's breakout performances, 11 own goals and very few red cards despite all Neymar's dives. Here is a look at the records set and broken during the World Cup in Russia, and what it tells us about the tournament: PLENTY OF GOALS With just one scoreless draw in 63 games so far, Russia's World Cup has been far from dull. By the time France and Denmark delivered a boring 0-0 draw, 35 games had been played with at least one goal scored, breaking a World Cup record that had stood for 64 years. The tournament averaged 2.58 goals per game through the semi-finals, second only to Brazil in 2014 for World Cups this century. The record of 5.38 per game from 1954 is unlikely ever to fall without major rule changes. Back then, many teams lagged far behind the best, leading to two 7-0 thrashings and a 9-0 game. KANE'S PENALTIES Teams have scored more goals than usual, but many weren't particularly noteworthy. The 11 own goals are a record — in part because FIFA has stricter guidelines about attributing deflected shots — while the new Video Assistant Referee system led to an increase in the number of penalties awarded to a record 28, 10 more than the previous mark from 2002. Of those, 21 were converted from the spot. Harry Kane typified the trend in his push to be tournament top scorer. The England captain scored three of his tournament-leading six goals from penalties and two shortly after corner kicks, leaving just a single deflected goal from open play. Modern technology has helped the World Cup's more modest teams pick the right tactics to frustrate top-class opponents, but there have still been some outstanding goals. Denis Cheryshev's curling shot for Russia against Croatia and Benjamin Pavard's swerving strike for France against Argentina are among the highlights. MBAPPE AND El HADARY Young stars have made a mark, none more than France's 19-year-old Kylian Mbappe, who became the youngest player to score two goals in a World Cup game since Pele in 1958. Aging players have set records, too. Goalkeeper Essam El Hadary became the oldest player ever start in a World Cup game when he lined up in Egypt's last match against Saudi Arabia aged 45. Mexico veteran Rafael Marquez became the first player picked in a starting 11 at five World Cups. CROATIAN GRIT Croatia got to the final the hard way, becoming the first team ever to win three consecutive games in extra time at a World Cup. That added up to 360 minutes of football in the knockout stages, the equivalent of a full game more than France, which also had an extra day to rest for the final. KEEPING IT COOL Perhaps with one eye on the VAR system, players didn't break the rules so much, but they've certainly been bending them. There hasn't been a single red card for violent conduct, and just four ejections in total. If it stays that way in the last two games, it'll be the lowest number at the World Cup for 40 years. Compare that with 2006, when 28 reds were issued including four in one game when Portugal beat the Netherlands. However, there have been plenty of cases of players mobbing referees, wasting time and writhing in exaggerated agony. Swiss broadcaster RTS calculated Neymar spent nearly 14 minutes on the ground in Brazil's first four games.