World Cup - Final

Welcome to another WhoReps look at the 2018 World Cup. Today we'll be recapping Sunday's final and the tournament overall! Enjoy.
                                            
It's over. It's finally over. After a full month, 64 total matches played, and 169 goals scored, the 2018 World Cup has come to an end. France topped Croatia 4-2 in Sunday's final to take home the trophy, the second in their history and first since 1998. Let the countdown to 2022 begin!
 
The game itself managed to be both wild and predictable. Memorable, and yet not particularly compelling. Croatian striker Mario Mandzukic opened the scoring by heading the ball into his own net in the 18th minute. The record twelfth own goal of this tournament set the tone for the day, and was also the first in the history of the World Cup Final. After Ivan Perisic evened the score for Croatia ten minutes later with a beautiful strike, he was then called for an unfortunate handball in the box just before halftime. Antoine Griezmann buried the resulting penalty. It just wasn't Croatia's day. France led 2-1 at half, despite having taken a whopping one shot.
 
The French took more conventional command of the game in the second half, opening up a 4-1 lead after Paul Pogba and young phenom Kylian Mbappe both put shots past keeper Danijel Subasic. Subasic, who had gotten injured in Croatia's quarterfinal match against Russia, noticeably lacked mobility and fitness at the worst possible time. His French counterpart Hugo Lloris, not to be outdone, gave up the final goal of the game, following an outrageous mistake attempting to dribble away from Mandzukic with no one around. Fittingly, neither man won the prestigious Golden Glove, given to the best goalkeeper of the tournament. That award went to Belgium's Thibaut Courtois. 
 
The six goals scored in this one represented the most in the final since 1966, and yet few had any real quality. But there are no style points. Mbappe joins the great Pele as the only teenagers to ever score in the final. Unsurprisingly, he recieved the award for Best Young Player in the tournament. Pogba, the recipient of that award in Brazil four years ago, became the first Manchester United player to ever score in the final of the World Cup, amazingly. Meanwhile, Didier Deschamps becomes just the second person ever, after German legend Franz Beckenbauer, to captain and then manage a World Cup-winning side. The former he achieved with Les Bleus twenty years ago. 
 
Croatia goes home defeated, but to a hero's welcome in Split, Zagreb, Dubrovnik, and everywhere throughout the Balkan nation. The greatest Croatian side in history managed something the football world won't soon forget, reaching the World Cup final with a total population less than half that of L.A. County. Anyone left who doubts the skills of Luka Modric or Ivan Rakitic is not interested in empirical reality. It's a shame that, both 30+, they won't get the chance to lift the ultimate trophy. Nevertheless, this side will surely be the gold standard of Croatian football for decades to come.
 
Fear not! The Premier League season is mere weeks away, and Champions League qualifying has already begun. Plus, it's only four years until the World Cup kicks off in Qatar! Soccer never sleeps.