Today is the finals of the Russia 2018 World Cup! Its been 20 years since current world cup finalists, Croatia and France played their first game in their world cup history. Both sides were semi-finals at the 1998 World Cup, which France was the hosts.
Read: Russia 2018: Croatia At The Brink Of History As England Seeks Long Lost Glory In Semifinal Clash
Croatia, a war-torn country had just broken away from Yugoslavia and were making their first appearance at the tournament as an independent country, yet the newcomers stunned everyone in the tournament by getting to the semi-finals only to lose 2-1 to France who became eventual winners of the tournament.
They, however, came out third in the competition after defeating the Netherland and with then striker Davor Suker scoring his sixth goal of the competition making him the highest goal scorer of the tournament and winning the golden boot.
Today in the Luzhniki stadium in Moscow, both semifinalists from 20 years ago will play in the finals. The Croatians having gone beyond the best ever outing earned in 1998 will be looking to go all the way and win their first world cup title in their history. The French will be looking for their second title and hope to get with their squad that has seen a renaissance with the performance of PSG striker Kylian Mbappe and Paul Pogba in the midfield.
Croatia will be relying on the trio Luka Modric, Ivan Rakitic and Mario Mandzukic to take the game to the Les Blues. The game kicks off at 4Pm tonight.