Croatia surprised the whole world reaching the finals, and many neutral football fans will support them to go all the way and win the World Cup for the first time in history.
MMost of all questioned Croatia’s stamina prior to semi-finals because of 2 penalty shootouts, but they proved us wrong and performed only stronger in the match against England.
Now, they played like 4 matches instead of 3, but nobody will question their shape again.
They pushed and pressed England high to prevent their build up and force long ball play, but against France they might take a bit more cautions approach because of Giroud excellent aerial play and France’s aggressive second ball attacks.
France push their full-backs high up the field when they attack, and if Matuidi and Pogba are late to block the space behind them, France is quite vulnerable in wide areas once opponents regain possession. Perisic and Rebic are quick to release from defensive positions and offer options up front, while Modric is the one who provides long balls for them into space.
France proved the be the best counter-attacking team on this tournament, along with Belgium, and most of that threat comes from Mbappe. He is positioned in more advanced areas when the team defends, and is able to cover big distances in short time interval once counter-attack starts. But, that can be also a vulnerability, as Croatia showed in previous match that they are quite dangerous with quick switch of sides to create numerical superiority against opponent’s full-backs.
