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France Defeats Croatia 4-2 to take World Cup

MOSCOW -France won its second World Cup title by beating Croatia 4-2 on Sunday. The title is France’s first since it won on home soil in 1998, and it ended a thrilling run by Croatia.

France’s scoring actually came from a Croatian own goal. After Marcelo Brozovic hauled down Antoine Griezmann, the man who earned the free kick whipped a dangerous delivery into the box. Mandzukic rose to meet it, but the ball hit off the top of his head and deflected into his own net.

Croatia answered later when  Luka Modric hit an angled ball towards the back post that was knocked down and ping-ponged around in the box before it made its way towards Perisic. He took a touch to set himself up, then hit a laser of a half-volley past Hugo Lloris from 15 yards.

Then, referees awarded France a penalty kick for a handball from Perisic, giving France a penalty kick. France’s Antoine Griezmann made the most of, scoring a goal and bringing the score up to 2-1 at the half.

in the 50th minute, Paul Pogba’s first shot, a hard right-footed try, was blocked by a defender but it rebounded right back. Pogba took a step to his left to find an open lane and put a left-footed shot past a frozen Subasic.

France’s Kylian Mbappe showed electrifying speed in the 52nd minute when play was held up by four protesters. About 12 minutes after play resumed, Mbappe sent a right-footed shot past Croatia goalkeeper Danijel Subasic.

Croatia got back in the match briefly in the 69th minute on a bizarre goal by Mandzukic that came with a big assist from French keeper Hugo Lloris. Mandzukic hustled after a back pass from Samuel Umtiti and when Lloris used his first touch to try to step around the Croatian striker, he inadvertently put the ball on Mandzukic’s right foot, giving him an easy shot for the score.

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