Modric wins golden ball as best player at the 2018 World Cup

Brazil midfielder Paulinho said that the 2-1 defeat against Belgium in their quarter-final match of the World Cup 2018 is harder to take than the 7-1 humiliation handed by Germany in World Cup 2014.

 In 2014, World Cup hosts Brazil were crushed 7-1 by Germany, who went on to win the title. All the Brazil fans around the world were hoping the Selecao would achieve the ultimate glory this time in Russia to put the haunting memories of the 2014 World Cup humiliation behind them. But a 2-1 loss to Belgium saw Tite's men eliminated in the quarter-finals on Friday, four years on from a last-four defeat.

Paulinho, who was a part of the Brazil team that faced a humiliating defeat against Germany in World Cup 2014, was also a member of the side that saw their hopes crushed by Belgium in this edition of the football extravaganza.

 As reported by Goal.com, Paulinho compared both the defeat and according to the 29-year old midfielder, the latest loss against Belgium in the quarter-final of the tournament is harder to take.

“For me, they were both difficult,” Paulinho said in a television interview. “A very complicated 2014, but this one is harder.”

The midfielder added: “The way we left, we were fighting until the last second, in a match when we were all over them.”

Meanwhile, Brazil forward Gabriel Jesus, who had a disappointing World Cup as he could not find the back of the net in the tournament despite starting in all five World Cup games for the Selecao, voiced his disappointment over his lack of goals after the match.

 “It’s frustrating. I worked a lot. It’s hard. You give up a lot of things to get to such a big tournament. Everyone knows it’s a dream.

“Right there after the debut, it became an obsession.” Jesus said.

Belgium shot Brazil out of the World Cup with a 2-1 quarterfinal win yesterday to set up a semifinal clash with France on Tuesday.

The five-time champions did everything in their power to crawl out of the 2-0 hole they had found themselves in within the first 30 minutes -- which saw Fernandinho head the ball into his own net before Kevin de Bruyne fired in a clean right-footer into Allison Becker's far post -- but could only pull back one in the 83rd minute of the game. It was a Renato Augusto header that finally beat Belgium goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, who made at least half a dozen saves to take the men in red close to dreamland.

Earlier, in the first quarterfinal match, France had made light work of Uruguay in a 2-0 win, who looked lost in attack without star striker Edinson Cavani to complement Luis Suarez. Raphael Varane soared high and headed home the opening goal from a brilliant Antoine Griezmann free-kick in the 40th minute before Griezmann doubled the lead in the 61st minute courtesy of goalkeeper Fernando Muslera's incredible blunder.

For Brazil it was a chastening blow after playing so well in the last three games. Interestingly, it was the very ground where young French forward Kylian Mbappe destroyed Argentina with his pace and guile a week ago. Last night it was the turn of Manchester United forward Romelu Lukaku, who rattled a Brazil defence that conceded just one goal in the last four games.

Brazilian superstar Neymar (L) lies on the floor in anguish after just his second ever competitive defeat with Brazil in a World Cup quarterfinal against Belgium yesterday. Photo: Reuters

Belgium's opening goal came off a quick counter attack. Lukaku made a darting run down the middle before releasing the ball to Marouane Fellaini, whose shot was blocked for a corner. Belgian defender Vincent Kompany's backwards header from the near post was deflected into Brazil's net by Fernandinho, who actually had a miserable game after coming into the team as a replacement for the suspended Casemiro.

Belgium silenced the five-time world champions again in the 31st minute. Although De Bruyne scored with neat right-footer past Alisson, the instigator was once again a giant Lukaku. The 25-year-old powered through the middle and drew almost all of Brazil's defensive pack towards himself before releasing a perfect through pass wide on the right-hand side from where Manchester City forward De Bruyne made no mistake in drilling a low shot.

By time Brazil captain Miranda was entrusted with the duty to defuse Lukaku, the Belgian had already done the damage. After that it was the Courtois' turn, the Chelsea goalkeeper who kept Brazil at bay time and again.

It is not that Brazil were at the receiving end in a game that was played at a frantic pace. They were not only unlucky to have one of their many attempts come off the post, but they had at least four shots saved by Courtois in the first half.

On the opposite end of the scale were the Red Devils, who revelled in their victory with a healthy mixture of disbelief and euphoria. Photo: Reuters

Brazil made two changes in the second half with Roberto Firmino coming on in place of Willian at the interval before Gabriel Jesus made way for Douglas Costa in 55th minute to bolster the attack.

They created a lot of opportunities but were only to be blamed as they wasted at least four chances with only Courtois to beat. Augusto replaced Paulinho in the 70th minute and headed a Coutinho floater into the net in the 73rd minute.

Brazil still had plenty of time to score but somehow managed to shoot the ball wide from advantageous positions.

With the game heading into the last ten minutes and a tiring Belgium resorting to time wasting, Neymar dashed down the flank before providing a neat cutback to Firmino, whose left footed shot on the turn flew over the bar.

Augusta had only Courtois to beat in the 80th minute but shot the ball miles over the bar. Brazil had a final chance to take the game into extra-time when Neymar nicely fed Coutinho with a superb cutback in the 85th minute. But the Barcelona forward, who had earlier in the tournament scored a couple of magnificent goals, somehow managed to shoot the ball over the bar from top of the box.  And when Courtios tipped Neymar's curler over the bar, a defeat was a foregone conclusion.

Brazil's departure from the tournament means that six out of the eight teams who have already won the World Cup have left the biggest stage. France, who dispatched former champions Uruguay 2-0 in the first match of the day, are one of two remaining heavyweights alongside England. 

If surprise 2018 runners-up Croatia take the World Cup by storm again in Qatar, in the thick of it this time will probably be Mateo Kovacic, one of the beating hearts of their midfield.

The 28-year-old is going into his third finals having finally established himself as a key member of coach Zlatko Dalic's team after proving his credentials as a top-level performer at Chelsea in the Premier League.

Success has not always been so easy for the Dinamo Zagreb teenage prodigy who joined Inter Milan aged 18 and moved to Real Madrid two years later where he failed to leave his mark.

Photo: AFP

Kovacic has had his ups and downs for Croatia too.

After featuring early in their unexpectedly long run in Russia four years ago, Kovacic was an unused substitute when Croatia knocked England out in the semi-finals and did not come on in the final either when they lost 4-2 to France.

At club level, Kovacic has four Champions League winners' medals, three of them from his time at Real. But he had not played a minute in a final of Europe's most prestigious club competition until he came on as a substitute for Chelsea in their 1-0 win over Manchester City in Porto in 2021.

Now he has a grip on his place in the national team, starting all of their qualifiers for Qatar apart from two when he was injured and one when he was suspended, and he was an ever-present in their strong Nations League campaign this year.

Kovacic looks likely to form part of a midfield trio including Inter's Marcelo Brozovic and the player he once idolised as a child, Luka Modric - almost a decade his senior but still a creative genius for Croatia and Real Madrid.

Croatia boast an adept midfield with Luka Modric, Marcelo Brozovic, and Mateo Kovacic. The three posed for a selfie following their 3-1 win against Austria in September. Photo: AFP

Kovacic, who was born to Croatian parents in Austria, has talked about how he began to understand football better when he was about 10-years-old and started watching Modric play.

Modric has been quick to repay the compliments, telling Spanish newspaper Marca this year: "I think Mateo Kovacic could be my heir, at least he is the player with the most talent."

Chelsea's Mateo Kovacic dribbles past AC Milan's Charles De Ketelaere and Ismael Bennacer. Photo: AFP

Often overshadowed by the attacking talents of Modric, Kovacic seldom basks in the limelight. But his contribution in terms of ball recovery, setting up counter-attacks and his energy are likely to be central to Croatia's campaign.

Croatia at the World Cup

Following is a statbox on Croatia

FIFA Ranking: 12

Odds: 50-1

Previous tournaments: Croatia have appeared at five World Cups since breaking away from the former Yugoslavia in 1991, starting in 1998 in France and since then only missing out on South Africa 2010. They reached the 2018 final in Russia, beating England in the last four before losing 4-2 to France in Moscow. In 1998 they reached the semis and finished third after a 2-1 win over Netherlands in the playoff.

How they qualified:

Croatia lost their opening qualifying game away to Slovenia in March 2021 but went on to win seven and draw two, conceding a total of only four goals. They clinched top spot, and automatic qualification for Qatar, by beating Russia 1-0 in their final group game last November thanks to a late own goal by defender Fedor Kudryashov.

Form guide

Croatia followed up their World Cup qualifying success by topping their Nations League group ahead of Denmark, France and Austria, winning four of their six games, drawing one and losing only once.

A month ago, if someone had predicted that France and Croatia would play the World Cup final in Russia, most of us would have dumped it as an impossible option. But here we are with that spectacularly different reality -- the Les Bleus and the Blazers lining up for today's final at the Luzhniki Stadium.

France are no rank outsiders -- they are a proven force and won the World Cup in 1998. But Croatia have certainly lived up their nickname -- blazing their way to their first-ever World Cup final. And if Croatia win, they will be the ninth nation to lift the coveted trophy.

Do they deserve it? Let's have the facts -- they played three knockout games on the trot for 120 minutes and more importantly they did it the hard way. Croatia won their semifinal against England in style – coming from a goal down to win it 2-1 in extra time, with Mario Mandzukic slamming the winner on 109 minutes. Not only that, they won their three group stage games which included a thumping 3-0 win against two-time world champions Argentina.

This Croatia team have so far not only demonstrated that they have got the qualities, if not pedigree, to go all the way to win the title. They will be up against a team they lost thrice against two draws in the last five meetings, but Croatia's inspirational coach Zlatko Dalic said past statistics would not win his opponents today's final.

“Statics, tradition and head to head -- I don't buy those. Tradition is there to be demolished. We do not mind who is on the other side of the pitch. We have come here to enjoy the moment and give our best. We deserved to play in the final; we want the world to watch Croatia play; we want most of the world to root for us. This is important. We will give our all, we will enjoy our football and whoever is the better team may they win,” Dalic said ahead of the final.

After that semifinal heart-break against France in their maiden World Cup appearance in 1998, Croatia lurched from bad to worse in the following three editions of the World Cup. They made it to Russia at the last moment but since then it has been a spectacular journey for them with Luca Modric playing the key role in a very experienced side.

They might have played more minutes and got less rest compared to France and they have so far proved that they love to grind their way out of a hole. This tough mentality might prove handy for them against an extremely talented yet raw French side, who had only one tough game against Belgium in the semifinal. France were successful in defending a 54th-minute Umtiti lead against Belgium. But the ploy of sitting back against a vastly experienced Croatia side might prove costly for them.

France will bank on the brilliance of Kylian Mbappe to create something on the break. But the key player for the Les Bleus would once again be again Antoine Grizemann and it will be interesting to see who controls the midfield.

France captain Hugo Lloris is well aware that this Croatia team is not only very experienced but have the quality too. He also reminded that they would have to be at their best if they want France to lift the World Cup for a second time and put behind the home disappointment of the Euro 2016 final against Portugal.

Twenty years ago, France joined the exclusive group of World Cup winners, defeating Brazil in the final. Croatia made their first appearance in that year and bowed out, suffering an agonising 2-1 semifinal defeat against France. They will get a second chance at redemption. And if they can do that, it will be gift to the dreamers. Croatia is a county of only four million people, but Dalic promised that the seismic wave back in Croatia would be even bigger than Brazil and Argentina if they win the final.

Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic stated outright what he felt regarding the controversial penalty call following his side’s 4-2 defeat to France in Sunday’s World Cup final, saying : “You don't give a penalty like that in a World Cup final.”

A debatable penalty awarded with the use of FIFA's new video replay system proved a turning point in the World Cup final on Sunday as debate focused on erronous referee calls.

France and Croatia were level at 1-1 in an evenly contested match when Argentine referee Nestor Pitana was alerted to a possible handball ten minutes from half time and, after checking the off-field screen, he decided Croatia's Ivan Perisic had handled. While there is no doubt that the ball did hit the Croatian’s hand, the focus will remain on whether the handling of the ball was intentional.

Antoine Griezmann converted the penalty and France went on to win 4-2. Even after the use of the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system, it remained a highly contentious call. Many former players called the awarding of the penalty a dubious decision with former England and Liverpool defender perhaps rightly suggesting that ‘It’s the referee’s mistake, not VAR! VAR is just the replay of an incident.’

The decisions proved to be a turning point in the match as France’s influence grew following their second goal. Dalic said he thought such a decision had no place in a game of such magnitude.

“We played well but the penalty knocked the wind out of us and after that it was very difficult," Dalic said after congratulating France on their victory. "I just want to say one sentence about that penalty: You don't give a penalty like that in a World Cup final.”

The Croatia coach conceded that his team had let in two ‘soft goals’ but lamented the fact that things did not go their way when they were in a good position to fight for the match.

“We wanted to win the World Cup so much, but that's football," he said. "The French did not surprise us; we let in two soft goals coupled with an own goal and a penalty.

“What we had in terms of luck in this tournament, we lacked today. When you concede four goals, you cannot expect to win the game.”

Neverthless, Dalic went on to congratulate France and praised his team’s effort after they gave a vastly talented French side a run for their money.

“I congratulate France on their title. We played well in the first 20 minutes, we controlled the game. Then there was an own goal from a set play. We came back to life, dominated and then the penalty was given,” Dalic said.

“I have to congratulate my players, it was maybe the best game we played in this tournament; we controlled the match but we conceded. Against such a strong side as France you must not make mistakes. We are a bit sad, but we have to be proud as well for what we’ve done.”