Messi is going to continue to be the best, says Pogba

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.”

A Kansas City soccer record 72,610 fans saw Inter Miami defeat Sporting Kansas City 3-2 Saturday night at Arrowhead Stadium, with the main attraction playing a pivotal role in the win.

Lionel Messi, the main reason the match was moved from Sporting's normal home stadium of Children's Mercy Park to Arrowhead -- home of the NFL's Chiefs -- had a goal and an assist for Miami.

The crowd was more than 20,000 larger than the 52,424 that saw the then-Kansas City Wizards defeat Manchester United 2-1 at Arrowhead in an exhibition match in July 2010.

Messi put Miami (4-2-3, 15 points) up 2-1 in the 51st minute with a rocket from well beyond the 18-yard box. He collected the ball around 25 yards out and found the upper-right corner of the SKC net.

70' I Gómez recupera el balón gracias a la presión alta y se la sirve a Suárez que no perdona#SKCvMIA 2-3 pic.twitter.com/EjjS9tqNr3

— Inter Miami CF (@InterMiamiCF) April 14, 2024

The lead didn't last very long, however, as Erik Thommy got his second goal of the night in the 58th minute. Sporting (2-2-4, 10 points) had a corner kick that was deflected by a Miami defender. It floated out to Thommy, who kissed it off the right post and into the net.

Miami scored the decisive goal on a mistake by Sporting KC in the 71st minute. Jake Davis was displaced by Diego Gomez, who dribbled into the box and found an open Luis Suarez.

Sporting got on the board in the sixth minute to open the scoring. Tim Leibold picked off a pass on the Miami side of midfield and raced forward. He had several options for his first pass and chose Thommy to the right just outside the 18-yard box. Thommy waited momentarily for an opening in the Miami defense and then fired a shot to the far-left side of the net past Miami keeper Drake Callender.

Miami responded in the 18th minute. Messi fed a streaking Gomez, who left SKC keeper Tim Melia with no chance and forged a 1-1 tie.

Messi nearly put Miami up in the 41st minute when he drilled a free kick just to the right of the SKC net. Sporting nearly returned the favor moments later as Willy Agada used a spin move to work himself open, but his shot was right at Callender, who stopped it easily.

Lionel Messi scored after coming off the bench but his Inter Miami were held to a 2-2 draw by the Colorado Rapids in Major League Soccer on Saturday.

The Argentine had been out of action for almost a month with a hamstring injury, missing the last four games, but was named among the substitutes for the home game.

Messi missed Wednesday's 2-1 home defeat to Mexico's Monterrey in the CONCACAF Champions Cup quarter-final and with the return game on Wednesday, Inter coach Gerard Martino rotated his squad.

Martino fielded a heavily second-string line-up with Messi's former Barcelona team-mates Luis Suarez, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba also on the bench.

The youthful line-up looked comfortable, without threatening too often, but fell behind on the stroke of half-time when defender Ryan Sailor lunged into a rash challenge in the box on Colorado's French forward Kevin Cabral.

The Rapids' Brazilian forward Rafael Navarro drilled home the penalty to give Colorado a 1-0 lead at the break.

Messi was brought on after the interval and made an instant impact.

After just 12 minutes on the field, the Argentine World Cup-winner brought Miami level when Franco Negri crossed low from the left and Messi fired home off the inside of the post.

Busquets was then introduced and Miami took the lead on the hour -- Messi bursting forward from midfield, feeding David Ruiz down the right and his cross was coolly converted by debutant Leonardo Afonso.

Messi then brought a fine save out of Colorado's former Manchester City goalkeeper Zack Steffen and then from a tight angle at the back post, struck the woodwork.

But the third goal never arrived and Miami paid the price in the 88th minute when Calvin Harris lead a counter-attack down the right and found Cole Bassett who slotted home the equaliser.

If you discount World Cup pedigree, which has actually had little or no bearing in Russia 2018 so far, there is little to choose from between France and Belgium when the two European nations lock horns in the first semifinal at the Saint Petersburg Stadium today.

The weather is very conducive -- not hot like Samara or Kazan. It was actually overcast when the French trained yesterday. And Petersburg is expected to be as cool as 17 degrees Celcius when France will look to keep their World Cup record intact against a Belgian side that has conquered five-time champions Brazil in a hard-fought quarterfinal.

France are a young side. They came into this tournament as the most talented side, which Belgium was bracketed as four years ago in Brazil. The Belgians might have failed to live up to their potential then, when they were eliminated from the quarterfinal stages, but France have showed more maturity in their youth to battle their way past Argentina in the round of 16 before dispatching two-time champions Uruguay 2-0 in the quarterfinal.

Both teams have got the firepower to surprise the other despite the fact that they play almost the same style and their players know each other very well. It will be a golden opportunity for France coach Didier Deschamps to win the title both as a player and manager for the Les Bleus after leading the side to their first-ever World Cup glory in 1998.

However, Belgium have showed the tenacity needed to overcome adversity in this World Cup so far. They came from 2-0 down to beat Japan 3-2 and then kept Brazil at bay to make it to the last four for only the second time since 1986, when they finished third. It was also the year they met France at the biggest stage and lost the position deciding game 4-2.

For Deschamps it will be a challenge to confront his Belgian counterpart Roberto Martinez, who successfully adopted a different formation against Brazil. The French coach however said that he was well aware of that and ready to counter any changes in formation in the game.

Martinez said after the victory against Brazil that it was the best thing that happened for him and his side but yesterday he said that the mission is yet to be accomplished.

“We have a tough game against France. And a win will take us to the final. We will be proud if we can do that,” Martinez told reporters.

Out in the middle, it will be a battle within a battle. It will be Kylian Mbappe's time to take his growing reputation one notch higher after his exploits against Argentina. Belgium's Romelu Lukaku will try to emulate the speed and guile of Mbappe. It will be a classic battle between Antoine Griezmann and Eden Hazard, a clash between Paul Pogba and Kevin De Bruyne, a fight between Vincent Kompany and Raphael Varane.

More importantly, it will be a clash of titanic proportions for the tournament's two most impressive goalkeepers -- Thibaut Courtois and Hugo Lloris.

Four years after the Brazil disappointment, Belgium have matured and that will probably be their biggest strength against a French side who have got more depth in attack and defence. But whoever wins, it promises to be a cracker of a semifinal, even for those who have lost their appetite for the World Cup following the departure of the two South American rivals -- Brazil and Argentina. 

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.