2018 FIFA WORLD CUP – RUSSIA: THURSDAY 14 JUNE – SUNDAY 15 JULY [AN AUSTRALIAN PERSPECTIVE] – INSTALMENT FOUR [to 15 July 2018]

At this stage of the tournament, we have 16 teams remaining in the World Cup [the elimination round to determine this year’s Quarter Finalists], eight games in total, with Extra Time, and Penalty shots to be utilised as required, should scores be level at the end of the normal 90 minutes.

• Argentina;
• Belgium;
• Brazil;
• Colombia;
• Croatia;
• Denmark;
• England;
• France;
• Japan;
• Mexico;
• Portugal;
• Russia;
• Spain;
• Sweden;
• Switzerland;
• Uruguay

Day One occurred in the early hours of Sunday morning, 1 July [AEST]

• France vs Argentina was played at Kaxzan [from 12 am], and proved to be a real goal-scoring spree, in sharp contrast to some of the final group matches, with 7 goals scored between the two teams. In fact, the reporters for news.comn.au described the game as “one of the greatest games ever seen in World Cup history” and “a World Cup classic”. Well I can’t judge the accuracy of that, however, but it certainly provided a much entertaining and exciting 90 minutes of football, which eventually saw the Argentina team eliminated from the competition. At the end, the Argentina champion Messi stood in utter disbelief that another World Cup campaign had come to an end without the ultimate glory.  The final  score was France 4; Argentina 3.
• The second game featured Uruguay and Portugal [played at 4 am at Sochi]. Another football hero, Portugal’s Christiano Ronaldo exited the competition, when Uruguay defeated the European team. ABC News reported that  “Portugal, who won Euro 2016 in France, dominated possession but their attack did not have enough bite to break through the Uruguay defence twice, leaving captain Cristiano Ronaldo a frustrated figure during the entire match. The Real Madrid forward could not add to his four goals in the first two matches, failing to improve his record of failing to score in all six World Cup knockout matches he has played. Ronaldo had an opportunity in the first half to score from a free kick about 30 metres out but could only hit the wall”.
• Uruguay forward Edinson Cavani scored a stunning brace to lead the South Americans to victory over the European champions to set up a quarter-final match against France. Final score was Uruguay 2, France 1.

Day Two occurred in the early hours of Monday morning, 2 July [AEST]

• The early match [12 am, at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, was between Russia and Spain, and it prove [eventually] to be a good day for the hosts. Again reporting for the ABC here in Australia, we learn that
• Host team, “Russia has shocked Spain 4-3 on penalties to advance to the World Cup quarter-finals where it will face Croatia. Russia keeper Igor Akinfeev saved Koke’s and Iago Aspas’s spot kicks in their first ever penalty shootout to send the hosts through following a turgid 1-1 draw over 120 minutes.  Spain, which has never beaten a host at World Cups or Euros, went ahead after 12 minutes when 38-year-old Sergei Ignashevich bundled into Spain captain Sergio Ramos at the far post, knocking a free kick in with his heel for the 10th own goal of the tournament’.  The final score, after the teams could not be separated at 1-1 after extra time, saw Russia win with a superior penalty score of 4-3.

• The second match featured Croatia and Denmark, played at the Nizhny Novgorod Stadium. This match scored by both teams within the first four minutes, however by the normal 90 minutes, plus extra time, no addition had being made to either score, and a penalty shoot-out to decide the winner was again required. That almost wasn’t necessary! Croatia could have wrapped up the result five minutes from the end of extra-time, with a penalty kick taken by Croatia’s Luka Modric, which was saved by Danish keeper, Kasper Schmeichel. The subsequent penalties saw five shots for goal saved by the respective keepers, before Croatia eventually came out on top, as However, the Croatia captain [Modric] returned to bravely take one of the post-match kicks as goalkeeper Danijel Subasic save three of Denmark’s efforts to set up a quarter-final meeting with Russia.
• The final score [after being level at 1-1] saw Croatia defeat Denmark win 3-2 on penalties.

 Day Three of the Round of 16,  occurred in the early hours of Tuesday morning, 3 July [AEST, with again, two matches being featured.

• Match 1 was Brazil vs Mexico, held at Samara, at 12 am. With some of it’s main competitors out of the running, this was Brazil’s big opportunity to make a statement, and that they did. Brazil charged into the World Cup quarter-finals with a 2-0 victory over Mexico as Neymar shone with a goal and an assist that dumped the central Americans out at the last 16 stage for the seventh straight occasion, after their World Cup began with such promise with a victory over champions Germany, but ended in familiar fashion in the first knockout round. For Brazil, it was the seventh World Cup running they had reached the last eight. Meanwhile the Brazilian superstar had his critics – Neymar’s sparkling performance was tarnished by yet another example of his tendency to overreact to seemingly innocuous challenges. The latest chapter in a bulging catalogue of histrionic behaviour came in the second half, when Mexico  midfielder Miguel Layun appeared to step on his ankle as he lay prone.  Neymar writhed around and convulsed as if he had received an electric shock.  The final  score in the game  –  Brazil 2, Mexico 0.

• Match 2 was Belgium vs Japan, at 4 am, played at Rostov-on-Don. This game saw a magnificent comeback by the Belgium team, after being down 0-2, about 7 minutes into the second half. But the Japanese hearts were broken when Belgium came back to win an extraordinary match, and a place in the quarter-finals, with just a few seconds of stoppage time left to be played.  Despite4 the outcome, the 61st-ranked Japanese who were given little chance of making an impact at the tournament, produced a gritty group stage display and last-16 match versus Belgium which won over the fans. Yet despite the heartache and the sadness at their World Cup elimination, the fans remained true to the morals and cleared up the stands before leaving – as they have done at each of their four games in Russia. That goodwill nature of the Japanese contingent in Russia even spread to the team, who despite being eliminated from the World Cup in the most dramatic of circumstances ensured they cleaned the changing room to perfection and left a note that read “Спасибо” – Russian for thank you.    The final score  –  Belgium  3, Japan 0

Day Four of the Round of 16,  occurred in the early hours of Wednesday morning, 4 July [AEST, with the final four teams of the last 16 involved.

Match 1 was Sweden vs Switzerland, played at 12 am, at St. Petersburg. In a win described as ‘scrappy’, it was enough to put the Swedes into the quarter-finals  for the first time in 24 years. Reporting from St. Petersburg, Simon Jennings wrote  “Both teams were wasteful in possession and guilty of the sort of poor finishing and unimaginative mid-field play that had boos and whistles ringing around the ….stadium from as early as the 25^th minutes..” On the basis of that performance, Jennings suggests that “the English [who play Sweden in their quarter-final match] will not lose any sleep over the prospect of facing the limited Swedish attack”.  English fans will no doubt hope that their team does not under-estimate the Swedes however.    Final score in the match:  Sweden 1, Switzerland  0.

 Match 2, and the final game of the round of 16, involved England and Colombia.  For the English, this was a game which finally saw the lifting of a hoodoo which suggested that England never win penalty shoot-outs.  Writing from Moscow, Steven Goff, in commenting on the match which would eventually be won, on penalties, by England, said “For all the history and lore surrounding English soccer, the national team has not raised a major trophy since the 1966 World Cup”. To many fans, an almost unbelievable statistic.  And it could have continued  –  with the score at the end of full and extra time sitting at 1-1, England again had to face a ‘dreaded’ penalty situation. This time, they managed to pull off a heart-stopping win over Colombia in a penalty shootout. Mateus Uribe hit the crossbar and England keeper Jordan Pickford saved Carlos Bacca’s effort, while the Three Lions scored four of their five penalties to progress to the quarter-finals.  The final score revealing  England 1 [4] defeating Colombia  1 [3].

So there we have it – at the end of the round of 16, the 32 teams which began this tournament, are now reduced to 8 teams who will compete in the quarter final matches, beginning in the early hours of the 7^th July [AEST].

 The four Quarter Final matches were as follows.

• Uruguay vs France; played at Mizhny Novgorod, at 12 am on Saturday 7 July. The key match-ups here were Diego Godin [Uruguay] and Antonie Griezmann [France], by coincidence, the former being godfather to the French player’s daughter [though that fact was no doubt forgotten during the match]. Uruguayand France play in the first quarter-final tomorrow. Uruguay and France  had met five times in the past 30 years, with Nil all draws in four of those games, and a 1-0 win to Uruguay in the most recent game in 2013. More pleasingly, their first three meetings (one in 1924, one in 1966 and one in 1985) featured 11 goals.

As it eventuated this time, goals from Raphael Varane and Griezmann would be enough to ensure France of a berth in the semi-finals for the first time since 2006. Writing for the Guardian, Stuart James noted that “Growing in confidence all the time and blessed with outstanding individuals, there is something ominous about the way France have dispatched Argentina and now Uruguay, scoring six goals in the process and, perhaps most significantly, leaving the impression there is so much more to come” while “Uruguay will reflect on a potential turning point just before half-time, when Hugo Lloris produced an outstanding save to keep out a powerful downward header from Martín Cáceres and Diego Godín thumped the follow-up wide. Those two chances were rare sights of goal for a team outplayed for much of the game”.  The final score:  France  defeated Uruguay  2-0..

• Brazil vs Belgium was played at Kazan, at 4 am on Saturday, 7 July, with the ky match-ups here expected to be the Brazilian captain, Thiago Silva  and Belgium’s Romelu Lukaku.. It’s been a long time since these teams faced each other. The last meeting was Brazil’s 2-0 World Cup Round of 16 victory in 2002. That was also their only competitive meeting to date. Rivaldo and Ronaldo scored in Kobe. It was a much closer match than the score would suggest. Brazil went on to win the competition that year – beating Germany 2-0 in the final.

From the BBC –  “Belgium produced a brilliant performance to knock five-time winners Brazil out of the World Cup and reach the semi-finals for the first time since 1986.  Roberto Martinez’s side turned on the style in Kazan to clock up their fifth straight win of the tournament and ensure the semi-finals will be contested by four European sides for the first time since 2006. Although, as another reporter noted,   “quite how Belgium hung on to reach the semi-finals and send Brazil home they may never know.  It was another Russia 2018 classic, featuring a Belgium side who plundered two goals against their famous opposition twice in the first 32 minutes after which the men in the yellow shirts would spend the next hour in thrilling perpetual chase. Led by their little general Philippe Coutinho, and perhaps with a little longer at their disposal, it would have been Brazil in the semi-final against France in St Petersburg on Tuesday”.  So we head into the Semi-finals with no South American side, no Germany, and no Spain, and likely all European semi-finals. Final Score:  Belgium defeated Brazil 2-1

• Sweden vs England, played at Samara, at 12 am, Sunday 8 July.  Goals scored by England’s Harry Maguire and Dele Alli were sufficient to give their team a semi-final berth.  It’s noted that the last time England won a World Cup quarter final was against Cameroon in 1990, and they had lost two since then, so despite the overall reputation of English football, they’d not played in a semi-final for 28 years.  Fun fact: All of Sweden’s players are based at clubs abroad, while all of Gareth Southgate’s men play their domestic football in England. Five players in the Sweden squad play their club football in the English league system – could their insider knowledge come in handy on Saturday?  They are: Victor Lindelöf (Manchester United), Martin Olsson (Swansea City), Sebastian Larsson (Hull City), Pontus Jansson (Leeds United), Kristoffer Nordfeldt (Swansea).

Mind you, as written in the UK Independent News –  “England did have to work hard to get ahead, and it was not pretty in the first half-hour before the goal. But once they did so they were always in complete control, and started to attack with the fluency that had been promised all tournament but never quite arrived. Once Dele Alli nodded in a clever header the game was up”.  As for Sweden, their effort was seen by some as a rather feeble challenge. AS the Guardian’s Daniel Taylor wrote –    “It was England’s first clean sheet of the tournament and there was never a concerted spell when Sweden – willing but limited opponents – managed to pin them back”……….Final score saw England defeat Sweden 2-0.

• The final quarter final match was between Russia and Croatia, played at Sochi, at 4 am on Sunday, 8 July. Speaking prior to the match,  Russia central defender Ilya Kutepov told FIFA that the team doesn’t intend resting on the achievement of eliminating Spain. “We want to go as far as possible. Now we have new goals. Croatia are a very good team with great players but we are determined to make another step forward. I don’t want to say that after beating Spain we can beat anyone, no, I’d phrase it in a different way: appetite comes with eating. When we played in a group we wanted to qualify for the knockout stage. Then we thought that Spain are strong but we wanted to go further. Now we meet Croatia and the quarter-finals are not enough for us anymore. With every victory you want to go further and further”.

Unfortunately for the host nation, this match would see the end of Russia’s World Cup campaign, although the final result would come down to a penalty shoot-out.    From ABC News we read the following report  –  “The Croats hadn’t advanced to the semi-finals at the World Cup since 1998, when the country made its first appearance. Croatia will next play England in the semi-finals on Wednesday in Moscow.  With the crowd silenced following an extra-time header from Croatia defender Domagoj Vida in the 101st minute, Russia defender Mario Fernandes scored with his own header in the 115th to send the match to yet another penalty shootout.  Fernandes, who was born in Brazil but rejected a chance to play for that country’s national team in 2011, sent his penalty kick wide of the net in the shootout, giving Croatia the advantage.  Both goalkeepers made early saves in the shootout, with an injured Danijel Subasic stopping the opening shot from Fyodor Smolov. Igor Akinfeev later blocked an attempt from Mateo Kovacic.  At 1-1, Fernandes missed his shot, then the teams traded two scores each before Ivan Rakitic calmly converted the winning penalty.  “We should have finished the job before penalties but maybe it’s written in the stars we have to go through the extra drama,” said Luka Modric, whose penalty bounced off Subasic’s hand and the post before entering the other side of the net.

Although Russia made it further at this year’s World Cup than most anyone expected, it was Croatia that advanced to the semi-finals with a 4-3 shootout victory following a 2-2 draw.  The overachieving hosts, the lowest ranked team in the tournament at number 70, were trying to make it to the World Cup semi-finals for the first time since the Soviet Union finished fourth at the 1966 tournament in England.  Even Russian President Vladimir Putin was taken in by the host nation’s surprising run, at least according to Russia coach Stanislav Cherchesov.  “Putin called me during the day, and he called me right now,” Cherchesov said. “He congratulated us on a very good game. He said what we showed on the field was great. I told him we were disappointed. He said we should have our eyes open and make the next steps.”   Final score saw Croatia  2 [4]  defeat Russia 2 [3].

 

So we now reach the Semi-Final stage  –  France versus Belgium [July 11],   and England versus Croatia [July 12]

 Semi Final No. 1  –    France versus Belgium  –  played at 4 am on Wednesday, 11 July [AEST], at the St Petersburg Stadium.

• There was only the single goal scored in this game, early in the 2^nd half, although both teams had scoring opportunities in the 1^st

The following is an almost complete copy of a rather ornate New York Times description of France’s victory, and the lead-up to it [written by Rory Smith] which I’ve taken the liberty to share with my readers.

“They were only glimpses, fleeting and flickering and ultimately insignificant, but they were so tantalizing that they were impossible to miss.

Kylian Mbappé, inside the first 10 seconds, burning Belgium’s Jan Vertonghen away, an express train speeding past a bewildered commuter. Paul Pogba striding forward, Antoine Griezmann dancing through challenges. Mbappé again, splitting Belgium’s defense in two with a blink-of-the-eye pirouetting drag-back.

They were moments to drop the jaw and draw the breath, visions of the heights this French generation — now one win away from being crowned champion of the world — might yet scale, images of what this team of all the talents could, and perhaps should, be.

But it was not those flashes of neon brilliance that took France past Belgium in a 1-0 win that sent thousands out to celebrate on the Champs-Élysées. France is not in its third World Cup final in 20 years because of what this team threatens to be, or might become.

It is there, instead, because of what it does in the long stretches between flashes; it is there not because it shines so brightly but because it dulls whatever it faces; it is there because of what it is: a team that always has much, much more than enough, but only ever does enough, and never any more.

France has, somehow, reached the cusp of greatness without ever really having given the impression it has stretched itself, or reached its full potential. It sleepwalked through its group, with single-goal victories against Australia and Peru, and a mind-numbing goalless draw with Denmark.

In the round of 16, against an Argentina side mired in chaos and permanently on the verge of a meltdown, it roused itself for a few minutes, scored three quick-fire goals, then sank back into itself, eventually winning — again — by just one goal.

It was only in the quarterfinal, against Uruguay, that it finally broke that trend of squeaking by, but only thanks a header off a set piece and an egregious error from Fernando Muslera, the Uruguayan

goalkeeper. France reached St. Petersburg, and the semifinal, hardly having broken a sweat.

It was greeted there by Belgium, whose own golden generation was supposed to provide a significantly more exacting test, to force the French out of their shells, to demand that Manager Didier Deschamps’s richly gifted players finally live up to their lofty reputations. For 50 minutes, the Belgians threatened to do just that, to draw this team into the open field. And then Samuel Umtiti scored — slipping his marker to meet Griezmann’s corner — and France drew back once more, content to contain and control.

Deschamps’s players let Belgium burn itself out, deprived it first of hope, and then of life, all the while not expending a drop of energy more than was strictly necessary.

Belgium’s Eden Hazard, in particular, had started the game as a ball of energy, twisting and turning and writhing his way past Benjamin Pavard, France’s right back; Hazard had the look of a player very conscious of the fact that this was his chance to stake a claim for greatness.

By the end, he looked adrift. He had long since wandered into central midfield, craving some sort of space, some sort of peace, only to find neither. His sparkle had gone, and so had his spark.

It was not — as might be expected, in the era of counter-pressing, that frenzied style of harrying and harassing that is so en vogue in European club soccer — because the French had pummeled him and his team into submission, barely allowing a moment’s rest, but because they had done the opposite: They waited as Belgium wandered into their sleeper-hold, and then simply refused to let go.

That has been France’s unexpected forte in this tournament: its defensive strength, its imperturbability, the ease with which it blunts an attack. Only Argentina has scored against the French from open play. They are so assured in defense that none of those single-goal victories felt at all close, or tense; they all seemed to be over long before the final whistle. So, too, here: When the game ended, the explosion of joy from the French players, and their small squadron of fans, felt somehow out of place, out of context, with the torpor that had descended.

France has achieved this not, as the teams of Pep Guardiola and Jürgen Klopp and Mauricio Pochettino seek to do, by seeking to coil itself around its prey, squeezing the breath from its opponents. Its approach resembles that of a crocodile, rather than a snake: It waits, pounces, and then sinks back beneath the surface, happy to wait again.

Given the personnel at his disposal, it is hard not to feel that Deschamps is forcing his players to do something that does not come naturally to them. This is a squad that could — should — be tearing through opponents; with its abilities, courage should not feel like a risk. There is a lingering feeling that France is not making the most of his resources, a temptation to wonder what this team might achieve, what it might become, with a less conservative, less cautious manager.

It is easy to speculate, too, that France’s passivity, that lack of ambition, might eventually prove its undoing, that in the final it will need to raise its game and will ultimately be unable — or unwilling — to do so.

There is, though, a counter argument that is no less compelling. France has met every challenge and passed them with ease. Lionel Messi could not disrupt its serenity; nor could Luis Suárez; now Hazard, Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku have failed, too………………………….Deschamps and his players are in the World Cup final because of what they are: a team designed to draw the sting, to suck the air from a game, to deprive the fire of oxygen. It is hard to believe they will not win it, though, because of what they might be: the team with the sting, with the air, with the fire. France, for the last month, has done what is required. It will be confident it can do so, one last time……………………And the final score: France  1, Belgium 0

Semi Final No. 2  –    Croatia versus England  –  played at 4 am on Thursday, 12 July [AEST], at the Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow.

• Well, the dreams of World Cup glory were shattered today when Croatia won it’s way into the Final for the first time. As reported in the ‘Guardian’ – “England fans were left heartbroken as Croatia claimed a 2-1 victory in extra-time of their World Cup semi-final. Gareth Southgate’s side made a dream start with Kieran Trippier’s early free-kick securing a 1-0 lead but Croatia came out stronger in the second half and Ivan Perisic levelled in the 67th minute. The teams traded blows for the rest of the match, but were forced into extra-time locked at 1-1. After a tense first period Mario Mandzukic then ended England’s hopes of making it to their first World Cup final since 1966. Croatia will play France in the final on Sunday [Moscow time].

As would be expected, the scenes of fans reacting in Croatia and England sharply contrasted between those of pure joy and utter despair.

And from Fox Sports, we read:England, appearing in their first semi-final since 1990, had looked on course for their first final since 1966 as they led through Kieran Trippier’s fifth- minute free kick and totally dominated the opening half on Wednesday.  Croatia, in their first semi since 1998, levelled through Ivan Perisic after 68 minutes and then looked the more dangerous side. It stayed level at 90 minutes, meaning Croatia faced extra time for the third successive game, having got past Denmark and Russia on penalties. But just when it looked as if they would become the first team to appear in three shootouts at a single World Cup Mandzukic struck with a well-taken low shot.  England captain Harry Kane could not hide his desperate disappointment  “We’re gutted. It hurts, it hurts a lot,” Kane said after the match at the Luzhniki Stadium.  “It’s going to hurt for a while of course. We can hold our heads up high. It’s been a fantastic journey, we got further than anyone else thought we would have,” he added.  “It’s been great to get to this stage and we know we’ve done everyone proud but we wanted to go on and win it,” Kane added.  “We thought we were just good enough, we thought we could have done that. But we’ve fallen just a bit short. It hurts. I don’t know what else to say\………………….The Final score: Croatia: 2, England: 1.

The play –off for 3^rd and 4^th position:  Belgium versus England.

This match between the two semi-final losers, was played at St. Petersburg, at 12 am [AEST] on Sunday morning 15 July.  This game saw England finish 4^th at World Cup after Belgium won with goals  from Thomas Meunier and Eden Hazard. Later, the English coach admitted that “England had no illusions about it’s current    standing in international football.  England manager Gareth Southgate, speaking to ITV: “Belgium are a better side than us. We had to play flat out. We had a day less to repair and recover. It was a game too far for us.

“Belgium are a top team and they will be thinking they should have gone further than they did. We caused them problems and pinned them back but they have players of the highest quality. “Two years on, you look at the number of caps and age of squad for Belgium. This is their peak but we are nowhere near that and we knew that the whole way through.”

While both teams had hoped to go further than was expected of them,  for Belgium, it would be that country’s best result in the World Cup competition, and it’s fans were more than happy with the outcome of today’s match………………………The final score:  Belgium 2, England 0.

 

The FIFA World Cup Final:  France versus  Croatia.

Played at the Luzhmiki Stadium, Moscow, at 1 am on the morning of Monday, 16 July [AEST].

Well, there was almost a smorgasbord of goals in the final, with the balance of them going to the French team. In fact,  it was the highest scoring final since 1966

Reporting for the ABC News, Liam Butterworth wrote  –

‘France has become champion of the world for a second time after holding out a determined Croatia in an entertaining World Cup final.  While it wasn’t always convincing — its first two goals came from the first ever own-goal and video assistant referee awarded penalty in a World Cup final, and French goalkeeper Hugo Lloris made a terrible error for Croatia’s second — Les Bleus made the most of their chances to hold out the Vatreni 4-2.  Teenage sensation Kylian Mbappe and midfield maestro Paul Pogba finished impressive team goals in a six-minute second half blitz that put the game beyond a Croatian side which had dominated large stretches and had 61 per cent possession.  While the French led 2-1 at half-time, Pogba blew the game open in the 59th minute by finishing a move that he had started in midfield.  He played Mbappe into a wide channel and then calmly curled Antoine Griezmann’s lay back pass past a motionless Daniel Subasic.

The 19-year-old Mbappe — already the first teenager to play in a World Cup final since Pele in 1958 — then matched another record held by the Brazil legend by scoring on 65 minutes. Defender Lucas Hernandez held off a strong challenge by Mario Mandzukic and passed inside to find Mbappe whose powerful right-foot strike beat Subasic once again.  Mandzukic gave his side a slice of hope on 68 minutes, taking full advantage of Lloris’ horrible attempt to beat him from a pass back.

But it wasn’t enough as France made amends for its defeat by Portugal in the 2016 European Championships by becoming the world’s best. France coach Didier Deschamps became just the third man to win the World Cup as a player and a coach, following Germany’s Franz Beckenbauer and Brazil’s Mario Zagallo.

Croatia had played extra time in each of its three previous matches but showed no signs of fatigue early in the final.”

“In the end, it was destiny for France and heartbreak for Croatia, who was playing in its first final. A wild World Cup concluded with a team everyone thought could win actually doing so, while Croatia’s miracle run falls painfully short. There could only be one winner, and a deserved France team managed to step up with its most convincing showing of the tournament when it mattered most.”  [Roger Gonzales, CBS Sports]..

So after 4 weeks of competition, France and it’s citizens are left to celebrate for the next 4 years at least, with a Final score:  France 4, Croatia 2

The end!!