Will Croatia become the 9th unique World Cup winner this Sunday, or will France secure their 2nd title in Moscow?

They may have broken English hearts, but you have to respect Croatia’s doggedness. One of the classiest teams in the group stages, racking up victories over Nigeria, Argentina and Iceland, the Blazers saw this form abandon them in the knockouts. Yet even if they haven’t been at their free-flowing best, they’ve found a way to win. A pretty bad penalty shootout pushed them past Denmark after a 1-1 draw, while their quarter-final against Russia also went all the way, Croatia dumping out the hosts out with a 4-3 spot-kick triumph.



They just about avoided the same outcome against England. After Ivan Perisic equalised in the 68th minute, Mario Mandzukic – who goes into the final at a Super Mega PGM of 13-17 – then picked the perfect moment to score his 2nd goal of the competition, an extra-time winner that helped Croatia best the historic achievement of the country’s legendary 1998 side.

If Croatia made more of their knockout fixtures than they arguably should have, France have consistently come up trumps against some stiff competition. They weren’t actually all that convincing in the group stages; they may have finished ahead of Denmark, Peru and Australia, but they did it by scoring only 3 goals across 3 games.

The knockouts, however, have been a different story entirely. A 4-3 thriller against Argentina in the last-16 arguably flatters Lionel Messi and co., while a 2-0 win over Uruguay in the quarter-finals perhaps doesn’t quite capture how tricky the South Americans were to play against. As for their 1-0 semi-final victory over Belgium, the result reflects a tight affair that saw the French defend wave after wave of attacks from their rival’s illustrious front line.

Though he may have only scored twice in the latter half of the tournament, a vital brace against Argentina joining his group stage winner against Peru, Kylian Mbappe has been a joy to watch in the knockouts. At this point he must be locked on to win the Best Young Player Award, and could even nab the Golden Boot from Harry Kane if he produces are remarkable display on Sunday (granted, he’s at 80/1 to do so). The 20-year old goes into the final at a Super Mega PGM of 23-28, still trailing Antoine Griezmann’s 26-31 despite being the more notable presence in Russia

It looks like Didier Deschamps is set to potentially become the 3rd man to win the World Cup as both a player and a manager, with Spreadex offering a France/Croatia Goal Supremacy spread of 0.5-0.7 alongside a Total Goals spread of 2-2.2.