REACHING the FIFA World Cup’s final four, Croatia, France, England, and Belgium got themselves $8 million each aside from the assured $22 million per team for making the semifinals. The four teams had already collected a cool $30 million for their respective federations.
Belgium defeated England to take the $24-million consolation prize while whoever wins between Croatia and France at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow becomes the 2018 FIFA World Cup champion and goes home with an additional $38 million.
This is the fifth time in FIFA World Cup history that had an all-European semifinal cast in Europe (1934 Italy, 1966 England, 1982 Spain, 2006 Germany, and 2018 Russia). Belgium’s last semis appearance was in 1986, England in 1990, Croatia in 1998, and France in 2006.
Belgium is the top scoring team in this tournament with 14 goals. England, on the other hand, won its first World Cup penalty shootout against Colombia after three previous defeats. The English are on their third World Cup semis.
With a population of about 4 million people, Croatia is the smallest country to reach the 2018 World Cup Finals – its first ever. The country is just half the size of the island of Mindanao. They are the second team after Argentina in 1990 to have won two penalty shootouts in the same World Cup and had won six matches, scoring 11 in a row.
The last time Croatia and France met was during semis of the 1998 World Cup in France. The host nation then won over the Croats, and then moved on to the finals and defeated Brazil for their first World Cup title. Croatia beat the Netherlands for third place. They might not figure prominently among the perennial contenders but with several players on the English Premiere League, yes, tiny Croatia is a football world power. Actually, all four semifinalists boast of some of the best Euro league footballers.
France is on its third FIFA World Cup finals. After their successful campaign in 1998, they battled Italy for the title in 2006 in Germany but lost to the Italians.
Coaching the French is Didier Deschamps, who captained the 1998 winning team. If Les Bleus makes it all the way, Deschamps becomes the third person to win the FIFA World Cup as a player and coach. First to achieve the feat is Brazil’s Mario Zagallo who won the Cup in 1958 as a player and then in 1970 as coach. Next to do so is German football legend Franz Beckenbauer in 1974 as a player and likewise as coach in 1990.
Talking about Brazil, I have been a fan since the time of The Three Rs – Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Rivaldo – when together they won their fifth and last FIFA World Cup jointly hosted by Korea and Japan. Then there was Roberto Carlos, Kaka, Fernandinho, Marcelo, and David Luiz. This edition’s star player Neymar did not live up to the hype but instead had super flops that would make Hollywood filmmakers cringe.
They could be in a World Cup drought but Brazil still remains the tournament’s most successful team with five titles (1985, 1962, 1970, 1994, and 2002). They participated in all of 21 World Cups and with 227 goals, they are the tournament’s all-time scorers. Their 73 World Cup wins are the most by any nation.
Brazil legend Pele is the only three-time World Cup winner. He is on record FIFA’s youngest scorer, youngest hat trick scorer, and youngest player and scorer in a final. Ronaldo is Brazil’s all-time leading scorer in the World Cup with 15 goals in 19 matches.
For 16 years, the sixth star on their kits had been elusive for the Brazilians. Maybe in 2022 in Qatar? Meanwhile, whoever wins the finals will go to the record books./PN
