And that’s probably a good cue to wrap things up for this blog, and indeed the 2018 World Cup. It’s been a blast, and thank you to everyone who has read, written in or contributed in any way. Keep your eyes on the site later for Angelique Chrisafis who will be reporting on the French homecoming parade.
Thank you, and farewell!
There they are. Now all they have to do is negotiate rush hour traffic in Paris.
Uh oh...
When you're doing a piece on massive PR boost for Croatia from World Cup exploits and ultra-nationalist singer Thompson shows up on the open-top bus.. pic.twitter.com/XDM7oZ1ZLR
— Peter Murphy (@MurphyPeterN) July 16, 2018
And they’re back...
The Fiver is here, on a World Cup inspired by Tony Pulis.
Important thing to note about this bus tour: most of the squad, including coaching staff, appear to be on the cans.
On the Croatia bus, Zlatko Dalic is wearing a top with ‘10 Modric’ on the back. And parents tell you they don’t have favourite children...
THEY’RE COMING HOME! THEY’RE COMING HOME! THEY’RE COMING - FIFA VIPs ARE COMING HOME!
One final stop for the FIFA council members that worked ever so hard over the past month at the #worldcup - private chauffeur to the VVIP entrance of the airport for the flight home. No lines for these guys. pic.twitter.com/KuNYJBC0JP
— tariq panja (@tariqpanja) July 16, 2018
There’s probably some sort of unwritten liveblogging rule against using your own tweets, but it’s quicker than uploading the picture...
Unconventional to the last, Croatia are being paraded back home on the lesser-spotted single-decker open-top bus. pic.twitter.com/xczv4E9Dn0
— Nick Miller (@NickMiller79) July 16, 2018
And here’s their plane, with escort, flying home.
Croatia have arrived home, and by the looks of things the people are pretty happy with how things went. If you like this sort of thing, you can watch their parade in Zagreb here...
Not to get all happy-clappy on you, and recognising that football can only do so much, we share these words from Goffrey Hamsik, a Parisian who told the Associated Press:
It represents enormous thing. We’ve had lots of problems in France these past years. This is good for the morale ... Here, we are all united. We mix. There is no religion, there is nothing, and that’s what feels good.”
You wonder whether Jose Mourinho’s heroic self-regard will allow him to have watched this World Cup, and specifically how well Paul Pogba has played, and stop to think for a short while. Anyway, here’s Amy Lawrence on how Pogba became the heart of the world champions.
“Lloris himself was actually guilty of a similar gaffe in a World Cup qualifier against Sweden not too long ago,” reminds Simon Xu. “Last kick of the game, deep into injury time, Lloris just needs to clear the ball for France to clinch a hard-fought 1-1 draw in Stockholm and control of the group … instead he proceeds to punt it straight to Ola Toivonen, who duly accepts the gift and scores to seal a famous Swedish victory.
“It obviously didn’t have any long-term impact in the end, with France going on to win the whole thing, but it was a pretty calamitous error at the time and put the team under unnecessary pressure for the remainder of qualification.”
Of course, there were wider issues at play during the World Cup. Lee Hurley asks: why didn’t any ‘World Cup heroes’ stand up for Russia’s LGBTQ+ people?
The football has been good, but a close second during the World Cup has been Jorge Valdano writing for the Guardian. Here’s his final piece, wrapping things up. Drink it in.
Good shout, although that was a more run-of-the-mill, second yellow card thing, rather than a calamitous and inexplicable individual error.
@nickmiller79 In regards to mistakes that didn’t matter, Desailly getting sent off in the 98 World Cup final must be up there.
— Jack Faulkner 🇫🇷 (@jackfaulkner) July 16, 2018
After the game yesterday, Getty photographer Michael Regan found a small room in the Luzhniki and persuaded some of the victorious team to pose for a few pictures. And some of them are joyous.
“As a Spurs fan in Croatia,” writes John Clibbens. “I was saying before the game how Hugo can make mistakes like this - Mario was obviously listening.”
Meanwhile, the real quiz: “According to Flightradar24 there are four times as many people tracking the Croatian team’s plane than the French team’s. Due home in about 20 minutes.”
Let’s just reflect for a moment on Croatia’s second goal yesterday: has their ever been a worse, more high-profile, calamitous mistake that ultimately didn’t mean a single thing, than Hugo Lloris donating the ball to Mario Mandzukic?
Quiz! 32 questions about the World Cup to test just how closely you’ve been paying attention over the last month or so. FYI: I got 26/32, which I’m deeply ashamed of.
Thomas Krantz, writing from Gothenburg, is attempting to deal with the post-World Cup blues in the only way we football people know how: by watching more football: “Thank god one of the world’s biggest youth tournaments (Gothia Cup) is in town, otherwise I might actually miss football. Here are IFK Göteborg playing Leeds United (Boys 17). High tempo, audacious skills and great movement, so it’s almost as if it never ended. No VAR controversies though.”
Nick Miller back now from lunch (chicken sandwich, salt & vinegar crisps, banana for later), with thanks to John for dropping the D.Trump hand grenade ready for my return. Reminder: emails to Nick.Miller.casual@theGuardian.com, tweet @NickMiller79
In the big bad real world, President Trump has had his say on the World Cup, when meeting Vladimir Putin at the Helsinki Summit. Last week, Trump congratulated a Croatian journalist on his country reaching the final so he has been paying attention of some sort.
First of all Mr President I’d like to congratulate you on a really great World Cup. One of the best ever from what everybody tells me and also for your team, itself, doing so well. I watched quite a bit and in the United States we call it soccer and I watched quite a bit of it and I watched the entire final and the semi-finals and they were really spectacular games, but it was beautifully done so congratulations on that.
Updated
Here’s our story on that Transport For London bandwagon jumping. Did they name it Theydon Ronnie Boyce when West Ham won the 1964 FA Cup? Or Juan Pablo Angel after a run of Villa goals? Or Jamie Clapham Common after Ipswich’s run to 5th in the 2000-1 Premier League?
The end of the World Cup means transfers, transfers, transfers to get excited about, though how to take Leeds United’s latest message?
👀 | When the #WorldCup ends, and you're waiting for your club to sign someone pic.twitter.com/1izCyBDY9G
— Leeds United (@LUFC) July 16, 2018
Kári Tulinius emails in: “Has there been any news about the pitch invaders and Pussy Riot in general? Hopefully all that World Cup bonhomie will mean that they’ll be released and nothing much will happen, but it’s hard not to worry about them.”
Here’s the group themselves on Twitter.
Updates on The Football Field Action and fates of our activists.
— 𝖕𝖚𝖘𝖘𝖞 𝖗𝖎𝖔𝖙 (@pussyrrriot) July 16, 2018
The most worrying one is a possibility of a criminal case that's been reported by the police. https://t.co/sWgGWIX6qj
Our writers’ recollections and opinions of the tournament just gone can be read here.
Afternoon, all. If you need to get in touch, I can be reached at John.Brewin.Casual@theguardian.com and my Twitter handle of @johnbrewin_.
I’m off for a little lunch. John Brewin will stand in for a short while. Send your thoughts to him here.
Dejan Lovren has taken defeat in magnanimous fashion. He said after the final, courtesy of the Press Association’s Simon Peach:
I think we have been better today and overall we have been better. France didn’t play football. They waited for their chance and they scored. They had their one tactic and you have to respect it. They played every game of the tournament like that.
I’m disappointed because we lost the game but played much better football than them. I am proud of what we achieved, second in the world. I’m proud of everyone and for the country. We have regrets now when we look at decisions but it doesn’t make sense anymore.
It’s hard to describe. Maybe after a couple of months I will have everything straight. It’s hard now as I am some moments sad and some moments happy. Overall I am proud.
We played beautiful football and when we didn’t have the ball we stayed compact. But they had their chances and they scored. France have been one of the favourites to win the World Cup and they did. But nobody understands the rules [for their penalty]. Our guy couldn’t possibly react so why did he (Pitana) give it?”
More non-World Cup talk, and it seems that Gareth Bale will be sticking around at Real Madrid, now there’s a vacancy for being The Main Man.
The #FRA team plane is on its way home 🏆 pic.twitter.com/nfnSJ1FMbm
— Simon Peach (@SimonPeach) July 16, 2018
And this is what they’ll be coming home to...
Miro Caric has some thoughts. Some cold, unsentimental but welcome thoughts.
“A few points about:
- French win: as good a display of non-football as I’ve ever seen in a final – understand now why Hazard and De Bruyne criticised them. Around 35% possession; Griezmann dived for the first goal; stupid ref gave France the second. Very reminiscent of Man City being beaten by the officials when they played Liverpool in the Champions League. Overall, a moral victory for Croatia over pathetic France;
- Player of the Tournament: Eden Hazard, by a country mile!
- PR Success of the Tournament: England’s performance. As usual, they achieved nothing, with all the ‘promising’ players underwhelming…though, to be fair, Delle Ali did manage a dive for England’s goal against Croatia; Ashley thought he was in a swimming pool, as usual; and Trippier spent more time on his back against Croatia than Neymar. Lingard was mostly anonymous, Kane ineffective; with only Pickford and the two centre-backs enhancing their standings. Yet St. Gareth’s waist-coat was proclaimed a footballing miracle, and the whole team an incredible credit to a desperate nation. I can’t wait now for the Euros to see this team move to the next level, and possibly draw with at least one of the decent national teams…
- Refereeing/officials: appalling, as expected. Even the VAR technology couldn’t help them with their spinelessness, blindness and apparent ignorance of the laws of the game. Under the circumstances, there was absolutely no justification for excluding their brothers-in-incompetence from England from the opportunity to display their dismal refereeing inabilities to an incredulous world.
“Apart from that, Putin put in the effort to make this a good experience, with no Novichok mishaps reported to date…which is probably good news for Trump. Sorry to be so relentlessly objective.”
New piece from the excellent Alex Holiga: Croatia feels proud of their team despite defeat, but they must use this to create something lasting.
Start ‘em young...
@NickMiller79 my highlight was the “England are in Russia song” as told by my children, ages 9&12, where thy insert each other’s names rather than England. They have been at an America summer camp and their vodka drinking tune hasn’t gone down well.
— Benjamin Yeo (@ba_yeo) July 16, 2018
There were loads of brilliant photos from the game yesterday, but this one, by our own Tom Jenkins, might be my favourite.
Abhinav Dutta has a suggestion for moment of the tournament: “In keeping with my tendency to pick out moments of no actual significance, I would choose a brief sequence of high grade Modric. Boxed deep into the right flank of England’s half, swarmed by English players of all stripes, he flitted about with the nonchalance that accompanies his subtle genius. Pass-move-pass, shifting at all times the space to be worked in before the wide acres of the rest of the field opened up. I would like to believe that Perisic’s fizzing low shot against the post came from this sequence of passes but that is perhaps me trying to add value to what was otherwise a mundane instance of Modric’s calibre.”
“Easily the best tournament of my lifetime (born 1991),” writes Gabriel Szatan, in London.
“There was no single stunning watercooler moment, à la Zidane’s headbutt, Beckham’s red mist or Suarez’s gnashers; and no one team the world fell in love with, à la Brazil 2002. But instead, we were treated to an unceasing barrage of giant killings, dizzying last-ditch twists & turns, dozens of worldies from outside the box, and a blessed lack of bitterness and jingoism back home (whatever Modric might have inferred).
“Plus, how nice to have a whole month where day to day international relations in the news brings out feelings of joy, not despondence.”
And the final World Cup Football Daily: Barry, Max, Paolo, Phillipe, Barney and all your other podcast pals discuss the tournament’s denouement...
Updated
A fitting end to the World Cup for France, by Martha Kelner and Shaun Walker...
The player ratings: feel free to loudly tell Marcus Christenson how incorrect and biased he is...
David Hytner on a remarkable effort from Croatia, who just couldn’t quite manage to beat France...
Here’s Daniel Taylor’s match report from the Luzhniki...
Let’s have a quick reminder of our pieces from the final. Here’s Barney Ronay on the absurd Kylian Mbappé...
If you want a clean break from the World Cup, you might be interested to learn that Cristiano Ronaldo is in Juventus for his medical (just imagine if he failed it...) and his presentation to some delighted Italians...
When do you think it’s going to stop being weird, seeing Ronaldo at Juve?
Looks like N’Golo Kante is pretty well liked in the France squad...
Nnnnnnnnn’Golo Kanté !!! 📢📢📢
— Equipe de France (@equipedefrance) July 15, 2018
Les coulisses de la victoire sur Snapchat !! ➡️ equipedefrance pic.twitter.com/Obj8iNGBVz
How did your team do at the World Cup? If you’ve got a few minutes, fill in the form with your thoughts...
Do you think the players keep their lanyards as souvenirs?
Oh my...
There is the suggestion tonight from several sources that during the on-pitch trophy celebrations, Steven N'Zonzi had to ask certain players to let N'Golo Kanté hold the World Cup trophy because the man himself was too shy to ask & didn't want to impose on anyone. What a hero.
— Get French Football News (@GFFN) July 15, 2018
Where does this rank in your favourite World Cups? Before this edition began a few people wrote in with their memories of previous tournaments: how would you fancy doing the same about the last month or so?
Lovely...
@NickMiller79 moment of the tournament for me was Mbappe wearing a massive smile during the anthems last night before kick off. Just a boy living his childhood dream, something so beguilingly infectious about it in the hyper-commercial world of modern football. God I love the cup
— Patrick Wills (@nappyttap) July 16, 2018
You may have seen Russian snapper Evgeny Feldman’s photo essay about following the World Cup in his homeland from last week. Now, it’s been updated with some bits from the final. Enjoy.
Here’s Paul McInnes on the telly battle: BBC vs ITV.
This is quite sweet. They’re just lads saying goodbye after a couple of months together.
Welcome home! The #ThreeLions have landed! #bbcworldcup pic.twitter.com/YlCW32Py3V
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) July 16, 2018
Right then, let’s have your nominations for:
- Game of the tournament
- Goal of the tournament
- Moment of the tournament (positive)
- Moment of the tournament (negative/schadenfreude)
- Biggest surprise of the tournament
Suggestions for any/all of them gratefully received.
Let’s just consider this picture of Paul Pogba - with his mum and brothers - dabbing with the World Cup, and think about the ferocity with which the heads of people who bang on about his hair are exploding.
Pop culture/football crossover news: Beyoncé and Jay-Z played at the Stade de France last night. They had the game on the big screens before the show and wore France shirts - complete with two stars above the crest - while performing.
Beyoncé and Jay-Z wore #France football shirts today to celebrate France’s win at the World Cup! ⚽️ pic.twitter.com/XIhueuxWxu
— BEYONCÉ HUB (@theyoncehub) July 15, 2018
Incidentally, if you’re reading this from Moscow and are planning on flying home today, by the looks of things you should be looking to get to the airport at some point yesterday afternoon.
After 5 weeks of good will and excellent Russian organisation, the World Cup spirit has died as people from all around the world come together to tear strips off each other about who has jumped the queue at Moscow airport pic.twitter.com/l7MmWsFgSz
— Kieran Canning (@KieranCanning) July 16, 2018
You want some numbers? Here are some numbers, courtesy of our friends at the Press Association.
- 169 - goals scored in the tournament - two short of the all-time record from 1998 and 2014.
- 27 - Neymar took the most shots in the tournament despite Brazil’s quarter-final exit.
- 20 - Croatia’s position in the FIFA world rankings, the lowest-ranked nation ever to reach a World Cup final.
- 26.34million - estimated peak television viewing audience for England’s semi-final against Croatia, with an average audience of 20.2m making it the fourth most-watched England World Cup match ever.
- 10 - Belgium’s run to third place saw them become only the third World Cup squad with 10 different goalscorers, matching France in 1982 and Italy in 2006.
- 1 - Spain goalkeeper David de Gea made only one save in his four matches in the tournament, from the seven shots on target he faced. His 14.3 save percentage was the lowest of the 40 keepers to make an appearance.
- 700,000 - estimated fans who travelled to Russia for the tournament.
A wonderful email, from Kam Nandra: “I’m currently in Paris with a few mates. As soon as England lost the semi we booked flights to come over here to watch the final. It’s one of the best decisions we’ve made.
“The atmosphere was amazing, especially after the win. Imagine an entire city erupting into party mode at exactly the same time. Millions of people singing, dancing, hugging. Kids, adults and the elderly.
“I’ve never experienced anything like it. Viva La France!”
Obviously there are bandwagons to be jumped upon, and TfL are hopping aboard. Appropriately enough, they’re probably a few days too late. From the Press Association:
Gareth Southgate’s return from a successful World Cup managing England will be celebrated with the temporary renaming of an Underground station after him.
Southgate Tube station will be branded Gareth Southgate from Monday morning in a stunt to last 48 hours, Transport for London (TfL) announced.
His squad’s fourth place in Russia was England’s best result since they also lost in the semi-final at Italia 90.
The Piccadilly line station, in Enfield, north London, will have its signs changed to display the manager’s name until the end of Tuesday.
Not just in London, either. Perhaps more justifiably, the Paris Metro is in on the act too.
The Paris Metro has unveiled 6 renamed stations to celebrate #FRA's #WorldCup win: pic.twitter.com/PVcWfHlftG
— Robin Bairner (@RBairner) July 16, 2018
📷 @GroupeRATP
How the Spanish press reacted. Note: that Marca headline means ‘two stars’, not ‘two lagers’.
Buenos dias! Here are Monday's front page headlines from Marca, Diario AS & El Mundo Deportivo, in English! https://t.co/kKFZ4f5iwE pic.twitter.com/laNueQPNTP
— footballespana (@footballespana_) July 16, 2018
If you’re a fan of spontaneous expressions of human joy, then this gallery of France celebrating last night is just the thing for you. Of course, if you’re the sort who doesn’t enjoy the sight of happy French people, give this one a swerve.
What better way for the realities of a post-World Cup universe to be emphasised than with some transfer chat? Here’s this morning’s Rumour Mill, in which Paul Pogba is allowed about 12 hours to celebrate the crowning achievement of his life before speculation over his future begins.
Hello everyone. Think of this blog as your World Cup methadone. Gently easing you into the horrors of everyday life with some reflections, verdicts, reactions and odd bits of whimsy about the last five or so weeks. Anything you want to discuss, ask or complain about - on really any subject, as long as it’s loosely World Cup related - email Nick.Miller@theGuardian.com or tweet @NickMiller79
And with that, my time at the controls has sadly come to an end for today, and indeed for this World Cup. It’s been emotional. Nick Miller has navigated the perils of a post-World Cup train service and is in place to take over, so in the spirit of French victoire, I’ll bid you adieu, and à la prochaine!
Some interesting quotes from Sir Gareth Southgate upon his return to England.
“If I look back, probably a year, I had a long discussion with our board about what we wanted to do with the team, how we wanted to evolve. And they were brilliant. They didn’t put me under pressure to try to achieve a certain performance, or a certain outcome, but they were keen that we showed signs of progress and improvement.
“They [the young players] will be buoyed by the positive experiences, of which there have been many. But equally we know, we are under no illusions, about where we sit in the world standings.
“So the defeats have been hugely important for our development as well. We finished in the top four, deservedly in this tournament, helped by the draw. But we’re not a top-four team yet, and we know that.”
Inquest time! Did your team exceed expectations or were they on an unexpected early flight home? What is the reason for your team’s success this summer? And where do you think it went wrong for them? Share your thoughts on the last four weeks with us.
This is an interesting read, from the Guardian’s readers editor, Paul Chadwick. (Warning: contains a degree of trumpet blowing.)
“It was striking how the editorial and technical teams deployed the technologies that today allow genuinely international events like World Cup finals to be experienced by huge, disparate yet interacting audiences. All 64 games were live blogged. The live coverage of the England win over Colombia was viewed – mostly on phones – more than 3.1m times, and England’s semi-final loss to Croatia more than 3.7m. The guide to all 736 players had more than 2m views. Sixteen other World Cup items were viewed more than 1 million times each.”
Macron’s celebration makes it onto the front page of the Times today.
TGE TIMES: New Brexit referendum ‘is only way to end deadlock’ #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/9aGtbrymDn
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) July 15, 2018
Meanwhile, France’s latest poster boy graces other papers, including the Guardian’s back page.
GUARDIAN SPORT: Golden Generation #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/J1Sk0TYs4N
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) July 15, 2018
World Cup time isn’t just about digging out old DVDs of every single World Cup goal ever scored; despite the often treacherous path trodden by football filmmakers there is plenty out there to enjoy. Not least Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait, which benefits massively from not using an actor to play the subject of the piece.
You have to feel for Luka Modric. His performances over the last four weeks have, on occasion, captured the imagination and confirmed his status as one of the world’d best players. Yet what a year he’s had, despite missing out on a World Cup winners’ medal. Champions League winner, Golden Ball winner... Ballon d’Or winner? It’s a tough one to make a case against.
adidas Golden Ball Award:
— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) July 15, 2018
🥇Luka MODRIC (#CRO)
🥈Eden HAZARD (#BEL)
🥉Antoine GRIEZMANN (#FRA) #WorldCup pic.twitter.com/KQSRiwUznh
Mbappé got an 8 in the Guardian’s player ratings with an “outstanding” note to boot. But he wasn’t France’s best player on the night. We’re not supposed to do clickbait, but you’ll never guess who got a 9 (you will). Find out here!
No surprises that Mbappé was named the young player of the tournament.
FIFA Young Player Award:
— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) July 15, 2018
🥇Kylian MBAPPE (#FRA) #WorldCup pic.twitter.com/v4eMfItkkP
Barney Ronay writes:
“In Antoine Griezmann’s set‑piece expertise, Paul Pogba’s easy craft and Kylian Mbappé’s extreme qualities of simply being like Kylian Mbappé France had enough controlled fantasy whenever their opponents showed signs of resistance. A brief word here about Mbappé. Blimey. Whoah. Cripes. Actually that is three. But you get the idea. What are we going to do with this kid? He is simply irresistible, not just a pure, brilliantly fearless talent, with a genuine sprinter’s technique that allows him to glide away in the smallest of spaces. He is also a joy to watch, a footballer of real charm and warmth, who still seems to be having the most wonderful time, playing with friends in the middle of all that epic-scale tension.”
I missed this earlier, but Adil Rami has announced his retirement from international football, following Les Bleus’ win. The 32-year-old Marseille defender did not play a single minute of the campaign in Russia, but can still call himself a world champion. Not a bad way to go out.
🔴 ANNONCE 🔴
— Téléfoot (@telefoot_TF1) July 15, 2018
En direct sur @TF1, le champion du monde 2018 Adil Rami @Rami13officiel a annoncé sa retraite internationale ! #MerciAdil
Regardez ▼ https://t.co/2GouQ28T1E
Here’s Martha Kelner and Shaun Walker with their take on last night, including the revelation that the World Cup trophy arrived at the stadium in its new Louis Vuitton travel case.
“The sky above was dark grey with flashes of thunder as the rain-, sweat- and euphoria-soaked French team lifted the trophy during a chaotic presentation ceremony. The winners’ medals were presented by Putin shielded by a black umbrella as an almighty downpour pierced a sticky, humid afternoon in the Russian capital. Macron remained uncovered and was wringing out his navy blue suit jacket on the pitch afterwards.”
The big news, though, is that with Antoine Griezmann, Kylian Mbappé and Mario Mandzukic all managing to score just one each (in the right net) on the night, the Golden Boot belongs to Harry Kane. He had already landed in Birmingham by the time the final whistle tooted in Moscow though, so he’s going to have to rely on Почта России (the Russian postal system) to get his gong to him in London.
France’s victory has prompted comparisons to 1998, when Aimeé Jacquet guided his side, which contained Didier Deschamps, to the summit of the world. Those comparisons might have been in the mind of L’Equipe’s editor too, judging by the headline in this morning’s paper.
L'Equipe's front pages in 1998 and 2018
— Christopher Clarey (@christophclarey) July 15, 2018
"For Eternity" "An Eternal Happiness" pic.twitter.com/fyhmjoCpFr
World Cup finals, like all games really, can be won by fine margins. The smallest of details. How fine were those margins in the final? I’d contest pretty fine, given the VAR decision that awarded Antoine Griezmann the chance to score from the spot came with the game delicately poised at 1-1. Who knows which direction the game would have gone if the referee, Néstor Pitana, had opted not to penalise Ivan Perisic for his dangling arm. As David Hytner writes from the Luzhniki Stadium:
“The slow-motion replays looked bad for Perisic and it became clear what kind of a conclusion Pitana would reach. Griezmann scored the penalty and Croatia could smoulder with injustice. It was a borderline decision and, this time, there would be no way back for Zlatko Dalic and his band of fighters.”
From the ecstasy of the French, to the agony of the Croatians. How are they bearing up after having been so close to glory, yet in the end so far? Well, according to Una Hajdari in Zagreb, not too bad. “I feel great. We still made history, even thought we did not become champions,” said one fan, while another said: “We are sad, but second place is still a big deal for Croatia. We’ll all forget about it all once they come home tomorrow.”
Meanwhile, in Birmingham....
And the Croatian president, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, has received no small amount of praise for her role in Russia during the tournament. This tweet rather sums it up nicely.
Hats off to Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, President of Croatia. She attended every Croatia match at the World Cup, travelled in economy class and sat with the fans in the stadium. She refused to take any pay for her days not at work.
— James Melville (@JamesMelville) July 15, 2018
Now that’s leadership.#Croatia #WorldCupFinal pic.twitter.com/KTXJlHqSbD
They say politics and football shouldn’t mix, but like it or not, the two are inextricably linked. Putting aside any cynicism for a moment, at least Emmanuel Macron appears to be a genuine fan of Les Blues.
So, it’s becoming apparent who last night’s pitch invaders were: Pussy Riot. Three women and one man were dragged away (with help from Dejan Lovren), while Kylian Mbappé opted to high-five one of the women rather than manhandle her off the pitch. “The citizens in question were taken to the local police station,” the Moscow branch of the Russian Interior Ministry said. Other than that statement, there is no further word from the police as yet.
Mbappe giving the double high five to Pussy Riot is easily the best image from World Cup 2018. This needs to be some kind of memorial: pic.twitter.com/bSthENiAL4
— Josh Webb-Thomson 🐝🦈🏆🏆 (@FightOnTwist) July 15, 2018
That wasn’t the only unruly French behaviour of the night, though, not by any stretch. The French players allowed themselves a moment of public inhibition when they gatecrashed Didier Deschamps’ post-match press conference to mount a desk – with the elan of a England fan clambering up a double decker bus – and spray champagne all about the place, no doubt to the delight of the congregated journalists with their cheap, waterproof equipment.
Great scenes on the last night as one million fans filled Champs-Élysées to celebrate their team’s victory. This, from Angelique Chrisafis in Paris, has the full story, although it’s not clear whether the “tears” in fans’ eyes was due to the emotion of the night, or indeed the tear gas fired off by French police in response to having projectiles hurled at them.
As we ease ourselves in, allow Max Rushden and guests to fill your ears with their thoughts on the final, another penalty, another controversial VAR incident, the tournament’s highs and lows and “players taking shots to the conkers”.
Preamble
So there we have it. Vive la France! France are world champions once more, and who can say they don’t deserve to be so? Well, about four million Croatians for a start – you can understand that – but Didier Deschamps’ side has played some terrific football over the past four weeks, boasted one of the tournament’s most exciting breakout stars and, crucially, not lost a single game while posting six wins, including victories over heavyweight nations such as Uruguay, Belgium,
Australia
, Argentina and, of course, Croatia.
Naturally, France is a country losing its collective merde over the result at the Luzhniki Stadium, a theme we’ll focus on first up today, with reports of mad celebrations from Paris to Perpignan and beyond, some of which involve the police, sadly.
But it’s not just French who are celebrating today – it is also a day on which jaded Guardian livebloggers can finally rejoice the end of the tournament, as this is indeed the last daily World Cup blog for four years. Get your fill while you can. It also means that it’s a pretty good opportunity to reflect of what a wonderful tournament this has been, so please do feel free to get in touch on email (mike.hytner@theguardian.com) or Twitter (@mike_hytner) or below the line throughout the course of the day/evening/whatever it is where you are.
