French Stars of 2018 FIFA World Cup
image source-in.pinterest.com
Russia hosted the FIFA World Cup in 2018; it was the second trophy for France beating Croatia in 4-2 in the final at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. The Best Young Player at FIFA World Cup, 2018 was won by Kylian Mbappe. Mbappe scored four goals in the tournament for the French squad and one of the star players of the world cup- winning side. France’s fourth goal was made by Mbappe in the final match. It was the 18th minute of the final between France and Croatia that saw Mario Mandzukic score an own goal to give the champions the lead. After Croatia had lost, Ivan Perisic scored in the 28th minute to put them back into the match. As a result, France won the match with two goals in the 38th and 59th minute, respectively, from Antoine Griezmann and Paul Pogba. A consolation goal was scored for the home team by Mandzukic. Hugo Lloris helped France win a second World Cup title in Russia 20 years after their first victory in their own stadium. Didier Dischamps, the Captain of France team in 1998 FIFA World Cup, was the manager of the squad in the 2018 world cup. Best Coach Award was given to Dischamps after his world cup victory with his squad.
Hugo Lloris- Goalkeeper
image source-in.pinterest.com
Defense of the squad has allowed only four goals in the entire 2018 world cup. Hugo Lloris is one of the strong pillars of defense in the team as he has the unchallenged goalkeeping skills from past 10 years. Out of six matches that France has played, Lloris participated in five of them and forfeited four goals, one came from a penalty in France verses Australia 2-1 match and the remaining three came in from the 4-3 win over Argentina. Hugo’s big moment the tournament came when Uruguay tried to equalize the game in quarter final against the France where Uruguay’s defender Martin Caceres connected the header which led Lloris to make one of the greatest saves of the tournament, to maintain the France’s lead. Later, France won over Uruguay by 2-0. Lloris played a good match against the semi-finalist team Belgium by saving goals and reducing the pressure over the team. Lloris ranks first in fewer goals forfeited by a goalkeeper who reached the semi-finals.
Paul Pogba-Midfielder
image source-in.pinterest.com
Pogba is one of the top players who have contributed in France to reach the final. Pogba is the mid-fielder for France and Manchester United. Having problems with coach Jose Mourinho, Pogba faced a downfall period for a year and later emerged as the one of the best mid-fielders in the world along with his teammates Blaise Matuidi and N’Golo Kante. Pogba is well known for his long passes to the attackers i.e. Mbappe and crosses to the Olivier Giroud. He has impacted every game that he has played. Pogba has 78% success in defensive tackles and with 80% pass accuracy, 200+ successful passes. He is a two way phenomenal player for his national squad, fitting best in the mid-field for the French squad.
Kylian Mbappé – Forward
image source-in.pinterest.com
Mbappe is the super star of the squad as he is one of the lead scorers of the team and is well known for his attacking skills. He played all the three matches in the group stage, adding 1-0 against Peru to becoming the youngest goal scorer for France and leading the team to the second stage. In the semi-finals, Mbappe played well against Belgium and showed some great kicks to the audience, although he couldn’t make a goal. But he made the last goal of the tournament for the team against Croatia in the finals leading the French squad to winning side.
Antoine Griezmann-Forward
image source-in.pinterest.com
Antoine is the forward player of Atletico Madrid plays a vital role in attacking display as well as helping out the defenders of the squad and he shows a good leadership quality in critical situations. Antoine has scored two penalty goals and a goal against Uruguay in the quarter
finals which sum ups to three goals made by him. Antoine act as the best player of supportive and setting-up of ball, he provided assistance to Varane in quarter finals and to Umtiti in semi-finals. This forward player has attempted almost 20 passes and completed five crosses. Not only forward but also know how to defend the goal with at least 20 recoveries in the tournament. Antoine has more recovery than defenders Umtiti, Lucas and mid-fielder Blaise and Tolisso.
N'Golo Kanté-Midfielder
image source-in.pinterest.com
Kante is a Chelsea mid-fielder who plays in half of the pitch. He played all the seven matches of the tournament. Kante is a defensive mid-fielder. Whenever France is attacking the opponent squad, kante wait for his turn to prevent counter attack from the other side and which allows Pogda and Matuidi to attack worries. He has the 90% accuracy pass rate. He is one of the two players to play 540 minutes in the tournament out of six matches.
.
