July 15, 2018: The World Cup Final is held, at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, built on the site of the Lenin Stadium, the main stadium of the 1980 Olympics. This made it one of the few sites, although not one of the even fewer stadiums, to have hosted both an Olympic Opening Ceremony and a World Cup Final.
Fox broadcast the tournament in America. They had billboards advertising their broadcasts, featuring some of the biggest stars in the game. For Lionel Messi of Argentina, it read, "Men Become Gods." For Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal, it was "Never becomes Now." For Neymar of Brazil, who lost a Semifinal to Germany, 7-1 on home soil, it was "Disgrace Becomes Redemption." For Javier Hernandez of Mexico, a.k.a. Chicharito, it was "A Curse Becomes a Challenge." And for Harry Kane of England, it was "Lions become Kings." And yet, none of these men and their countries reached the Final.
For those of us who oppose Donald Trump (and for those of you who don't, What the hell is wrong with you?), the nightmare scenario would have been a match at the tournament between the U.S. and the hosts, whose President, Vladimir Putin, would not only be lording it over the tournament -- as had Benito Mussolini in Italy in 1934, the Junta in Argentina in 1978; and, at the Olympics, Adolf Hitler in 1936, Leonid Brezhnev in 1980, and the Chinese bigwigs in 2008 -- but was scheduled to meet with Trump at a summit meeting in Helsinki, Finland, 3 days after the Final. Who would Trump have been supporting? But the U.S. team didn't even qualify, preventing that scenario.
Instead, the fear was that Putin would intimidate the officials into fixing the games for Russia. The 1st game didn't assuage those fears, as the hosts won, 5-0. Then again, the opponent was only Saudi Arabia. But when they won their 2nd game, 3-1 over Egypt, suspicions grew. Uruguay beat Russia, 3-0 in the last Group Stage game, but Russia still finished 2nd in the Group, and advanced to the Knockout Stage.
Not so lucky were Russia's longtime rivals and the defending Champions, Germany: They lost 1-0 to Mexico, beat Sweden 2-1, and then lost 2-0 to South Korea, finishing last in their Group.
In the Round of 16, Russia came from behind to take Spain to penalties, and won, and suspicion increased. Denmark scored in the 1st minute, Croatia in the 4th, then they played all the way to penalties with no further goals, and Croatia won the penalty phase. France won a 4-3 shootout with Argentina, Uruguay beat Portugal, Brazil beat Mexico, Belgium beat Japan, Sweden beat Switzerland, and, in the most shocking event of the round, England won a knockout stage game on penalties, defeating Colombia after allowing an equalizer in stoppage time.
In the Quarterfinals, Brazil were upset by Belgium, England beat Sweden, and France beat Uruguay. And, at the 2014 Winter Olympic stadium in Sochi, Croatia ended all concerns of corruption by taking Russia to penalties, and winning that round, 4-3. Danijel Subašić, goalkeeper for AS Monaco, stopped Fyodor Smolov. And Mário Fernandes, born and raised in Brazil but accepting Russian citizenship, missed his shot. Ivan Rakitić of FC Barcelona scored the decisive penalty.
That earned Croatia a lot of goodwill, and reminded people of what had happened between each side's predecessor nation: Yugoslavia had stood up to the Soviet Union. Croatia became the darlings of the tournament, at least for people who accepted that Putin was evil.
In the Semifinals, France beat Belgium, 1-0 in St. Petersburg. In Moscow, England and Croatia went to extra time, matching England's best performance since winning in 1966 (they lost to West Germany on penalties in a 1990 Semifinal), before Mario Mandžukić of Turin, Italy team Juventus scored the winner in the 109th minute. Thus did Croatia surpass Yugoslavia's best performance. They reached the Semifinals in 1930 and 1962.
Managed by Didier Deschamps, who had starred for Olympique de Marseille and Juventus, and had played on France's 1998 World Cup winners, France were loaded, and their players came from all over France's former empire.
Their Captain and goalkeeper was Hugo Lloris of North London team Tottenham Hotspur, half-French and half-Catalan. Right back Benjamin Pavard played in Germany for VfB Stuttgart. Raphaël Varane, a Real Madrid centerback of Martiniquais descent, nicknamed "The Rolls-Royce of Defenders." Centerback Samuel Umtiti was born in Cameroon, grew up in Lyon, and played there for Olympique Lyonnais. Left back Lucas Hernandez was born in Marseille, of Spanish descent, and played for Atlético Madrid. Also at Atlético was midfielder Antoine Griezmann, of German descent.
Midfielder Paul Pogba of Manchester United was the son of immigrants from the African nation of Guinea. Midfielder N'Golo Kanté of West London team Chelsea was the son of immigrants from the African nation of Mali. Midfielder Blaise Matuidi had Angolan and Congolese parents. Forward Olivier Giroud had starred at Tours FC, Montpellier HSC, and North London team Arsenal, and now played at Chelsea. And forward Kylian Mbappé was from the suburbs of Paris, with a Cameroonian father and an Algerian mother.
But Croatia had proven themselves worthy of being on the same pitch with anyone. They were managed by Zlatko Dalić, a former star at Hajduk Split. Their captain was midfielder Luka Modrić, probably the best player ever to come from any of the countries that once made up Yugoslavia. After starring for Dinamo Zagreb and Tottenham, he was, by this point playing for Real Madrid. In addition to Modrić, Mandžukić, Rakitić, and goalkeeper Subašić, they had Liverpool centerback Dejan Lovren, and Internazionale Milano left wing Ivan Perišić.
I guess what I'm saying is, with all these accent marks, French and Slavic alike, typing this post was hard!
Both teams wore their 1st-choice uniforms: France wore all blue, and Croatia wore red-and-white-checkered shirts with white shorts. The game got underway, before 78,011 at the Luzhniki Stadium, at 6:00 PM Moscow time, 5:00 PM in both France and Croatia, and 11:00 AM on the U.S. East Coast. The weather was a bit warm by European standards, but turned out not to be a factor.
In the 18th minute, Croatia tried to defend a free kick, with disastrous results. Mandžukić became the 1st player, and remains the only player, to score an own goal in a World Cup Final. Perišić tied the game in the 28th. In the 38th, referee Néstor Pitana, from Argentina, called a handball in the box on Perišić, and awarded France a penalty. For the 1st time, Video Assistant Referee (VAR) was used in a World Cup Final, and it revealed that Pitana got the call right. Griezmann converted the penalty, and it was 2-1 France at the half.
In the 59th, Pogba shot, and Lovren was only able to deflect it back at him, allowing him to score on the rebound. Young sensation Mbappé, 5 months from his 20th birthday, scored in the 65th, joining Pelé of 1958 Brazil as the only teenagers ever to score in a World Cup Final.
At 4-1 down with 25 minutes and change to go, Croatia refused to go down without a fight. Just 4 minutes after Mbappé's goal, Mandžukić took advantage of a Lloris mistake and redeemed himself. It was now 4-2 with France, with plenty of time to go, and the Russian crowd -- perhaps sensing a Slavic brotherhood -- seemed to be behind Croatia. But, try as they might, they could not find a 3rd goal, let alone a 4th, and France had won the World Cup for the 2nd time.
It was the highest-scoring Final since 1966, and the 1st decided in regular time since 2002. Deschamps joined Mário Zagallo of Brazil and Franz Beckenbauer of Germany to become only the 3rd man to win the World Cup as both a player and a manager.
Sometimes, a World Cup team is remembered more fondly than the team that actually won. Hungary over West Germany, who beat them in the Final, in 1954. Wales and Northern Ireland over Brazil in 1958. Portugal and North Korea over England in 1966. The Netherlands over their Final conquerors West Germany in 1974 and Argentina in 1978. France and Brazil over Italy in 1982. England over West Germany in 1990. Italy, Sweden and Bulgaria over Brazil in 1994. South Korea over Brazil in 2002. France over Italy, who beat them in the Final, in 2006. Hosts South Africa over Spain in 2010.
The Balkan nation, once part of a Yugoslavia team that was usually stronger but had never made a World Cup Final, became one of those teams. Croatia had won the world's hearts. But France had won the World Cup.
The England fans had said, "It's coming home." They forgot: Jules Rimet, founder of the World Cup, and for whom its trophy was named, was French. It had come home.
UPDATE: An article for ESPN.com, published after the 2026 World Cup, ranking all 23 tournaments, rated this one 19th, the worst since 1978 and the 2nd-worst of the post-World War II era, basically saying the tournament was dull. I didn't think so.
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July 15, 2018 was a Sunday, as the World Cup Final usually is. These games were played in Major League Baseball:
* The New York Yankees lost to the Cleveland Indians, 5-2 at Progressive Field in Cleveland. Masahiro Tanaka started for the Bronx Bombers, Trevor Bauer for the Tribe, but neither factored in the decision. Cleveland scored 3 runs off Chad Green in the bottom of the 8th, including a home run by Michael Brantley, making a winning pitcher out of Carlos Carrasco. Neil Walker hit a home run for the Yankees.
* The New York Mets lost to the Washington Nationals, 6-1 at Citi Field. Corey Oswalt started for the Mets, but the Nats scored 5 runs in the 7th inning. The Mets' were not helped by their bullpen: Anthony Swarzak walked the 1st 2 batters of the inning (Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety), and Jerry Blevins hit back-to-back batters. In between, former Met Daniel Murphy singled 2 runs home.
* The Boston Red Sox beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 5-2 at Fenway Park in Boston.
* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Texas Rangers, 6-5 at Camden Yards in Baltimore.
* The Miami Marlins beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 10-5 at Marlins Park (now LoanDepot Park) in Miami.
* The Atlanta Braves beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 5-1 at SunTrust Park (now Truist Park) in the Atlanta suburb of Cumberland, Georgia.
* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 7-6 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh. The Pirates scored a run in the 8th and 2 in the 9th to send the game to extra innings. The Brewers scored a run in the top of the 10th, but Josh Bell singled 2 runs home in the bottom of the 10th.
* The Chicago White Sox beat the Kansas City Royals, 10-1 at Guaranteed Rate Field (now Rate Field) in Chicago.
* The Minnesota Twins beat the Tampa Bay Rays, 11-7 at Target Field in Minneapolis. Brian Dozier hit a grand slam in the bottom of the 10th inning.
* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Cincinnati Reds, 6-4 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the Houston Astros, 6-3 at Minute Maid Park (now Daikin Park) in Houston.
* The Colorado Rockies beat the Seattle Mariners, 4-3 at Coors Field in Denver.
* The Chicago Cubs beat the San Diego Padres, 7-4 at Petco Park in San Diego.
* In an Interleague, inter-metro-area matchup, the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Los Angeles Angels, 5-3 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.
* And in an Interleague, inter-metro-area matchup, the Oakland Athletics beat the San Francisco Giants, 6-2 at AT&T Park (now Oracle Park) in San Francisco.
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