France take on Croatia in the World Cup 2018 final on Sunday.
The 2018 World Cup final between France and Croatia is almost here and prediction for the match is in by Buyan, a male Siberian bear from the Royev Ruchey Zoo in Krasnoyarsk.
Paul the octopus earned worldwide fame during the 2010 World Cup after correctly predicting eight matches of the tournament. Since then animals predicting results of World Cup games has become a sort of a ritual.
During the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, various animals including a camel, an elephant and a sea turtle were involved in making predictions.
This World Cup, Achilles the cat, who lives in St. Petersburg’s Hermitage Museum and Zabiyaka ,a goat from Samara have been among the animals that have tried to predict the outcome of the matches.
And now, Buyan has made a prediction for the final between France and Croatia at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. According to Buyan, Croatia are destined to make history as they will beat France to win their first World Cup.
Buyan was given the options of two watermelons with flags of France and Croatia respectively and the bear opted for the Croatian watermelon. While Buyan has predicted Croatia will win, France are heavy favourites to lift the trophy on Sunday.
France are eyeing their second title while this is the first World Cup final for Croatia, whose previous best finish was third in 1998. Croatia, who came out with scathing replies after defeating England in the semi-final, might look for a 1998 revenge on Sunday.
In the semi-final of 1998 World Cup, Croatia’s golden generation were up against France and two second half strikes by right-back Liliam Thuram propelled France to the final, one that they went on to win.
This time, however, Zlatko Dalic-coached Croatia have a squad capable of going all the way. Just like the Davor Suker-captained batch of 1998, this Croatian side, has a similar never-say-die attitude, coupled with talent from the best clubs all over Europe.
However, France have, at least on paper, a squad loaded with talent and more depth. In Didier Deschamps, they have a coach who has previous experience of winning the World Cup as a player.
Croatia had beaten Germany 3-0 in the quarter-finals. At Russia 2018, they put in one of the best overall team performances of the tournament in their 3-0 win over Argentina in the group stage. Much like this 2018 side, France were solid in the back — they had conceded only one goal before kick-off against Croatia in 1998 — and blessed with talent in midfield and up front with names like Zinedine Zidane and Thierry Henry littering their starting lists.
There are some direct connections from that day, too. Current France coach Didier Deschamps was captain of the 1998 side and led his team out on the pitch at the Stade de France against Croatia that evening in Saint-Denis.
Predicted Winner: France
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