All the highlights and updates from the 2018 World Cup final

When thinking about Luka Modric, who won the World Cup Golden Ball after leading Croatia to a spot in the final, it’s hard to focus in on any one thing he does particularly well.

Modric does everything well. Well, he does everything well outside of winning headers — he’s listed at 5’8, which is probably generous. But other than that, there’s nothing Modric does poorly on a soccer field.

Most rankings include insults or detractions of some kind. For France, we have none. Every single player on their World Cup-winning squad deserves some praise, and they’re going to get it here. This is one of deepest top-to-bottom teams to ever compete at a World Cup, and the only bad thing you can say about Les Bleus’ bench is that they weren’t quite as good as the superstars in front of them.

Without further ado, here’s what every single France player contributed.

The 2018 World Cup was one of the most exciting in a long, long time, and it was chalk-full of fantastic goals. From Russia’s 5-0 thrashing of Saudi Arabia in the World Cup’s opening match to France’s thrilling 4-2 triumph over Croatia in the final, hardly a matchday went by without jaws being dropped.

In all, 169 goals were scored in the tournament — not quite the record of 171 set in 1998 in France and tied in 2014 in Brazil, but close. Which goals stood out from the pack? There’s a lot of hard choices to be made, but with both quality and the moment considered, here’s our 20 best goals of the tournament.

The winners. Also the best team, which is convenient. Also one of the youngest squads, which is utterly terrifying.

Years from now, Belgian grandchildren will crowd around their seniors’ feet, and beg them to tell the story of Russia 2018. Just one more time. And their grandparents will smile, and nod, and say “Well, young Roberto, it was one hell of a summer. Nacer Chadli started against Brazil ...”

When Kylian Mbappé lined up that shot on his right foot in the World Cup final, I thought he was sending it to the far post. That would be the obvious thing to do — try to curl it around the keeper, shape the shot.

Mbappé didn’t do that. He wrapped his foot around the ball instead, rocketing in a shot at the near post and giving his team a 4-1 lead in a match they’d eventually win, 4-2. That shot fooled me. It fooled Croatia keeper Danijel Subasic. It was another little moment of brilliance in a tournament that was full of them, a surprising decision from someone with a deep understanding of the game.

For all the Paul Pogba haters out there, Patrice Evra has two words:

RESPECT HIM.

France is currently leading Croatia 4-2, and this World Cup final is wild, but we need to stop for a minute and talk about this Paul Pogba pass, because it is making me feel things.

The pass eventually led to Pogba scoring, a goal which gave France a 3-1 lead.

Ivan Perisic scored a gorgeous left-footed goal to briefly tie the World Cup final against France on Sunday. The finish was class, but the build-up to the play was what really set it apart.

I’ve got five quick thoughts on the goal, though first, let’s watch it:

The World Cup final is Sunday between France and Croatia, and barring any surprises, we’re pretty sure who the 22 players starting in the match will be. So let’s rank them, eh?

This is a totally silly exercise, but whatever, we’ve got two days to the final and this banter isn’t going to bant itself, now is it?

Standing a smidge over one foot in height with a weight of 13 pounds — 10 of which are pure gold — the winner of the world’s greatest sporting competition earns ... this:

That’s The World Cup Trophy. Literally, that’s the name. It’s not fashioned after a person, it’s just that generic name. I posit that it is the weakest trophy in major sports.