Croatia will be hoping to lift their first World Cup title when they take on France at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow on July 15 in the 2018 FIFA World Cup final. The first-time finalists made it to the summit of the football World Cup after an impressive show in the earlier stages as they won all their matches. Meanwhile, the fiery ones is now the smallest nation to reach a World Cup Final since Uruguay in 1950, also the lowest ranked ever (20th).  Croatia Stand Between Kylian Mbappe’s France and 2018 FIFA World Cup Glory.

Croatia was slotted in Group D alongside Argentina, Nigeria, and Iceland. Croatia won all the matches in the group stage including a 3-0 win over Argentina and topped the team standings. The top finish in their group meant Croatia had to face Denmark in the Round of 16 match. After the full time, the scores were levelled at one apiece and thus the match went into the penalties. Croatia eventually won it by 3-2.  2022 FIFA World Cup Dates Confirmed: Full Schedule and Time Table of 2022 Qatar Football WC to Be Announced Late.

In the quarterfinal, Croatia again won on penalties (4-3) as they eliminated home side Russia. After the two back to back dramatic wins, in the semis, Croatia outplayed England 2-1 to book a place in the historic maiden World Cup final.

Croatia: Road to 2018 FIFA World Cup Final

Round   Opponent  Result 
Group Stage Nigeria Croatia won 2-0
Group Stage Argentina  Croatia won 3-0
Group Stage Iceland Croatia won 2-1
Round of 16 Denmark Croatia won on Penalties
Quarterfinal Russia Croatia won on Penalties
Semifnal England Croatia won 2-1

This is Croatia’s fifth World Cup appearance and the best they finished was third in 1998. Interestingly, France won their first and only World Cup title in that edition. In the last World Cup, Croatia failed to go past the group stage of the tournament. Mario Mandzukic, Ivan Perisic, and captain Luka Modric are the team’s leading goal-scorers so far, having netted twice each. Mandzukic has played the least bummer of matches (5) among these three.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 15, 2018 07:15 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).