FIFA 2018: Belgium takes consolation; which team will take home the trophy?

#BEL #BEL #BEL

Eden Hazard makes it 2-0 against England as @BelRedDevils take bronze at Russia 2018 🥉

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True to their promise, Belgium’s Thomas Meunier and Eden Hazard secure bronze for their country. Earlier, Meunier had made a statement asserting that winning the bronze is the minimum that they could do in the FIFA World Cup 2018. The Three Lions caved in, to the persistent efforts of Belgium’s forwards. The 4th-minute stunner scored by Meunier was followed much later in the second half by an 82nd-minute clincher by Hazard. England’s Eric Dier was the closest to scoring a goal with a well-timed chip over Belgium keeper Thibaut Courtois, however, the shot lacked pace and was cleared inches from the goal-line by Belgian defender Toby Alderweireld. England chances at goal continued to be frustrated by the Red Devils until the referee finally blew the whistle and put an end the drawn-out consolation game.

Few could have predicted the France-Croatia match-up for the finals of the FIFA World Cup 2018. Fewer would predict a victory for Croatia. For Croatia, a country with a population of around 4 million people, to reach the World Cup finals in their 5th attempt is already an achievement of the highest caliber. It has been only 9 months since coach Zlatko Dalic held the reins of Croatia. Now he will ascend the biggest stage in the football world in a bid to seize the most prized trophy in football. Will their undefeated run culminate in a World Cup title? To find out watch the final match at 8.30 P.M IST on SonyLIV.

Didier Deschamps a veteran with his third World Cup appearance as a coach has successfully led France through the unpredictable shores of the tournament. Showing incredible fitness throughout the tournament, France has displayed remarkable sportsmanship under pressure situations and overthrown their opponents from a position of strength. Except for their match against Denmark, none of the results that France accumulated in the tournament was one where experts predicted that the game could have gone either way. Whatever hopes Deschamps carries to become only the third man to obtain a World Cup title as a player and a coach, this might well be the best chance he will ever get to achieve that feat.

The FIFA World Cup is a stage where players undergo an accelerated period of growth. For the fans, watching this remarkable transformation is one of the particular joys of the World Cup experience. Croatia has been one of the teams in this WC where we have seen this transformation. At first, it was Star players like Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic that caught the fancy of football enthusiasts. But as we moved ahead in the games we saw stellar performances by Ivan Perisic, Andrej Kramaric, and Mario Mandzukic. In the coming match, Croatia is the undisputed biblical David matched against France’s Goliaths. Will they put on another maverick performance and get their hands on the WC trophy?

With a heady mix of the old and the new, France’s line-up hasn’t looked this good in years. Exploiting speed and flexibility to their limits the attacking options that France can deploy in the coming match are going to be really difficult to fend off. While Kylian Mbappe has stolen most of the spotlight on France, we shouldn’t forget that it is Paul Pogba’s critical plays that are sustaining the momentum of the French offensive. With a string of strategic passes and simple touches, Pogba has adopted a simple and powerful style of play that we expect has been the doing of Deschamps. Pogba had earlier been pulled up for his lack of game discipline in the Premier League has shut up critics with his performance in the WC. We expect him to play a crucial role in making waves against the Croats.

Catch their match Live at 8.30 P.M IST on SonyLIV, the official mobile and internet broadcaster for the FIFA World Cup 2018. It is the go-to destination for all football fanatics.

Check out the Match Centre on SonyLIV, where viewers can see live scores, player positions, team data, match statistics and live commentary. For a more engaging experience, users can set reminders or view the entire schedule, while the points table gives a quick update on the standings, scores, etc. Additionally, SonyLIV has also created a fan-zone on the second screen that users can access on their mobile phones or tablets and experience features like match predictions, emotion meter, polls, and contests, even as they watch the game in real-time.

Other features include viewing missed games with snippets and clips of key moments from every match along with highlights. To cater to the widest possible range of viewers, SonyLIV will be available in six simultaneous audio feeds - Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and English.