France vs Croatia: Who will win World Cup 2018?

The 21st edition of the World Cup is nearing a conclusion and some of the best players in world football have graced the stage in Russia. France and Croatia will battle it out for World Cup glory when they meet in the final on Sunday Bangladesh time 9 PM in Moscow Luzhniki Stadium.

Didier Deschamps could write his name into the history books by becoming only the third man to win the World Cup as both a player and a coach after Brazil's Mario Zagallo and Germany's Franz Beckenbauer. He captained France to their only World Cup victory to date in 1998, and it will be Les Bleus' third appearance at a World Cup final after their loss to Italy in 2006.

On the challenge Croatia's midfielders Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic will pose France at the Luzhniki Stadium, Deschamps said: "Yes, it's true Croatia has players with strong club experiences and who have reached a level of maturity on the pitch together, but we have met teams with more experience than us all through the tournament."

The top challengers are usually understood, but there are always a few dark horses in the running for every major tournament. France were the first to reach the tournament finale after overcoming Belgium in Tuesday's semi-final. Samuel Umtiti's goal settled the tie, but Kylian Mbappe again starred on the biggest stage to guide Les Bleus to Moscow. Meanwhile, Croatia came from behind to beat England in extra time and reach their first-ever World Cup final. For England and Belgium, it's Saturday's third-place place-off.

France are now the clear favourites to win the competition, 20 years after their first and only triumph, and made great strides towards the World Cup final after defeating Uruguay 2-0 in the quarter-final.

It is not surprising to see Les Bleus so highly rated ( 2/1 according to dabblebet ) considering that Didier Deschamps has an impressive pool of talent to draw from, which includes the likes of Paul Pogba and Antoine Griezmann. They are through to the semi-finals after defeating Argentina and Uruguay in the last 16 and quarter-finals respectively.

Perennial dark horses Belgium arrived in Russia with a 'Golden Generation' - including players like Kevin De Bruyne, Eden Hazard and Romelu Lukaku - which has now reached a level of maturity that should see them mount a serious challenge, something that is reflected in their price of 11/4.

The Red Devils will face France in the last four of the competition, which will be a monumental task for both teams in the race to reach the final.

It is likely that whoever comes out on top in the France vs Belgium semi-final will be considered the outright favourite to lift the trophy in Moscow on July 15.

Croatia finished third at the World Cup in France 20 years ago but they have failed to replicate the same level of success since. Crashing out at the group stage in 2002, 2006 and 2014, their status as potential challengers was also undermined by the fact that they needed to qualify via the play-offs after being pipped by Iceland in their group.

However, with Real Madrid's Luka Modric and Barcelona's Ivan Rakitic in their ranks, they boast the kind of talent other nations envy. Having started out as definite underdogs at 28/1, a crushing win over Argentina and penalty shootout victories over Denmark and hosts Russia have seen their odds shorten to 4/1. Interestingly, though, of the four teams left, Croatia are deemed least likely to triumph.