I'll start this out with a disclaimer: I don't really like this sport. I went to college for free because I am really good at this sport and I still don't like watching this sport. I played this sport my entire life and I still would rather watch the winter Olympics biathlon than this (which by the way, if you dont watch that, you should.... it's spectacularly awesome.)
That being said, i watched the final and thought it was great.
Let's forget for a minute that I don't really care about football (soccer,) and move on to the fact that I can appreciate the fact that the "rest of the world" really does care about it. Just like Slayer said: "Billions of people can not be wrong!" (the actual verse is "millions," but whatever.)
When France played against Croatia in the final my first reaction was "where is Croatia?" and was followed by I want to root for Croatia because they were underdogs. That is simply what I do in all sports unless I have an affiliation with one particular team: I like, and always will like, underdogs. So yeah; go Croatia.
I was in a bar after arriving on a late flight with a suitcase and a dog, really struggling for space the same way that Didier Drogba struggles for space only I managed to not fall down and clutch my face in agony hoping to get a free beer or something.
Here is my opine on the entire match: It was awesome and I (as someone who doesn't like football) enjoyed it a lot.
To get a 4-2 result is (and you have to admit this) very different from World Cup final results in the past. I recall when Spain was playing The Netherlands 4 or 8 years ago (this is how much I care) the end result was 1-0 and the guy who scored the winning goal for Spain was the lead singer from Iron Maiden.
if he had sang "run to the hills" and then flew everyone on a chartered flight to Iceland after scoring this goal I would have had much more respect for him
I digress. 8 years ago my Dutch friend wanted me to come to the bar and cheer (as anyone who made the final would) with his side. I had an orange kit on that he provided me with and we had a good time. There was just one problem. The end result was 1 - 0. The game (and i don't care how you feel about this sport) was incredibly boring and that just resulted in us ordering more crispy snacks - which i am sure the bar had no problem with.
The world cup final in 2018 did have great appeal to me because if you follow my stuff you will know that I am constantly upset about the shenanigans that go on during the game with diving and fake fouls. This really didn't happen much during the entire game despite the fact that Mbappe was playing.
We saw a tremendous amount of fair play and people standing up after they were knocked down without playing too many games, trying to get a free kick.
I also really liked the fact that Croatia didn't whine and moan after losing and I felt as though they "took it on the chin" about as well as any team in the history of woldcupdom has ever taken defeat. This was despite the first goal being an OG and the hand-ball being one of the other ones.
I really enjoyed this aspect of the final because I am fed up with this dramatic bullcrap and with the introduction of V.A.R. perhaps the world can finally get the theatrics out of the sport forever. If they were to accomplish that, perhaps I could take the sport seriously.
Congratulations to France (for serious) because they played a good match and for once, it seemed to be relatively free of stupid rolling around on the ground. This is a trend that I sincerely hope continues into the future.
well done France. I have no problem at all with your victory. You completely deserve it.