FRENCH INVASION OF RUSSIA

French football players did what Napoleon could not! The French national team mainly made up of migrant children returned from Moscow as a triumphant. After 20 years, the main trophy of the football world again went to Paris.

Millions of French celebrated the heroes who won the title of world champion for the second time in the history of the national team. After victorious procession along the Champs-Elysees, the team went to the residence of Emmanuel Macron, where the president and his wife and 1300 guests waited for the champions for more than two hours.

According to the French press, Emmanuel Macron decided to award Didier Deschamps and his players with the Legion of Honour Award for winning the 2018 World Cup. When this issue was still in the works, the date of awarding ceremony was still a secret.

Do not count chickens before they are hatched

The German national team, the winner of the previous championship, was a favourite of bookmakers with estimated coefficient of 5.00. This was not surprising, as the Bundestim is the first and so far the only team that has become the award winner of four world cups since 2002. The Germans completed their triumphal march in 2014 with gold medal. At the current championship, the team did not meet expectations and needs serious reforms. The German trio, Mario Gomez, Timo Werner, and Thomas Muller, could not become a headache for their rivals. Crisis between the fans and the leading players of the national team Mesut Ozil and Ilkay Gündoğan, which broke out because of the meeting of these football players of Turkish origin with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, also cost the German national team a lot. In short, the fans did not see the Bundestim they used to know.

In addition to the Germans, Spain, Argentina, France and Brazil were also among the favourites of the current championship. As a result, only one team from the top five teams managed to become a winner. On the other hand, for the first time in their history, the teams of Croatia and Belgium became holders of silver and bronze medals, respectively.

After the replacement of head coach Julien Lopetega with Fernando Hierro a day before the start of the championship, it became clear that the Spanish team will not be able to compete for gold. It did not take long for Argentina to withdraw from the competition either. After a draw with Icelanders in the first qualification round (1: 1) and a crushing defeat from Croatia (3-0), Lionel Messi's team could expect, at best, an access to the playoff round.

The Brazilian national team, which had a wide selection of players before the world cup, was also one of the favourites of the championship. However, Neimar’s performance on the field was not football, but rather a demonstration of "acting" skills, which has become the biggest obstacle for the Brazilians. Unfortunately, neither the forward of PSJ nor his teammates could demonstrate the expected game...

The championship was also remarkable thanks to numerous surprises. The national team of the host country, Russia, for the first time in its history was able to not only leave the group, but also defeated the Spanish national team in the 1/8 finals, reached the quarterfinals defeated only by Croatian penalties.

Success is never blamed

Meanwhile, the French team was quietly approaching the finals. Thanks to a good selection of players, Didier Deschamps determined the style of the game depending on its rivals. In none of the games did the French attack with their eyes closed, since they knew perfectly well when to hold the ball, and when to pass it to the opponent. They demonstrated mainly a defensive game mostly using the 4-4-2 scheme, and in the attack 4-3-3.

The French showed that they really deserved the title. Deschamps and his team is blamed for only one thing – a great deal of team players were the descendants of migrants. Out of 23 players 17 (!) have no French roots. But this does not cast a shadow on the championship, which they won as a solid team.

Returning the main cup to France, Didier Deschamps' team showed that they would claim the main prizes at the upcoming competitions as well. Deschamps name will be remembered in the history of football as a man who became the world champion both as a football player and as a coach.

"The best in history"

FIFA President Gianni Infantino called the current world championship the best in history. According to him, Russian stadiums were filled by 98%. More than 1 million tourists came to Russia to watch the games. More than 3 billion people watched the World Cup on TV.

For the first time in the history of the World Cup, in 2018, only one game ended in a goalless draw. One of the novelties was the VAR system, giving the referees an ability to view violations during the game. This system, created to exclude erroneous decisions by the referees, was first applied at this World Cup. Thanks to VAR, the number of penalties was the most during this tournament. It also was the reason of the second goal scored in the gate of the Croats in the final match. As a result, it was possible to avoid gross referee errors that could affect the result of games. Another innovation was the fourth player replacement in additional time.

The main football tournament is over. The next World Cup will be held in Qatar. For the first time, the championship will not be held in the summer, but in the fall (November-December) 2020. But before 2020, there will be another football holiday, the European Football Championship, which will take place for the first time in 12 cities of 12 European countries to honour the 60th anniversary of the continental championship. One of the cities will be Baku, which will take three games of the group stage and one game of the quarterfinals. Following numerous world and European championships in individual sports, European games, Formula One racing, Azerbaijani fans will be able to watch the games of the best football players of Europe from the stands of the Olympic Stadium in Baku. Even more joy will be the opportunity to support the national team of Azerbaijan, especially since the new format of the qualifying cycle of the European Championship-2020 creates good opportunities for Azerbaijani football players to be one of the participants of the prestigious tournament.