Jedvaj and Croatia suffer defeat in World Cup final
Tin Jedvaj and Croatia miss out on chance to make history at the World Cup in Russia: The Croats lost 4-2 against France in the final. The Bayer 04 defender did not come off the subs bench.
Bayer 04 have to wait for a third World Cup winner. After success for the Brazilians Paulo Sergio (1994) and Lucio (2002), the Werkself pro Tin Jedvaj and his home nation Croatia failed to win this time round in Russia. Croatia suffered their first defeat of the tournament against France as they missed out on the opportunity to register an historic World Cup triumph.
An entertaining final played at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow ended in a significant defeat against the European Championship runners-up on Sunday evening. The Croats started brightly against a French side on the back foot. Against the run of play, the deadlock was broken by the 'Equipe Tricolore' with a headed own goal from former Bundesliga striker Mario Mandzukic (18'). Ex Wolfsburg player Ivan Perisic levelled for the Red and Whites ten minutes later with a left-foot shot that revived hopes of a first World Cup for Croatia. However, Antoine Griezmann restored the lead just before half-time with a disputed penalty settled by VAR to make it 2-1 to France. The 78,000 crowd were treated to more goals in the second 45: France midfielder Paul Pogba made it 3-1 just before the hour mark before his team-mate Kylian Mbappé settled the result with a strike on 65 minutes. Croatia did pull a goal back four minutes later through Mandzukic but were unable to break through a resolute French defence again. Jedvaj's Croatia ended up on the wrong end of 4-2 win for France.
As in the semi-final against England, the Bayer 04 defender did not come on and had to watch proceedings from the bench as France secured their second World Cup following on from 1998. The 22-year-old made one appearance in the tournament (in the 2-1 win against Iceland) – and he is now a World Cup runner-up. Congratulations, Tin.
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