France and Croatia both avoided any surprises as they named unchanged lineups for the World Cup final, setting up a heavyweight midfield clash between N'Golo Kante and Paul Pogba on the French side and Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic for Croatia. Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic brushed aside concerns about possible fatigue after his team played extra time in all three of their knockout matches.
France coach Didier Deschamps has fielded the same starting lineup in every knockout-round match except the quarterfinal against Uruguay when Blaise Matuidi was suspended and replaced by Corentin Tolisso. France won all three knockout ties inside 90 minutes and have had an extra day to recover for the final.
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