Croatian midfield threat poses dilemma for Southgate

France managed to overcome mistakes and imperfections in their World Cup final victory over Croatia with sheer mental strength to lift the trophy for the second time, coach Didier Deschamps said on Sunday.

France overpowered Croatia 4-2 to lift the trophy and Deschamps became only the third man, after Brazil's Mario Zagallo and German Franz Beckenbauer to win it both as player and coach.

But they were made to sweat for about an hour and needed an own goal and a penalty to take the lead.

"My greatest source of pride is they had the right state of mind," Deschamps, who had captained France to the 1998 title, told reporters.

"Today there were imperfections, we did not do everything right but we had those mental and psychological qualities which were decisive for this World Cup."

France took the lead from a Mario Mandzukic own goal and they had to soak up a sustained Croatian offensive, including a 28th-minute equaliser, before going in front with a penalty.

They then struck twice midway through the second half to put the game beyond the Croats.

Deschamps said 14 of his players were World Cup newcomers but were ready to work towards a common goal and were mentally more mature than their age.

"Talent is not sufficient. You need the psychological and mental aspects. Any team is then able to climb mountains," Deschamps said.

"Sometimes I can be hard very hard with them but I do it for them and even though they are young they usually do listen."

Among the newcomers are Kylian Mbappe who was voted young player of the tournament and scored France's fourth goal.

"The collective is always important but there are individual players who have made the difference," he said, naming Mbappe and man-of-the-match Antoine Griezmann.

"Those 23 players will now be linked forever whatever happens. They will go different paths but will forever be linked together and from today nothing will be the same professionally because they are world champions.

"We will realise what has happened tomorrow," he said after his players stormed the news conference twice to douse him with champagne. "At the moment they do not know what it is to be world champions."

The 49-year-old coach, who also led France to the Euro 2016 final only to lose in Paris to Portugal, said that defeat may have been key to winning the World Cup.

"Maybe if we were Euro champions we would not have been world champions today. I learned a lot from that defeat," he said.

"The Euro final was different. We tried to stay relaxed this time and the players knew what they had to do and what was at stake."

Croatian media on Monday hailed their team as heroes after the small country's historic success in reaching the World Cup final where France beat them 4-2.

"Thank you, heroes! - You gave us everything!" read the Sportske Novosti frontpage.

"'Vatreni' (the "Fiery Ones" in Croatian), you are the biggest, you are our pride, your names will remain written in gold forever!" the newspaper said.

It showed a photo of captain Luka Modric who was awarded the Golden Ball for the best player at the tournament, holding a trophy, although with a sad face after the defeat.

"Brave hearts - You made us proud," said Jutarnji List daily.

"Croatia celebrates you, you are our gold!" echoed the Vecernji List.

It noted that for the past month coach Zlatko Dalic's team "made Croatia better".

"They restored pride, pulled it out of the pessimism" reigning in the country whose economy remains among the weakest in the European Union.

More than 100,000 red-and-white-painted Croatian fans were expected to welcome the squad home later Monday in the capital Zagreb.

While England already have one foot in the knockout round of Euro 2024 and can finish no lower than third in their group, they need to make their presence felt at a tournament that has seen optimism around them wither after two lacklustre games.

England need to avoid defeat against Slovenia in Cologne to guarantee progress and will definitely top the group with a win. If Denmark fail to beat Serbia in the other Group C match, England will qualify regardless of their result against Slovenia.

Slovenia will go through to the last 16 if they win.

Supporters and pundits have levelled scathing criticism at Gareth Southgate's England side after their 1-0 win over Serbia and anxious 1-1 draw with Denmark that saw fans boo them off the pitch.

Southgate had some concerning post-game comments, pointing to the players' conditioning after long and gruellingly seasons.

"We are not pressing well enough, with enough intensity," he said.

The biggest questions are around what changes Southgate will make after he went with the same lineup in both games for the first time in 16 matches.

Southgate took off Trent Alexander-Arnold, who is struggling out of position in midfield, early in the second half against Denmark, and forwards Harry Kane, Bukayo Saka, and Phil Foden followed some 15 minutes later.

Kane, who said he is fully fit for the game amid speculation about a back injury that bothered him late in the Bundesliga season, hit back at former England players for their scathing criticism of the team's performances.

"I would never want to be disrespectful to any player, especially a player who has worn the shirt and knows what it is like to play for England," said Kane.

"(But) the bottom line is we haven't won anything as a nation for a long, long time and a lot of these players were part of that as well and they know how tough it is."

Slovenia were heading for their first victory at a European Championship when Serbia's Luka Jovic equalised seconds before the final whistle to snatch a 1-1 draw.

"We have proven that we deserve to be at Euro 2024," Slovenia manager Matjaz Kek said. "Football can be really cruel. But I am convinced that this team will get its satisfaction."

England's defence could have their hands full coping with Slovenia striker Benjamin Sesko, who has drawn comparisons to Manchester City's towering forward Erling Haaland.

"(England) know we have played two great games, they are not at their best, they're still great of course, but I think now is the best opportunity to play against them and show them the best we can," said Sesko.

Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic gave Russian President Vladimir Putin a Croatian soccer shirt with the name "Putin" printed on the back on Sunday, hours before Croatia play France in the World Cup final in Moscow.

Croatia has been caught up in soccer fever after the Balkan nation of 4.2 million people swept aside more fancied opponents to reach its first ever World Cup final, which Russia is hosting this year.

Grabar-Kitarovic has, herself, entered into the spirit of the occasion, travelling to Russia to watch matches and dressing in the colours of the national flag. Croatia knocked Russia's team out of the competition in the quarter-finals.

At a Kremlin meeting, Putin congratulated the Croatian president on the Croatian team's performance.

"I'm sure we will see a beautiful game today," he said. Grabar-Kitarovic thanked Putin for what she said was the successful organisation of the competition.

Putin presented her with a bouquet of flowers, while she gave the Russian leader the Croatian national shirt.

Gareth Southgate is 90 minutes away from completing his eight-year mission to "win the respect of the football world", when a win over Spain in Sunday's Euro 2024 final would finally earn England a slot on the big screen highlights reel.

Southgate gave his penultimate press conference of the tournament in the bowels of Berlin's Olympiastadion just over 24 hours before his team will run out seeking to finally win another major trophy to go alongside the 1966 World Cup.

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The "58 years of hurt" that have followed that Wembley success usually featured a routine of overblown expectation followed by massive disappointment, and Southgate felt that that boom and bust was a self-perpetuating cycle.

"We tried to change the mindset from the start, we've tried to be more honest about where we were as a football nation," he said.

"I've travelled to World Cups, European Championships and watched highlights reels before the matches on the big screens and we weren't in any of them - because they only show the finals. So we needed to change that.

"We had high expectations, but they didn't match where we were performance-wise. Now, the high expectations are still there but we have consistent performances over certainly three of the last four tournaments."

England have been a slow burn in this one, only really catching fire in the semi-final victory over the Netherlands when they finally delivered an attacking display worthy of their pre-tournament favourites' tag.

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"We've had to find a different way of playing as the tournament progressed," Southgate said. "When we came in we had a lot of issues, particularly at the back, a lot of players who missed a lot of football towards the end of the season.

"We've been trying to find the right blend and balance for our attacking players because we've got super talent but a lot who like to operate in similar areas.

"We feel we've started to find that balance. We've looked dangerous, like we could score goals again, and I'm happy where the team were at going into this game."

Southgate played, and missed the decisive penalty, when Germany beat England in the semi-finals en route to victory at Wembley at Euro 96 but said he did not consider it any sort of fate for England to have the chance to win the trophy on German soil.

"I am not a believer in fairy tales. I am a believer in dreams," he said. "We've had big dreams, but then you have to make those things happen and fight.

"Of course, it would be a lovely story, but we need to deliver a performance. You have to be in the latter stages of tournaments to be able to learn how to win those big games, and we're learning that. We've come through a lot of big nights now.

"Tomorrow, I don't have any fear of what might happen, because I've been through everything. I want the players to feel that fearlessness because if we're not afraid to lose, it gives us a better chance of winning."

England's turnaround under Southgate, following their shock defeat by Iceland at Euro 2016, has seen them reach back to back Euro finals and a semi-final and quarter-final at the World Cup.

It is a remarkable record of consistency that no other European team, or previous England manager, has been able to match, but Southgate knows as well as anyone that that "success" will count for little if they don't get over the line on Sunday.

"A lot of records have been broken," he said. "But we know we have to we have to do this one, we have to get this trophy to really feel the respect of the rest of the football world."