France vs Belgium: WC semi-final, stats and analysis

President Donald Trump tweeted Sunday to congratulate the winning team, President Vladimir Putin, and Russia after the World Cup final, which he called "one of the best ever!"

"Congratulations to France, who played extraordinary soccer, on winning the 2018 World Cup. Additionally, congratulations to President Putin and Russia for putting on a truly great World Cup Tournament one of the best ever!," he wrote on his Twitter account on Sunday.

Earlier in the day, the national team of France defeated Croatia 4-2 in the 2018 FIFA World Cup final match in Moscow to snatch its second World Cup Trophy.

Croatia face France in Moscow on Sunday attempting to win their first World Cup while Didier Deschamps' side are aiming to land their second title two decades on from their triumph on home soil.

France, who are clear favourites to triumph in the Luzhniki Stadium, will also be spurred on by the bitter disappointment of losing the Euro 2016 final to Portugal in Paris.

It is a final few people anticipated when football's global showpiece kicked off four weeks ago.

Croatia have brought joy to their Balkan nation of just four million people by defying the odds to progress to the final while reigning champions Germany, then Argentina and Brazil all fell by the wayside in Russia.

They have been inspired by mercurial midfielder Luka Modric while coach Zlatko Dalic, who only took over last year with the squad in chaos, has coaxed remarkable performances from his team.

Deschamps would become only the third man to win the World Cup as both a player and a manager -- he was captain when France lifted the World Cup in 1998.

His France side, spearheaded by 19-year-old forward Kylian Mbappe and the more seasoned Antoine Griezmann, are the favourites.

Paul Pogba has finally become a leader in midfield for France and N'Golo Kante has excelled in doing the tireless work that allows his teammates to shine, while Samuel Umtiti and Raphael Varane are the nucleus of a solid defence.

Les Bleus laboured through their group, beating Australia and Peru by the odd goal and drawing with Denmark in the only goalless game of the tournament.

Then they hit form, sweeping aside Argentina in a match which announced to the world that Mbappe is set to be an international superstar as he scored twice and outshone Lionel Messi.

But apart from that 4-3 win, France have played like a Deschamps side, with the emphasis on defence.

Russia was the target of almost 25 million cyber-attacks during the World Cup, President Vladimir Putin said, though he did not indicate who may have been behind the attacks.

"During the period of the World Cup, almost 25 million cyber-attacks and other criminal acts on the information structures in Russia, linked in one way or another to the World Cup, were neutralised," Putin said during a meeting on Sunday with security services. The comments were reported by the Kremlin on Monday.

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."

France have shut out all the euphoria back home over their run to the World Cup final in order to play a perfect match against Croatia on Sunday, France captain Hugo Lloris said.

The goalkeeper said the team were not being swept up by the wave of celebrations back home and were keeping their focus firmly on their shot of earning a second World Cup title after 1998 when they take on the Croatians in Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium.

"To be honest we are in our little bubble and we don't know what is happening in France," Lloris told reporters on Saturday.

"We are far from thinking that we have reached our goal. We will face a high-quality opponent and they deserve as much credit as we do.

"They have displayed their physical and mental strengths and tomorrow we will need a great French team to win."

France have never needed to go beyond 90 minutes in their run to the final after beating Argentina in the round of 16, Uruguay in the last eight and Belgium in the semi-finals.

But Croatia had to battle from a goal down in all three of their knockout matches to beat Denmark, Russia and England.

They played extra time in all of them and needed penalties against the Danes and hosts Russia.

"Croatia have shown their mental strength which is quite incredible. They have managed to qualify after extra time three times in a row. There is something special in this team," Lloris warned.

"They also have an incredible collective strength. We have a lot of respect for them. We need to perform at a high level and deliver a perfect match to win," said the keeper.

France are in their third World Cup final after winning in 1998 and losing to Italy in 2006. They also reached the Euro final on home soil two years ago only to lose to Portugal.

Lloris said that defeat was not on their minds any longer, with many current players not part of the 2016 team.

"I think that our team is quite calm. I do not really know if we realise how far we have come but it is better that way," Lloris said. "We have this inner strength from the beginning of the tournament with which we can overcome any challenge."

"Tomorrow will be the most important match of our career. It will be a special match because it is a World Cup final and we have to stay in our bubble to focus on the ultimate goal."