Paris subway changes names to honour WC champs

Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic is prepared to make changes for Sunday's World Cup final against France if some of his players have not recovered from their exertions in reaching football's biggest game.

Dalic's men have been forced to go through three periods of extra-time against Denmark, Russia and England to become the smallest country in 68 years to make the final.

"Tomorrow is the World Cup final. Simply, the players know what that is," Dalic said on Saturday.

"One thing that brings me happiness is that all my players tell me if they are not 100 percent fit. They will concede and say they are not fit. They know what is at stake, but if they are unable to give their all they will tell us. They have such an attitude."

Ivan Perisic, who scored and set up Mario Mandzukic's winner in a 2-1 semi-final win over England, was among five Croatian players to miss training on Friday.

"We have nothing to train. We need relaxation and rest to gain freshness for tomorrow. We have some minor injuries, minor problems, and I hope my players will be ready. If not, I have great players on the bench who will be raring to go."

Belgium finished third in the World Cup, their best-ever performance, when they beat England 2-0 with an early Thomas Meunier goal and a breakaway finished by Eden Hazard in Saturday's playoff between the losing semi-finalists.

Meunier finished off a devastating move when he turned in Nacer Chadli's low cross at the far post in the fourth minute after Romelu Lukaku's pass sliced open the English defence.

Belgium, who beat England 1-0 in a group match in the tournament, were more dangerous throughout a lively first half. But England improved after the break and nearly equalised when Eric Dier got clear and chipped over Thibaut Courtois, only for Toby Alderweireld to make a sliding clearance off the line.

Belgium continued to threaten on the break and finished off the game when Kevin de Bruyne set Hazard clear and he swept his shot past Jordan Pickford.

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.

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.

Newspapers and TV stations hailed France's World Cup victory on Monday, while clean-up crews worked against the clock to tidy up after a crazy night's partying in Paris ahead of a victory parade down the Champs Elysees.

"Our Day of Glory Is Here" declared Le Figaro, referencing a rousing line from the Marseillaise anthem.

"History Made" announced sports daily L'Equipe, while business journal Les Echos went for the more straightforward "Champions of the World". Photos of superstars Kylian Mbappe, Antoine Griezmann and Paul Pogba, as well as shots of the team holding aloft and kissing the trophy, dominated coverage.

The victory has created a sense of national unity, with commentators playing up the fact the squad, the second-youngest in the competition, includes many with central and north African heritage, even if all but two were born in France.

When the country won its first World Cup in 1998, when Zinedine Zidane was its talisman and playmaker, the team was referred to as "Black-Blanc-Beur" (Black-White-Arab), a positive reference to its diverse ethnic make-up.

Gallery: France fans celebrate

But some were keen to push that phrase to one side, seeing in it a sense of separateness, even if it was meant positively.

"We're not in 1998," said Mounir Mahjoubi, the secretary of state for digital affairs, whose parents emigrated from Morocco.

"We're not still celebrating 'Black-Blanc-Beur', we're celebrating brotherhood," he said of the current team.

Videos shot by the players in the frenetic changing room after the win showed them singing, dancing and raising a toast together, while teaching President Emmanuel Macron, who could barely contain his excitement, how to do a "dab".

METRO STATIONS

For Macron, who became president last year at the age of 39, taking his political movement to victory against the odds, the football team's success is likely to have positive repercussions after a slump in the polls.

The Paris metro system got into the celebratory mood, announcing the names of a number of stations were being briefly changed to honour the players and coach, Didier Deschamps.

So Notre-Dame des Champs station was relabelled "Notre Didier Deschamps", and Victor Hugo was switched to "Victor Hugo Lloris" after the captain and goalkeeper.

The 2 km Champs Elysees, the Arc de Triomphe and the vast Place de la Concorde turned into a heaving sea of people on Sunday night, waving red, white and blue flags, setting off firecrackers and blowing horns until early morning.

On Monday, the after-effects were still visible. A number of smashed windows, an overturned car and graffiti scrawled here and there, including the phrase "Liberte, Egalite, Mbappe", a reference to the national motto "Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite".

On Twitter, Brazil legend Pele paid tribute to the exploits of Mbappe, France's standout, 19-year-old superstar, saying that if the teenager kept equalling his goal-scoring records, Pele might have to strap his boots back on.

Mbappe replied to the tweet in English saying "The king will always remain the king", quickly gaining 15,000 retweets.

The team is scheduled to arrive back in France at 1400 GMT, with crowds set to gather at Charles de Gaulle airport to receive them. A parade down the Champs Elysees is scheduled for 1530 GMT, and there will be a formal victory reception with Macron at the Elysee Palace at 1630 GMT.

And it's not just in Paris that the nation has been taken over with football fever. From Nice and Marseille in the south to Lille in the north, Nantes in the west and scores of towns and cities in between, TV stations were full of images of red, white and blue clad fans singing in streets and squares.