Brazil, the reigning champions, who won the previous FIFA World Cup four years earlier in 1994, and France, who had reached the tournament's final for the first time, competed in the final. France won the World Cup for the first time, 3-0, with the match taking place two days earlier. Brazil's Zico, who played in three finals during his career, lost 2-1 to Aimé Jacquet.
The Netherlands also reached the final but were eliminated by Argentina, who went on to lose to Brazil. The Netherlands' most successful player at the time, Marco van Basten, was sent off after only five minutes of the match. He missed the remainder of the competition through suspension.
Argentina's Juan Ramón Fernández "El Turco" Vicente, who played in three consecutive World Cups between 1978 and 1982, scored one of the greatest goals in World Cup history when he shot past three Dutch defenders before scoring with a low shot into the corner of the net from outside the box in the 44th minute of the final. It was his second goal of the game and ensured that Argentina finished as winners of their first World Cup campaign. The other two players who scored for Argentina were Diego Maradona and Leopoldo Luque. Maradona, who is considered one of the best players in World Cup history, provided two assists while Luque scored once.
France won the tournament, defeating Japan 1-0 thanks to a goal from Patrick Vieira. By winning the event, France became the second side in history to be World Cup champions, continental champions, and Confederations Cup winners all at the same time, following Brazil in 1997.
The 2001 Confederations Cup took place in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia. It was the first time that the two cities had hosted the competition together. The eight remaining national teams of the world competed for the title.
France came into the tournament as favorites after they failed to qualify for the 2000 Olympics. They went on to win their third consecutive and fourth overall Confederations Cup title with an impressive 3-1 victory over Japan in the final. Zinedine Zidane's team were perfect in their opening three matches before losing to Brazil in their final game. With this win, Japan became the second country to defeat France at the Olympic football tournament, after Germany did so in 1936.
Other notable results included Spain beating Mexico 4-2, England losing to Italy 2-1, and Colombia beating Uruguay 3-0.
The 2001 Confederations Cup was played between June 15 and July 2. It was used by FIFA as a qualification process for the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan.
France won the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, defeating Croatia 4-2 in regular time. The World Cup final is the final match of the competition, and the outcome determines which country is crowned world champion. France earned their spot in the finale by finishing first in Group A, while Croatia qualified by winning Group B.
Both teams are coming off championship wins: France beat Portugal 2-0 to claim its fourth title, while Croatia defeated England 2-1 to capture its fifth crown. Both countries have successful histories at this year's tournament as well; France was the only remaining European team left after Germany and Italy were eliminated in the round of 16, while Croatia became the first team from South America to reach the final.
However, France is going into the match as the favorite, having won the last four World Cups titles under coach Laurent Blanc. As for Croatia, its only previous win at the World Cup came in 1998 when it defeated Brazil 3-2 after being up 2-0 early in the second half. Since then, Croatia has been eliminated in the quarterfinals each time.
Both teams have very strong defenses that allow them to concentrate on other parts of the field. Croatia is ranked No. 1 in both defense categories (goals against average and save percentage) while France comes in second in both rankings.
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