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The 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia witnessed the return of Le Bleus to the summit of global football. A young and energetic French team, under the stewardship of former World Cup-winning captain Didier Deschamps, blew away all competition to come out on top. The likes of Paul Pogba and Kylian Mbappe became global stars as France won the coveted trophy for the second time. As a result of this Deschamps became only the third individual to have won the World Cup both as a player and coach after Brazil's Mario Zagallo and Germany's Franz Beckenbauer.
It was a World Cup, which again gave the two reigning superstars of global football, Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo and Argentina's Lionel Messi, a chance to get their hands on football's ultimate prize and cement their legacy forever. But it wasn't to be as Portugal exited in the round of 16, losing 1-2 to Uruguay, while Argentina was knocked out at the same stage by the eventual champions in an entertaining 3-4 defeat.
Neymar led Brazil to the quarter-finals, but the Selecao had no answer to Belgium's 'Golden Generation' as Eden Hazard's team marched on to the semis.
England were looking at their own revival and Gareth Southgate's team was ably led on the field by Harry Kane as they made their first semi-final appearance since 1990.
Luka Modric's Croatia laboured their way past two penalty shootouts to reach the semis.
Both semi-finals were cagey affairs with France edging out Belgium 1-0 and Croatia mounting a great comeback to beat England 2-1.
The French were a class apart in the final as they ran out 4-2 winners. Belgium beat England to take the third place.
| Team | GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Uruguay | 3 | 3 | 5 | 9 |
