Vive la France! Football champion of the World Cup 2018.

It was raining when Les Bleus received the World Cup at Luzhniki Stadium n Moscow.
(Picture: Getty Images@https://www.fifa.com/worldcup/awards/)

It was a good thing that in this part of the world (Philippines), Manny Pacquiao's seven-round knock-out of the Argentine Lucas Matthysse in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia came much, much ahead of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia championship match of France and Croatia at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow.

It was midnight (Manila time), when France ran away with the Cup at 4-2 against Croatia. It was deemed a "fitting end to an outstanding tournament."

It was the second World Cup for the Les Bleus. The first time was twenty years ago when they trumped Brazil 3-0 in their home ground, Stade de France in St. Denis at the World Cup 1998.

We could only watch the match highlights from FIFA.com Monday morning, and read about turning points of the game from the FIFA webpage. 

The report says: "Despite Croatia having the majority of possession in the opening stages, France took the lead in somewhat fortuitous circumstances. Antoine Griezmann's lofted free kick from the French right was nodded into his own net by Mario Mandzukic.

"Ivan Perisic levelled with a calm effort from the edge of the penalty area, but he would turn from hero to villain. A cross from the French right-hand side was handled by the Croatia No4, with a penalty awarded after a VAR review.

"After the interval, France increased their lead through Paul Pogba, whose performances in the tournament deserved a goal in its finale. After Kylian Mbappe stretched the Croatian defence, Griezmann teed up Pogba, who finished after seeing his initial effort blocked.

"After his tireless running tired the Croatian defence, it was only fitting that Mbappe himself got on the scoresheet, hitting a sweetly-struck effort from the edge of the penalty area with which Danijel Subasic stood no chance.

"Mandzukic then scored in the same net, but this time to Croatia's advantage, capitalising on some carelessness by Hugo Lloris to reduce the deficit.

"In the end, the big No17's [Mandzukic] strike was not enough to spark yet another miraculous Croatian comeback, and Les Bleus emulate their heroes of 1998 - including coach Didier Deschamps - in securing their second World Cup title."

adidas Golden Ball Awardee Luka Modric of Croatia and
FIFA Young Player Award Kylian Mbappe of France.
(Pictures: Getty images@https://www.fifa.com/worldcup/awards/

There were consolation prizes too with key players receiving "Golden", "Silver" and "Bronze" awards from adidas, as decided by the FIFA Technical Study Group.

Croatia's Luka Modric received the adidas Golden Ball Award. He is considered "supremely gifted' with his "tireless work in the midfield, where he used his incisive vision to great effect in guiding his team, setting the tempo, and exploiting gaps in opposition defences. He proved equally effective in the Final, dictating the pace as Croatia made a fast start to the match."

Thibaut Courtois of Belgium got the adidas Golden Glove Award, which means he was the tournament's best goalkeeper. He is credited for the historic third place of his team in this tournament. Described as "imperious," this "imposing keeper made the most of his large frame and outstanding reflexes to come to his side’s rescue time and again. Beaten only once by eventual champions France in the semi-finals, he turned in another commanding performance in the play-off for third place.

Thibaut Courtois, best goalkeeper, adidas Golden Glove awardee.
(Source: https://www.fifa.com/worldcup/awards/

Kylian Mbappe of France won the FIFA Young Player Award, which is presented to the player with the biggest impact at the Russia 2018. 

Described as a teenage prodigy (he's 19 years old), Russia 2018 was his first world finals. He came to the World Cup as "relatively unknown before the opening ceremony, but emerged as a household name after the event."

He was greatly admired especially when he put two goals against Argentina. That made him the youngest scorer of a knockout match, replicating Pele 60 years ago when Brazil played against Sweden in 1958. 

  

Kylian Mbappe, FIFA Young Player Awardee.
(Picure: Getty images@https://www.fifa.com/worldcup/matches/match/300331552/#match-summary)

England's captain Harry Kane went home with the adidas Golden Boot Award. He made six goals across six games in Russia 2018. 

He was described as "one of the best finishers in the business, helping to fire England to their best finish since Italy 1990." 

England captain Harry Kane, adidas Golden Boot awardee.
(Picture from https://www.fifa.com/worldcup/awards/)

The World Cup 2018 took a little more than a month to finish. It started with the Round of 16 in the knockout phase, a series of elimination from 16 teams to the final four. 

Visually, this was how the games held in various sites in Russia went:

FIFA World Cup 2018 championship history.
(Source: https://www.fifa.com/worldcup/)

 And the top teams that went home with honors to the acclamation of their countries were: France (World Cup 2018 champion), Croatia (runner-up), Belgium (third place), and England (fourth place).

Spain exited in the Round of 16 when it lost to Russia, but they received an award during the closing ceremony. They received the FIFA Fair Play Trophy for their "superb disciplinary record," and "exemplary behaviour on the pitch, where they picked up just two yellow cards in their four matches and committed a mere 34 fouls."

World Cup championship score card through the years.
(Source: Wikipedia)