Moscow: France's progression to Sunday's World Cup final, where they face Croatia as they target a second title to add to their victory on home soil in 1998, has included arguably the tournament's most boring and most exciting matches.
France 2-1 Australia, Group C
France produced an overall disappointing performance in their opening game but still got the job done, a scenario that would be repeated throughout their run to the final.
Antoine Griezmann converted the first World Cup penalty to be awarded after a video review to break the deadlock, but a bizarre handball by Samuel Umtiti saw Australia hit back. After a double substitution from Didier Deschamps, Paul Pogba grabbed a winner with 10 minutes left with a heavily deflected shot.
France 1-0 Peru, Group C
Deschamps recalled experienced hands Olivier Giroud and Blaise Matuidi to his starting line-up for their second game, and France improved but still struggled to impress against the South Americans.
The breakthrough came with a deflected shot from Giroud which Kylian Mbappe tapped into the net, although Peru were not far from levelling when Pedro Aquino clanged the crossbar. The win saw France into the last 16 and sent Peru out.
France 0-0 Denmark, Group C
Deschamps made six changes to his team for the final group game and only needed a point to guarantee top spot, a result which also suited the Danes and would guarantee their passage to the last 16.
To little surprise, the circumstances lead to the tournament's first goalless draw and probably its least interesting game, with neither side willing to take any risks in attack.
France 4-3 Argentina, last 16
A match-up worthy of a World Cup final kicked off the knockout phase and was a thriller from the start, when Mbappe blazed through the middle of the pitch and won a penalty which Griezmann converted, right to the finish, when Sergio Aguero headed in an injury time goal to set up a tense finale.
In between, Angel di Maria scored a sensational long range strike, Benjamin Pavard cancelled out Gabriel Mercado's scrappy goal with an equally impressive hit, and Mbappe scored two thumping goals to restore France's lead and then extend it, adding extra panache to an already enthralling spectacle.
Uruguay 0-2 France, quarter-final
Griezmann had predicted that facing a team marshalled by his Atletico Madrid teammates Diego Godin and Jose Gimenez would be a boring affair, and it took a Raphael Varane header from one of the forward's free-kicks to open it up.
Goalkeeper Hugo Lloris preserved France's lead with a stunning save to deny Martin Caceres, while Griezmann ended the game as a contest with a speculative shot that slipped through Fernando Muslera's hands, although he opted against celebrating out of his affection for Uruguay.
France 1-0 Belgium, semi-final
With France great Thierry Henry in the opposing dugout as assistant coach and a Belgium team full of players who had learned their trade at French clubs, this semi-final was packed with narratives and did not disappoint.
Belgium played the more attractive football, with Eden Hazard their main source of danger. But France were more street wise, playing a careful, defensive game and striking with Samuel Umtiti's header from a corner kick.
Paul Pogba summed up France's ruthless mentality in the game, saying: "I am not a natural defender, but I want to win the World Cup, and you have to make sacrifices."
Croatia's road to the 2018 World Cup final
Croatia's road to Sunday's World Cup final, where they will play France for a chance to lift the trophy for the first time:
Croatia 2-0 Nigeria, Group D
Croatia got off to a winning start for the first time at a World Cup since 1998 with a comfortable victory over Nigeria. An own goal from Nigeria's Oghenekaro Etebo and a Luka Modric penalty did the damage, but Nigeria did actually finish the match having had more attempts than their opponents.
The win in Kaliningrad put Croatia in a strong position after Argentina were held to a surprise 1-1 draw by Iceland in their Group D opener.
Croatia 3-0 Argentina, Group D
By far and away Croatia's best performance at this World Cup came against two-time champions Argentina, who were blown away by Zlatko Dalic's side.
Goals from Ante Rebic, a thunderbolt from Modric and a late Ivan Rakitic goal gave Croatia a first victory over a South American opponent in World Cup history, and inflicted the heaviest World Cup first-round defeat since 1958 on a beleaguered Argentina.
The victory meant Croatia sealed progression to the last 16 with a game to spare. "People will realise they should respect Croatia," defender Dejan Lovren said after the game. "If we are like today, through all the tournament, I believe we can go far."
Croatia 2-1 Iceland, Group DDespite making nine changes with their progression already secured, Croatia racked up three World Cup group victories for the first time with a narrow win over Iceland, scoring with both of their shots on target.
Milan Badelj gave the Croatians the lead in the second half but his goal was cancelled out by Iceland's Gylfi Sigurdsson, who scored a penalty. Substitute Ivan Perisic hit the winning goal in the 90th minute, to ensure than Croatia topped Group D by a colossal five points.
Croatia 1-1 Denmark - (Croatia won 3-2 on penalties), last 16
This was no classic. After two very quick-fire goals ? only the second match in World Cup history where both teams scored inside four minutes - extra time was needed to separate these two.
As the 120th minute approached, the match was labouring towards a penalty shootout, until a brilliant Luka Modric pass set Ante Rebic through, with the pacey forward winning a penalty. Modric stepped up to take it, only to see Kasper Schmeichel make a brilliant save.
In the shootout, Modric redeemed himself, converting his spot kick, but it was goalkeeper Danijel Subasic who was the hero, becoming only the second goalkeeper to save three penalties in a shootout at the World Cup to earn his side victory.
Croatia 2-2 Russia (Croatia win 4-3 on penalties), quarter final
Croatia needed nerves of steal once more to book a first semi-final spot since 1998, as well as boundless energy to counter a Russia side with the support of a nation behind them in Sochi.
Denis Cheryshev's curler for Russia was cancelled out by Andrej Kramaric within the 90 minutes, before Domagoj Vida looked to have headed the winner in extra time.
Mario Fernandes' late equaliser took the game to penalties though, where Danijel Subasic was again the hero, making one save, and watching another wide as Croatia became the first side to win two penalty shootouts at a World Cup since Argentina in 1990.
Croatia 2-1 England, semi-final
Having fallen behind early on to Kieran Trippier's sizzling free-kick, Croatia rarely looked like getting back into the match in the first half. But Ivan Perisic's 68th-minute equaliser turned the match on its head, and from then on, it looked like there was only going to be one winner.
Perisic thundered a strike against the post in normal time, before England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford made a stunning stop to deny Mario Mandzukic in extra time. However, Croatia's leading marksman was not kept out for long, as he latched onto Perisic's flick to fire home what proved to be the winner as Croatia booked their first ever spot in a World Cup final.
