France overpower Croatia 4-2 in FIFA World Cup final
Moscow, July 15: France scored twice in each half as they thumped a combative Croatia 4-2 in a dramatic final to win the FIFA World Cup for the second time in 20 years here on Sunday.
A first-ever own goal in a World Cup final gave France the lead as Mario Mandzukic headed a free-kick into his own net in the 18th minute but Croatia pulled level through a strike from Ivan Perisic in the 28th minute.
Antoine Griezmann converted a penalty in the 38th minute to regain France's lead which was further increased to 3-1 by Paul Pogba in the 59th minute.
Kylian Mbappe (65th) made it 4-1 before Mandzukic pounced on a blunder from goalkeeper Hugo Lloris to reduce the difference to two in the 69th minute, giving some hope to Croatia. But the third goal from Croatia never arrived as the talented French side sealed a deserving triumph.
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Talks about split coaching surprising, important for people to stay in their domain: Gambhir
Visakhapatnam (PTI): India head coach Gautam Gambhir on Saturday came down heavily on theories doing the rounds on social media about split coaching, terming them "surprising" and asked those opinion-makers to stay "in their domain."
After India’s recent 0-2 Test series defeat against South Africa, some influential cricketing names, including an IPL team owner, asked the BCCI to consider appointing separate coaches for red-ball and white ball formats.
"Look, there were a lot of talks because the results didn't go in our favour (in Test series). But the most surprising thing is that not once did any media or journalist wrote that our first Test match (in Kolkata) was played without the captain (Shubman Gill), who didn't bat in both innings (because of a neck injury)," Gambhir said during the post-match press meet after India clinched the ODI series against SA 2-1.
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Gambhir said such opinion makers should refrain from making remarks that have no direct connection with on-field cricketing matters.
“Some people also said things that have nothing to do with cricket. An IPL team owner (Parth Jindal of Delhi Capitals on X) also wrote about split coaching.
“So this is surprising. It's very important for people to stay in their domain. Because if we don't go into someone's domain, then they also don't have the right to come into our domain,” Gambhir added.
Gambhir had also stated his achievements as the red-ball coach in the post-match press conference at Guwahati in what looked like a self-defence mechanism after a series defeat at home.
“I don't give excuses in press conferences. It doesn't mean that you don't show the facts in front of the world or the country. When you go through a transition and when you lose your captain, who is also your main batter in red-ball cricket against such a team (SA).
"Then obviously the results are difficult because you don't have that much experience in red ball cricket. And the surprising thing is that no one even talked about it. All the discussions about wickets, I don't know what all things were said," he noted.
