ivan perisic recalls childhood during 1998
Ivan Perisic recalls being a little boy wearing his red-and-white checkered shirt as he watched Croatia previous World Cup semifinal against France in 1998. He says he watched on TV in Split when Croatia lost to the French, who went on to win the title.
"I rooted for Croatia wearing the Croatia jersey," he said. "I could only dream of playing for my country and of scoring one of the important goals in a final."
Perisic scored the equalizer and contributed to clinching goal as Croatia rallied to beat England 2-1 in extra time to reach the World Cup final for the first time. To win the championship, they'll have to beat France on Sunday. He spent a couple of years in his childhood living in France but says that's "irrelevant" now.
"No one can be happier than me to play them in the final," Perisic said. "I spoke to my mother the other day. She said she dreamed that Croatia will play France in the World Cup final. Now her dream is becoming reality — we will see what happens."
Pogba says Griezmann on his way to become France legend
France midfielder Paul Pogba on Thursday said that his teammate Antoine Griezmann was on his way to becoming a national football team legend.
Speaking at a press conference in the town of Istra, Pogba compared Griezmann's career to that of Zinedine Zidane, who played a stellar role in France winning the 1998 FIFA World Cup and the 2000 European championship.
Pogba said that he hopes Griezmann will score on Sunday in the final against Croatia.
Pogba recalled France's loss at the Euro 2016 and stressed that he did not want to taste another national defeat.
The 25-year-old said that he did not consider France to be the favourites in the final because Croatia's players were strong opponents who never give up.