Ivan Perisic believes France is the favorite team to win the 2018 FIFA World Cup but says his team, Croatia, has something in stock to surprise the 1998 champions.The two nations booked a place in the final after defeating Belgium and England in their respective finals.Perisic says that the Blues have an upper hand but believe they have something that will motivate them.“They are favorites,” Perisic admitted adding, “but we will do our best to surprise them. We have three days to prepare ourselves. We are all happy to be staying in Moscow, which was our goal.”
Both nations have had a fairytale run to the final akin to their run in France 98 where they achieved their best ever record. For France, they achieved the ultimate goal by beating Brazil just after dispatching Croatia in the semifinals.Perisic adds that Croatia’s loss to France in the semifinals of 98 will provide an extra motivation to the team as they seek revenge and look to bring joy to the 4 million Croats.“France stopped us in the semi-finals in 1998. We will have some extra motivation because of that, for sure. But this is a totally different story. Our dream is so close now.”