France dance on top of the world

The 2018 World Cup came to an end in Moscow with the French celebrating their 2^nd championship in 20 years after beating Croatia 4-2 in the final and going to the top of the football rankings. France just about won their group but came to life in the knockout stage where they sent South America teams Argentina and Uruguay home before a single goal against Belgium took them to the final where they met Croatia who won their group in a more convincing fashion having crushed Argentina 3-0, but needed penalty shootouts to get past Denmark and host Russia before ending England’s hopes in extra time. Germany had a World Cup to forget, losing 1-0 to Mexico and being sent packing 2-0 by South Korea in the biggest shock of the tournament with Sweden winning the group and being accompanied by Mexico whom they stepped over 3-0 in their final group match, while Poland had an embarrassing World Cup, losing 2-1 to Senegal and being brushed aside 3-0 by Colombia before picking up a worthless 1-0 win against a motiveless Japan who had defeated Colombia 2-1 but went out in the next round. Russia began the World Cup by slaughtering Saudi Arabia 5-1 and continued to entertain and excite their fans by exceeding expectations and getting to the next round where they disposed of Spain on penalties. Having lost 1-0 to Serbia and 2-0 to Brazil, Costa Rica sent their supporters home with a satisfying 2-2 draw against the Swiss. Iceland began their first ever World Cup finals with a historic 1-1 draw against Argentina but melted 2-0 against Nigeria before going out 2-1 to Croatia. Despite once again failing to negotiate their way out of their group, Iran had a successful World Cup with a 1-0 victory over Morocco and were a goal away from winning the group in their 1-1 draw against Portugal.