Nigeria legend Victor Agali believes Croatia were unfortunate to miss the World Cup title after a 4-2 defeat to a 'completely synced' France side at Luzhniki Stadium on Sunday evening.
The Fiery Ones saw their dominance count for nothing as they found themselves 2-1 down at half-time before Paul Pogba and Kylian Mbappe's second-half strikes crashed their bid for a first World Cup title in Moscow.
In spite the defeat, the former Nice striker, who had predicted France's World Cup triumph, feels the Croats 'held their own' but bowed to a better organized Les Bleus.
"France were a team with a complete sync and were comfortable and happy to play for each other," Agali told Goal.
"Apart from being the highest ranked team going to the World Cup, every department was almost equal - the defence, midfield, and attack look like a well-bonded team. That's why from the onset I felt they were the team to beat from the beginning of the tournament.
"Croatia held their own and played well but they met a team that was a bit better than them. France were better, organization wise and overrun them in the midfield, especially in the second half.
"[Paul] Pogba was excellent and [Kylian] Mbappe was a phenomenon at 19 doing what he's doing at the World Cup. In addition to some of the mistakes, with respect to the handball, I felt Croatia lost to a completely synced team that were better than them in all departments."
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