Raissa's Blog - Best of Sports, Culture, and Entertainment

France just won its second World Cup title in Moscow at the Luzhniki Stadium, and its first since it hosted the tournament in 1998, 20 years ago. France Les Bleus manager Didier Deschamps was a member of the 1998 French squad that defeated Brazil at the 1998 final. On Sunday, Deschamps became the third to ever win the World Cup as a player and coach. The other two to have made such an accomplishment are  Mário Zagallo from Brazil and Franz Beckenbauer from Germany. Croatia's Mario Mandzukic scored the first ever own goal in the World Cup finals history. The 32-year-old Juventus forward brought the overall tally of own goals in the tournament to 12 with a historic header into Danijel Subašić's net.  Ivan Perisic scored a brilliant equalizer for Croatia 29 minutes into the first half. Mandzukic redeemed himself when he a goal in the second half following Hugo Lloris' shocking blunder.  The 31-year-old keeper who doubles as France captain w...

Luka Modric, the 32 year old Croatian midfielder has impressed football lovers a countless number of times, but his extraordinary performance at the World Cup further highlights what a special player he is. The five-foot-eight player is remarkably athletic in addition to his technical qualities, as he has covered a staggering 63km (39.1 miles) in this World Cup, and has played the most minutes - 604. Luka Modric is an excellent ball distributor who keeps the ball moving. Croatia's midfield general has been nominated (by FIFA) Man of the Match in three of Croatia's six World Cup games.  Former Brazil and Real Madrid star had the best to say about Luka Modric - Croatia's captain - ahead of the final to be played today between France and Croatia today. Kaka played alongside Modric for one season before leaving Real Madrid for AC Milan in 2013. Kaka told Omnisport,  "Luka [Modric] shows us that it's easy to play. Believe me it's really really hard to play ...