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Tuesday July 17, 2018

CROATIA captain Luka Modric won the FIFA Golden Ball for the best player at the World Cup 2018 despite seeing his side lose in the fi nal to France.

It is the second consecutive tournament when the winner has been named as a player on the losing side in the fi nal, after Lionel Messi was awarded it in Brazil 2014.

Modric has covered more distance than any other in the World Cup and becomes the fi rst Croatian to win the award. He scored two goals and had one assist during the seven games in Russia, leading his team to two penalty shootout victories in what was Croatia’s best ever showing in the World Cup.

The award for the young player of the tournament went to Kylian Mbappe, while Belgium’s Thibaut Courtois won the Golden Glove and England’s Harry Kane claimed the Golden Boot.

The 32-year-old, who now plays for Real Madrid, has argu-ably become the all-time best soccer player of Croatia.

In the days leading up to the fi nal match of the World Cup, Modric’s signifi cant life story was chronicled by various media out-lets. Modric and his family were expelled from their home village in the Dalmatian hinterland during Croatia’s war of inde-pendence. He was six when his family was forced to leave their

KYLIAN MBAPPE committed his future to Paris Saint-Ger-main amid links with European champion Real Madrid.

Mbappe won the FIFA Young Player award for his perfor-mances at Russia 2018 after helping France claim the World Cup on Sunday.

The 19-year-old forward scored in France’s 4-2 victory over Croatia in Moscow as he took his tournament tally to four goals.

Mbappe — who completed a permanent transfer to Ligue 1 champion PSG from French rival Monaco during the off-season having spent last term on loan in Paris — has no plans to leave the capital as Madrid attempt to replace Juventus-bound Cris-tiano Ronaldo.

“I will stay with PSG, continu-ing on my path with them,” Mbappe told reporters.

Mbappe garnered global rec-ognition for his performances in this year’s World Cup, but the proceeds he earned are not going to him.

Mbappe, who scored four goals this year as France claimed its second World Cup, decided to donate his earnings from the tournament to a charity that gives free sports instruction to hospi-talized and disabled children in sports, Premiers de Cordee.

The organization also coor-dinates disability awareness

FRANCE won the World Cup for the second time in spectacular style Sunday with a 4-2 victory over Croatia.

“Our children are going to be very proud,” forward Antoine Griezmann said. “The World Cup, it’s a lot.”

About 12 minutes after a protester gave Kylian Mbappe a double high-fi ve on the fi eld, the 19-year-old sent a right-footed shot from 25 meters past goal-keeper Danijel Subasic. The goal put France up 4-1, closing the door on Croatia who had been the better team until Mbappe took control.

Mbappe became only the second teen after Pele to score in a World Cup fi nal.

“I have a whole story to write,” Mbappe said. “This is just the beginning.”

Paul Pogba and Griezmann, France’s two other key creative players, also scored. Pogba played a disciplined role in Russia, but his natural joy was evident celebrating his 18-meter shot, and leading the champagne shower for Deschamps.

But it was Mbappe who put the match out of reach with a furious passage of play in the second half. In the 59th, a run from Mbappe started a play that ended up with Pogba on the edge of the penalty area. With his second attempt, the midfi elder curled his shot beyond Subasic.

Griezmann scored from the

NOVAK DJOKOVIC became Wimbledon’s champion for the fourth time Sunday, grabbing a lead right away against a weary Kevin Anderson in the fi nal and holding off a late challenge to win 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 (3).

“There were several moments where I was frustrated and ques-tioning whether I can get back to the desired level or not. But that makes this whole journey even more special for me,” Djokovic said.

“It’s easy to talk now and look back at it and be kind of grate-ful, but I am really grateful to go through this kind of, so to say, mixed emotions, turbulences as well, mentally, moments of doubt and disappointment and frustration, anger.”

It is Djokovic’s 13th major trophy, the fourth-highest total in the history of men’s tennis, trailing only Roger Federer’s 20, Rafael Nadal’s 17 and his child-hood idol Pete Sampras’ 14.

But it’s also Djokovic’s fi rst since he completed a career Grand Slam at the 2016 French Open.

“It was a long journey,” the 31-year-old from Serbia said. “I couldn’t pick a better place, to be honest, in the tennis world to peak and to make a comeback.”

A year ago at the All England Club, Djokovic quit during his quarterfi nal because of the elbow, then took the rest of 2017 off.

After the operation in Feb-ruary, Djokovic’s results were mediocre. He realized later he tried to come back too soon.

“I really was impatient,” he said.

In April, he reunited with Marian Vajda, the man who had coached Djokovic for years before Boris Becker and Andre Agassi did.

“I always had doubt,” Vajda said. “I was thinking really negative.”

They built “the new Novak,” as Vajda explained it.

Still, Djokovic was so dispirited by his upset loss at the French Open last month that he vowed, in the heat of the moment, to skip the grass-court circuit.

(SD-Agencies)

Croatia President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic (L) speaks with Luka Modric after the World Cup fi nal Sunday. SD-Agencies

France wins 2nd World Cup title

penalty spot in the 38th minute, four minutes after his corner kick was knocked out of play by Ivan Perisic’s arm. The referee ruled it handball only after a video review, just as the fi rst thunder claps boomed around the stadium.

France took the lead in the 18th when Croatia’s tallest out-fi eld player, 1.90-meter forward Mario Mandzukic, rose to meet Griezmann’s free kick with the

top of his head. He defl ected it past his own goalkeeper.

Perisic and Mandzukic both scored for Croatia, fi rst to equalize in the 28th minute and later as a consolation goal in the 69th, embarrassing Lloris with a fl icked shot as the France goal-keeper tried to dribble the ball out of his goalmouth.

France’s coach Didier Des-champs became only the third man to win the World Cup as

a player and a coach. He joined Mario Zagallo of Brazil and Franz Beckenbauer, who captained West Germany.

France’s captain 20 years ago, Deschamps was lifted up by his players on the fi eld and fl ung into the air several times and caught. The normally staid coach did a few skipping dance steps in the rain before stopping and laugh-ing at himself.

(SD-Agencies)

Modric named best player

home during the insurgence of the Serb rebels, who killed Modric’s grandfather.

The Modric family, just like other displaced refugee families, were accommodated in a hotel in Zadar. In these diffi cult circum-stances, Modric began playing soccer, mostly in the hotel park-ing lot. During his childhood and teenage years, he practiced soccer in local clubs and started developing his career in Dinamo, Zagreb.

Modric made his international debut for Croatia against Argen-tina in March 2006, and scored his fi rst international goal in a friendly match against Italy.

(SD-Agencies)

Mbappe: I’m staying at PSG

campaigns for schools and busi-nesses, according to the French news outlet L’Equipe. After consulting with his entourage, Mbappe decided his World Cup premiums can serve a humanitarian cause, according to L’Equipe.

“Kylian, he’s a great person,” Sebastien Ruffi n, general man-ager of Premiers de Cordee, told Le Parisien. “When his schedule allows it, he intervenes for us with pleasure. He has a very good rela-tionship with children, he always fi nds the right words to encour-age them. I sometimes even feel that he takes more pleasure to play with the kids than the kids themselves.” (SD-Agencies)

France’s Kylian Mbappe (R) in action with Croatia’s Luka Modric (L) during their match in Moscow, Russia, on Sunday. SD-Agencies

Serbia’s Novak Djokovic reacts during the men’s singles fi nal against South Africa’s Kevin Anderson in London, Britain, on Sunday. SD-Agencies

Djokovic claims 4th Wimbledon

France’s Hugo Lloris lifts the trophy as they celebrate winning the World Cup at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, Russia, on Sunday. SD-Agencies