Grant Wahl and Brian Straus

We discuss France and Croatia knowing the main narratives heading into the World Cup final on our most recent episode of the podcast.

The team of the tournament will be revealed after the World Cup final, but we've gotten a jump on the Best XI of Russia 2018 thus far on our latest podcast episode.

France and Croatia are a few days out from meeting to determine the World Cup champion, 20 years after they met in the 1998 semifinals en route to France's first title, and both of their teams resemble those past editions in some ways.

While France's run to the World Cup final has been predictable, Croatia's has been anything but. We talk about how Croatia has managed to make it to the World Cup final and how it's managed to combat its off-the-field obstacles.

Belgium struggled all match to gain any offensive momentum against France's defense.

France and Belgium have taken considerably different paths to the World Cup semifinal, and their varied approaches can be seen through the prism of their head coaches.

England, France and Belgium have reached the World Cup semifinals with rosters that represent multiple players of unique, multicultural backgrounds.

With the Three Lions advancing to face Croatia in the semifinals, we talk about England and its newest craze, "It's Coming Home."