Weak link: 1 area where France, Croatia can be exploited

A pre-tournament favourite meets a first-time finalist on Sunday in the 2018 World Cup final. France and Croatia both have teams stacked full of talent and energy, and though Les Bleus will be most viewers' bet to win, Zlatko Dalic's men will fancy themselves for an upset.

Here's a look at one area of weakness for each side, and how its opponent can exploit it.

Related - Tale of the tape: How does Croatia match up with France?

France

This team, in all honesty, has few flaws. Before the tournament, one might have argued Didier Deschamps' tactics or the inconsistency shown by Hugo Lloris last season for Tottenham Hotspur were the biggest hindrances to success, but both of those concerns have been allayed in Russia to at least some degree.

On balance, Les Bleus' area of least resistance is at right-back. Benjamin Pavard was never expected to be a regular starter at this tournament, but then Djibril Sidibe suffered an injury, and the 22-year-old was thrust into the limelight. "I don't think it's sunk in yet, to be honest," Pavard said this week, according to FIFA correspondent Adrien Gingold. "I don't think I'll actually realise that I've been playing in the World Cup until it's all over."

Well, perhaps that naivete is indicative of the very problem. Though Pavard has impressed at times - no more so than with his stunning curler against Argentina - he's a young centre-back playing out of position who had just five caps to his name before the tournament kicked off. He's looked defensively suspect against top-quality wingers, particularly when facing Eden Hazard in France's semi-final win over Belgium, who punished Pavard dearly with his bag of tricks and burning pace. In the final, France's right-back will face Croatian winger Ivan Perisic, whose left-wing arsenal shares much in common with Hazard's. Expect the battle between the Inter and Stuttgart men to be a defining one.

Related: Ranking the 22 projected World Cup final starters

Croatia

This World Cup has seen Croatia exemplify the law of conservation of energy, which decrees energy cannot be created nor destroyed but only transformed from one form to another. It's easy to cite fatigue as the team's Achilles' heel, but everything we've seen flies in the face of that conclusion, despite all three of the Balkan nation's knockout games needing extra time, and two of those requiring a penalty shootout - the most mentally draining event in football.

Instead, like France, Croatia's weakness lies on a particular side of its defence. Didier Deschamps must give Kylian Mbappe free rein to terrorize Croatian left-back Ivan Strinic. While Sime Vrsaljko has been superb on the right flank for Dalic's side, Strinic has underwhelmed, looking suspect at times when on the back foot. Should he fail to shake off a knock in time for the final, Dynamo Kyiv's Josip Pivaric will deputise, but the problems will remain; although Pivaric has played 200 minutes in Russia due to Strinic's fitness issues, his game shows many of the same drawbacks as the AC Milan man's.

Whoever plays, Mbappe's pace, ball control, and off-the-ball movement are hard enough for world-class defenders to handle. With Domagoj Vida's tendency to get caught out by runners in the channel between centre-back and full-back, the left side of Croatia's defence is there to be attacked regardless of the name on the shirt.