The Last Word With Tony Connelly

After four weeks and 64 games, the World Cup concluded on Sunday with a six-goal thriller that ended with French captain, Hugo Lloris, lifting the trophy in the torrential rain of Moscow.

Admittedly, the sense of occasion wasn’t quite Scott Brown holding the Scottish Cup trophy aloft in the Glasgow rain to cap off a treble-winning Invincibles season, but it still made for good viewing.

With three French Bhoys in the Celtic squad you can’t help but be happy for them, particularly given the possibility that, if they continue to impress at Under-21 level, they could be part of a Les Bleus team that has already been named as one of the favourites to win Euro 2020.

Earlier this year Olivier Ntcham captained a French U21 squad which has been bolstered by Moussa Dembele’s nine goals in his 14 appearances, while the youngest of the three French Celts, Odsonne Edouard, has five goals in his 13 appearances for the French Under-19 squad.

At the same time, I can’t help but feel for Jozo Simunovic who had to endure the heartache of watching his country, who have a population of just four million, suffer defeat in their first ever World Cup final.

I thought Croatia looked the more inventive and dangerous of the two teams in the first half and it was painful to see them lose the first two goals in the manner they did.