For the first time in history, Croatia will play in a World Cup final with only France standing in the way of it reaching the ultimate footballing glory.

It's quite a story for what is a comparatively small nation, whose one and only semi-final appearance in 1998 had, until now, stood as its finest footballing accomplishment.

Having seen off England in the semi-final, belief is sky-high among the Vatreni and the team looks to be in a fantastic position to have a crack at Les Bleus.

With only one more win required, there's a lot for Croatian fans to be excited about.

Here's why Croatia will win the World Cup …

Luka Modric

It really is that simple. On Monday morning (AEST), Luka Modric will be the best player on the Luzhniki Stadium pitch.

Central playmaker Luka Modric is a frontrunner for the World Cup's Golden Ball award. ( AP: Vadim Ghirda )

The Real Madrid man has had a wonderful tournament so far, dictating play and controlling games from midfield at a level far beyond any other player in Russia.

Win or lose, Modric will have to be a serious front-runner for the Golden Ball, but you can be sure that individual prize will be miles from his mind once kick-off arrives.

No, Modric will do what he always does — relentlessly move the ball around with absurd precision, pick his perfect moments to press and defend and make sure France can never get a serious stranglehold on the game.

Croatia has been the best team in possession in Russia

The field is not exceptionally tough in this regard, with really only Spain and Brazil showing the capacity to dominate possession for extended periods of time, and they both came a cropper when it came to turning that into goalscoring chances.

Mario Mandzukic celebrates his extra-time winner against England in the semi-final. ( AP: Frank Augstein )

Croatia has been a little sluggish and blunt at times, but more than any other team at this tournament has shown it is capable of keeping possession and finding openings at the end of the phases of play.

Modric is key to that of course, but so is Ivan Rakitic in a central position, and wide players like Ivan Perisic and Ante Rebic who are often the final piece of the puzzle.

France might be happy to let Croatia have the ball to a certain extent, because Les Bleus will want to counter as much as possible, but that's a risky tactic against a genuinely talented midfield.

A tough road hardens them for battle

As the semi-final against England moved into extra-time, the prevailing wisdom was that Croatia would start to tire — its first two knockout games against Denmark and Russia had both gone to penalties, after all.

Croatia has gone to extra time in all of its knockout matches so far, going through on penalties in two matches. ( AP: Gregorio Borgia )

But instead, the opposite seemed to happen. The Croatians showed tremendous resilience having gone behind, but then even greater composure after the 90 had finished to overcome the seemingly-fresher England.

It points to a never-say-die mentality that has been fostered through a tough qualifying campaign, and then through a World Cup that has very much been navigated the hard way.

Yet, through it all, Croatia remains the only team left at this tournament to have won every match it has played. It has no reason not to believe.

Okay, well, what could go wrong?

France is, of course a formidable team in its own right. The form of Kylian Mbappe, Antoine Griezmann and Paul Pogba in an attacking sense has been excellent, but their defence has been rock solid as well.

The danger France poses is in its rapid counter-attacks, so it's something Croatia will have to keep in mind when deciding what sort of midfield to play, and how much effort to commit to breaking down Raphael Varane and Samuel Umtiti at the back.

But Croatia has played teams like that already in this tournament — it swept aside Argentina 3-0 and was by far the better team against England.

Luka Modric belts home a goal from distance against Argentina during the group stage. ( AP: Ricardo Mazalan )

It looms as a pretty even contest, a battle of styles and a battle of some of the world's best players. But of the two teams, Croatia is best equipped to dominate the ball and get the game on its terms, and possesses the greatest weapon in a Luka Modric one game away from the glory a player of his stature deserves.

This is why Croatia will win the 2018 World Cup final.