The World Cup Final really is a romantic one, perhaps more so than any other. Finals occasionally feature one nation with a heart-warming narrative, but this one has two.

France against Croatia – the best against the smallest – offers compelling reasons for both sides to triumph in Sunday’s final in Moscow.

For Les Bleus, the rationale is obvious. The best team should always win the best tournament. It doesn’t always happen. Germany and Spain prevailed, but French were arguably a superior side to the Italians in 2006. The Dutch in ’74, the Brazilians in ’82 and maybe again in ’86, the English in ’90, the Italians in ’94 and perhaps even the Brazilians again in ’98 could all make a strong case that they were more aesthetically easy on the eye and more effective on the ball than the eventual winners.

Yes, Zinedine Zidane’s France triumphed on home soil in 1998, but were Les Bleus really more talented and entertaining than Ronaldo’s Brazil? It’s a moot point, perhaps, because on this occasion the French are unquestionably the best side at Russia 2018, reaching the final with room to spare.

Indeed, they haven’t even peaked yet. Argentina, Uruguay and Belgium have been brushed aside with Paul Pogba, Antoine Griezmann and even Kylian Mbappe playing within themselves.

Coach Didier Deschamps loves a straitjacket almost as must as Houdini and the French have left viewers hanging for an inordinate length of time. Artistic flourishes from Griezmann and Mbappe have been rare treats, tiny morsels of comfort food that starving audiences have eagerly devoured.

France’s defensive organisation has been impressive, but it would be rather wonderful if the handbrake was loosened in the glittering showpiece.

Croatia, on the other hand, couldn’t hit top gear more often without veins their popping and eyes bulging like a cartoon character. Every nerve, sinew, muscle and limb has been stretched to snapping point to reach the final.

With a population of just four million – a full 1.5 million less than Singapore, but let’s not go there now – Croatia are the smallest nation to make the World Cup Final since Uruguay in 1950.

Should they prevail, they’ll become the first, first-time winners since Spain in 2010, but even that is a somewhat unfair comparison.

The Spaniards were bigger, stronger and expected to do well in 2010. Croatia were not so much dark horses as gloomy thoroughbreds running out of time. Eight of their starting line-up against England were 29 or older. If the Three Lions’ anthem was Football’s Coming Home, then the Croatians should run out to Elvis on Sunday. It’s Now or Never.

And only the hardest of hearts would deny the peerless Luka Modric a victorious sendoff in what is likely to be the 32-year-old’s last World Cup.

He grew up in a war-torn new country, his father was a soldier in the Croatian army and his grandfather was killed. Somehow, a war refugee learned how to play football on bomb sites and ended up winning the Champions League four times with Real Madrid. No other finalist on Sunday will have a story quite like Modric.

So there are compelling reasons for both nations to lift the golden trophy. Indeed, the only guaranteed winners will be us, the global audience, sitting down to watch a final with two likeable contenders. One of the most memorable tournaments in history deserves a final for the ages.

Prediction: France (but I’m very happy to be wrong)

Neil Humphreys

Singapore’s best selling author and Football columnist