The FIFA World Cup Finals match is set with Croatia and France facing off for that big golden leg or whatever trophy soccer players fight over. France is a perennial favorite in world competition, so it’s no surprise that it is back in the finals once again — but Croatia doesn’t have the same expectations. In fact, the Croatian men’s national team wasn’t even in FIFA 18 just a few weeks ago.
When FIFA 18 launched in September on PC and consoles, you could of course play as Arsenal or Liverpool, but you also had the option to play with national teams. France, Germany, and Brazil were in the game at that point, but Croatia was not. It did not end up in FIFA 18 until the free World Cup update in May. And if you go to the quick-start “Kick Off” mode in FIFA 18 today, you still can’t even select Croatia — you can only use that squad in the World Cup mode.
This isn’t a huge scandal or anything, but it does demonstrate how little respect Croatia had as recently as last year when it came to international soccer. And win or lose on Sunday in the finals, I doubt EA will leave Croatia out of the fun of FIFA 19.