10 Things We Learned From World Cup 2018

"You can't win anything with kids," said Match of the Day pundit Alan Hansen back in 1995. He was talking about Manchester United's young squad of that season, which went on to win the Premier League and FA Cup. Time and again, experts focus on experience and age, but this World Cup served as another example that youth is sometimes the right way to go.

The finest example of this is France's 19-year-old wonderkid Kylian Mbappé. While other global superstars like Messi and Ronaldo fell away from the tournament in the early stages, the French youngster stepped into the spotlight with ease, leading his nation with four goals and living up to all his hype as the next big thing.

It was the power of youth that drove France to this World Cup win. The two main full-backs, Benjamin Pavard and Lucas Hernández, are both 22. Raphael Varane (25) and Samuel Umtiti (24) made up the defence, while Paul Pogba (25) and Corentin Tolisso (23) played their parts as well.

England also boasted of a young squad, with seven members of the core first eleven being 25 or younger. With older squads, Croatia and Belgium showed that experience can work as well, but France and England proved that youth should never be counted out.