France, a World Cup Champion That Stood Above It All in Russia

MOSCOW — They waited until it was over, until the fireworks shot into the sky and the rain soaked them to the skin, until that glistening trophy was safe in their hands and golden confetti sparkled in their hair.

Only then, once France’s players knew they had emerged triumphant from a World Cup of chaos and abandon, a tournament that defied expectation and prediction, did they succumb to the wild spirit of the last month and do the one thing they, and they alone, had managed to avoid.