Eight years after France beat Brazil to win the 1998 World Cup, the Les Bleus replayed the most glorious time of themselves, crushing favorites Brazil 1-0 at their quarterfinal matchup yesterday.
"We had talented players, we worked hard but there was something missing. Maybe the players did not train together long enough," said Brazil coach Carlos Alberto Parreira while summing up Brazil's performances at the tournament.
"I failed to complete my job since it's my duty to bring the team to the final," he added. "In Brazil, the coach is the one to be blamed if the national team suffered a defeat. I think I could not escape that."
Parreira praised the French side as playing the game with a flawless performance, saying that "we were beaten by a very strong team who played an impeccable match."
"We never prepared for this moment. This is a very difficult moment for all of us," he said.
France coach Raymond Domenech almost lost his words after his side won through the quarters.
"It's extraordinary. Sometimes the words are not enough to describe what you're experiencing," he said.
With the victory, the Frenchmen set up a semifinal clash against Portugal Wednesday in Munich after Luis Felipe Scolari's side won 3-1 on penalty shoot-out over England earlier the day in Gelsenkirchen, while Brazil, having looked to their sixth and consecutively second title in Germany, will miss the World Cup final for the first time since 1990.
"Portugal won't be easy, but for the moment, let me enjoy this. There's only football to offer you great moments like this," said Domenech.
It also end up an unbeaten streak of the holders in World Cup dating back to the finals game in 1998, when Brazil floundered to grant France the history-making victory at Stade de France in Paris.
And after Brazil were knocked out, a European final has been set as all four teams remained, France, Portugal, Germany and Italy are from the same continent.
"The semifinals should feature at least one South American team. It's a shame for soccer," said Parreira.
Thierry Henry scored the decisive goal of Saturday's game on the 57th minute when the Arsenal striker volleyed in Zinedine Zidane's floated free-kick while lingering unmarked at the back post.
It could easily have been 2-0 not long afterwards when the busy Franck Ribery's cross was deflected just wide by Juan, with Dida well-beaten and Zidane close to reaching the ball at the back post.
France's playermaker Zinedine Zidane, playing what could have been his last game, has been in full flow with his graceful sight and showed some sublime touches, while Brazil's attacking aces were disappointing and produced a similarly listless display with the 1998 final.
"We needed a great match and we delivered. We knew we would have to be fit physically and we were," said the Real Madrid midfielder who produced a man-of-the-match display to inspire the team to victory.
"We fought closely together for a well-deserved victory. Now we' ll try to win a place in the final. We don't want to stop now. This is so beautiful, we want it to carry on," he added.
Zidane, 34, has led the dazzling show in the center. He won back possession at the 28th minute and played a neat lay off to send France careering down the left to force a corner.
Again in the 44th minute, he collected, twisted and passed the ball to release Patrick Vieira before the Juventus midfielder was brought down by Juan.
It was also thanks to the Real Madrid midfielder as France's best chance of the first half came late in the additional minute, with Zidane driving a free-kick straightly at the wall after the referee forced the line back for full five meters following Henry's earlier free-kick which hit the wall and Ronaldo's arm to force the second one.
Henry echoed Zidane that the French side deserved the win following a strong performance.
"We played well. We didn't steal anything from anybody. We had a tactical plan and it worked perfectly," said the Arsenal striker.
"We have not won it on luck. We just kept going and never let our heads drop," Henry added. "I said that we are not in Frankfurt to dream, but I have to say this victory makes us dream. Now we want to go all the way."
Just three minutes ahead of Henry's goal, the former top scorer of England Premier league, whose backheel strike in box at 52 was just cleared by a Brazilian, slotted home after collecting Patrick Vieira's flick-on, but his effort was ruled out by a late wave of the lineman's flag for offside.
Brazil's response was surprisingly tame, with Ronaldinho making no impact whatever.
Ronaldo claimed the Brazilian a chance of equalizing as the World Cup scoring record holder closed in on the penalty area and caught his trailing leg on Lilian Thuram on the edge of the box in 88 minutes to force a free-kick, but Ronaldinho curled it over the wall and over the crossbar.
Twenty-nine minutes earlier, a casual back pass almost gave Ronaldinho a chance to equalize for Brazil, but Fabien Barthez stormed off his line and lashed the ball clear.
Brazil coach Parreira said France had deserved their victory.
"We tried everything we could, we had a few opportunities but we didn't score. France played very well, they were more patient and their victory was a deserved one," he said.
Brazil have been making their 18th appearance in the most important soccer event in the world after 76 years without absence in duty.
Entering this year's tournament on a roll, the South Americans had won all four of their matches in the competition and outscored their opponents 10-1 in the process.
Meanwhile, France have struggled on the World Cup stage since the title winning game against Brazil, suffering a first stage exit in 2002 without winning a match or making one goalscoring.
They have been counted out as too old and not offensive enough in this year's tournament before they quieted some of the critics after a strong performance with incredible heart and courage against Spain and appointing a quarterfinal place against Brazil with the 3-1 comfort victory last Tuesday.