Zidane Says Good-Bye... But Not Yet!

Zidane will now be able to say "good-bye" to the world of football in a proper manner: by playing in the World Cup final. And, thanks to his teammates, he might just win it. And what an end would that be? But, until then, let's see how it all happened. After playing such a poor football in the group stages, France rose from its ashes and produced some really stunning performances, eliminating Spain, Brazil and Portugal.

It was, by far, the worst road to the finals from all the teams. Spain was coming after a perfect group-stage performance; Brazil was one of the main favorites for winning the trophy and Portugal just eliminated England and Holland. So France's semifinal against Scolari's team was certainly no picnic. And, after the first quarter of an hour, France realized it for herself.

The ball possession was all Portuguese, while Scolari's players did a great job keeping the French outside Ricardo's penalty area. It was barely after the first 20 minutes that France really came into play. They managed to even the game, and struck when least expected. Just a great pass to Thierry Henry and that was all. The Arsenal striker dribbled the Portuguese defender and he went down. Not a questionable fault at all and the referee pointed out to the penalty kick.

Zidane made it 1-0 and it was football time in Munich. Everybody expected the Portuguese to roll over the French. But it wasn't like that at all. Cristiano Ronaldo can't really do that by himself. Figo failed to make something out of it and Deco was not the leader everyone expected. Pauleta was often caught off-side and Portugal did not threaten Berthez' post until the final minutes of the game.

It was when Cristiano Ronaldo produced a stunning free kick that the Portuguese could have scored. Barthez did not manage to hold the ball and threw it in front of Figo, who headed it over the post. After that, it was only Henry who could have put another one on the scoreboard, but Ricardo saved it with a great effort.

The final whistle came as a blessing for Domenech's team. France was, once again, in the World Cup final. Whether they will repeat their 1998 success, we'll see on the 9th of July, in Berlin. The Squadra Azzura seems a pretty hard nut to crack. But, in the World Cup final, anything is possible.