My heart will go on.

Sunday, July 02, 2006

; dumpbed .

Fifa World Cup 2006: Brazil is out of World Cup

Henry's goal sends Les Blues to semifinal showdown vs. Portugal

France stole Brazil's rhythm, its style, even its samba. Along the way, the French also knocked the defending champions out of the World Cup. The experienced and savvy French ousted the pretournament favorites 1-0 in a stunningly one-sided quarterfinal game Saturday. The French were so much better at playing Brazil’s natural, free-flowing game that the result never seemed in doubt after Thierry Henry volleyed in captain Zinedine Zidane's free kick in the 57th minute.

“This was not a lucky victory,” Henry said. “I've always said this World Cup isn't about us dreaming of winning, but I have to say this victory is the stuff of dreams. Now we want to go all the way.”

First they go to the semifinals against Portugal on Wednesday in Munich. With Germany playing Italy in Tuesday’s semifinal in Dortmund, this is the first all-European final four since 1982 in Spain. Much of the credit goes to Zidane, who weaved, bobbed and spun his way through the Brazilian midfield, looking more like the three-time FIFA world player of the year than someone leaving the sport. Indeed, it was a shocking exit for the pretournament favorite. The Brazilians had just one shot on goal and allowed huge defensive gaps all night. The French eclipsed Brazil’s galaxy of stars with crisp passing, aggressive tackling and superior play in the air. Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Kaka were either invisible or inept.

“It's a sad day for us, though we will overcome this,” Ronaldo said. “They played better and deserved the victory.”

“We had to produce a massive performance and that's what we've done,” Zidane said.

Zidane, Ronaldo and Ronaldinho have won eight of the last 10 FIFA world player of the year awards. Only Zidane displayed those skills Saturday.

“We don't want to stop here,” Zidane said. “It's so great that we want to carry on.”

Blogged @ 2:16:00 PM