MUNICH, July 5: Zinedine Zidane stepped up to the penalty spot and coolly put France into the World Cup final, scoring the only goal to give his team a 1-0 win over Portugal.
Zidane converted the penalty kick in the 33rd minute after Ricardo Carvalho was whistled for bringing down Thierry Henry.
France meet Italy in Berlin on Sunday in a matchup of blue _ France’s Les Bleus vs. the Italian Azzurri.
The French, who also defeated Portugal in the semi-finals of the 1984 and 2000 European Championships, will be making just their second-ever appearance in a World Cup final _ the other was their famous 2-0 victory at home over Brazil in 1998.
France and Italy have a long history of tri-coloured battles. The French rallied to defeat Italy 2-1 in the Euro 2000 final when Sylvain Wiltord scored with 30 seconds left in second-half injury time and David Trezeguet got a goal 13 minutes into extra time. France also beat the Italians on penalty kicks in the 1998 World Cup quarter-finals.
Unbeaten in nine straight games since a March 1 friendly loss against Slovakia, France started the World Cup slowly with draws against Switzerland and South Korea before beating Togo to get to the knockout phase. The French then defeated Spain and defending champion Brazil to reach the semi-finals.
Portugal, a 20-1 shot last December, advanced to the World Cup Semi-finals for just the second time. Eusebio, the hero of Portugal’s 1966 run, was on hand, as was former France captain Michel Platini, considered by many his nation’s greatest player.—AP
