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France Steps Over Portugal on Its Way to Final

Zinedin Zidane, the playmaker for France, said before the tournament that France will play in the final ? and he is right. France defeated Portugal in a 1 ? 0 show on Wednesday and made it to World Cup 2006`s final. France will meet Italy in Berlin on June 9 for a fight for the trophy. This World Cup is Zidane`s last international soccer appearance as the player said that he would retire at the end of it.

The teams seemed equally good during the first half of the game, but a foul made by Ricardo Caravalho led to a 33rd-minute penalty shot that Zidane turned into a goal. From then on France looked much better. Portugal was able to carry a few great attacks, but no of them produced a goal.

Portugal wasn`t able to equalize and Portugal`s coach, Scolari, had to give up his World Cup winning streak. The final between Italy and France on June 9 will be a rematch of the Euro 2000 match between the two teams, where at the time world champions France won.