French sweep Brazil out of World Cup

Frankfurt: A France team reminiscent of a previous vintage knocked out holders Brazil 1-0 with a Thierry Henry goal on Saturday to reach the World Cup semi-finals.

Striker Henry, left unmarked in the area, volleyed home a free kick from Zinedine Zidane for the winner after 57 minutes.

Les Bleus, who had stunned Brazil 3-0 in the 1998 final, produced a superb performance to set up a match with Portugal on Wednesday in Munich for a place in the July 9 final.

Five-times champions Brazil, who were hoping to reach the World Cup final for the fourth time in succession, looked nervous throughout a game of high quality.

France's win means the great Zidane, who was back to his brilliant best in Frankfurt, has not played his last match yet.

"We needed a great match and we delivered. We knew we would have to be fit physically and we were," Zidane told reporters.

"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," added Zidane, who will retire from soccer after the World Cup.

The 34-year-old maestro lived up to the occasion, as did the entire French team.

The finest bunch of players to wear French colours when they were world champions began the finals sluggishly but proved at Brazil's expense that they are still a formidable outfit.