Vive la France!

Just as they did in the 1998 World Cup Final, the French outplayed the heavily favored Brazilians on Saturday and stunned the Beautiful Players of the Beautiful Game. In France, suddenly a nation that was expressing malaise and disaffection with Les Bleus as recently as a week ago is captivated again by its multi-cultural heroes.

A perusal of the French media reveals the following:

-Slideshows on Le Monde's website documenting the wild post-match celebrations on the Champs Elysées and at the Bastille.

-Also on Le Monde, a video breakdown of Henry's goal.

-An article celebrating the great Zidane in Le Parisien titled Le Bresilien, c'était Zizou, or "The True Brazilian was Zidane." Take that, Ronaldo.

-On L'Equipe, an interview with French coach Raymond Domenech in which he discusses the victory and the task that faces him now - neutralizing his team's euphoria in order to prevent a letdown against Portugal. Or as the writer puts it, "Les cocoricos sont remis à plus tard," or the cock-a-doodle-doos are postponed until later.

-A funny article on Radio France Internationale about a Satuday night parade in French Guiana celebrating France's victory. Evidently, when France meets Brazil, them French Guianese play both sides of the fence.

(posted by Large with considerable editorial work by our French correspondent, Nicole Asquith)