Brazil have to contend with Bleus’ who

Coach Aime Jacquet wept tears of joy on Wednesday, President Jacques Chirac unabashedly celebrated in the stands, and all over France there were some of the biggest parties since the 1944 Liberation.

Now comes Brazil, the dream final against a team the French nation loves only a little bit less than its own.

“Brazil, France. The sound alone is already beautiful,” said French defender Lilian Thuram, who scored both goals in the semi-final win. “This final is such a dream and it can lead us to something beyond that.”

Now we hope for theultimate happiness on Sunday,” said Jacquet, after a short night, cut even shorter by the celebrations that accompanied France’s first-ever qualification for the final.

There is no underestimating Brazil though. “It’s the greatest team, they’re the best,” said Jacquet. But up against that, France will throw a united front, welded in so many tough World Cup games that lasted into the dying moments before releasing victory for the French.

Jacquet said the team had to search in “the deepest of the heart and soul,” to get to the final and he would now channel that energy to conquer Brazil. “We can move mountains after this. Anything can happen.”

The final is seen as France’s weak offense against Brazil’s weak defence and as the defending champion’s potent offense against the host nation’s watertight defence.

France has one big hole to plug though — Laurent Blanc.

The Marseille veteran scored the golden goal against Paraguay to get France to the quarter-finals. He scored the decisive penalty in ashoot-out against Italy to get France to the semi-finals.

And the whole nation felt the red card was too tough on Blanc.

“I feel this great anger, this great anger,” Jacquet said.

For six games, the central defender led an ironclad defence that made France the envy of the world.

Now, Chelsea’s Frank Leboeuf will line up with Marcel Desailly at the heart of the defence instead. Leboeuf already had a good match at that position in France’s 2-1 win over Denmark in the first round.

France has one day less to recover from the semi-final after Brazil’s win over the Netherlands, but that will hardly matter when Sunday rolls around.

“For our whole lives we have wanted this, so we will have all the energy we need,” said Thuram.

France’s only injury worry is Christian Karembeu. The midfielder reinjured his left ankle early on in Wednesday’s game and was celebrating with a thick pack of ice on his foot. Jacquet was hoping though, he would be able to recover him for Sunday’s final.

And the Frenchplayers are hardly dwarfed by the challenge ahead.

“Sometimes we don’t need to have too much respect. We have a culture of victory now,” said Thuram.

Captain Didier Deschamps agreed. “We have our anti-Ronaldo plan in place. It’s called Marcel Desailly,” he said of the defender who has had a standout tournament so far.

“We will welcome Brazil with all our might,” said Jacquet.

BRAZIL’S PATH TO THE FINAL

Group stage

June 10 (Paris, Stade de France): Brazil 2 Scotland 1 (1-1)

Scorers: Brazil — Cesar Sampaio 4th, Tom Boyd 73rd (own goal). Scotland — John Collins 38th (penalty)

June 16 (Nantes): Brazil 3 Morocco 0 (2-0)

Scorers: Ronaldo 9th, Rivaldo45th, Bebeto 50th

Brazil swept to an easy victory over a Morocco team seemingly mesmerised by the prospect of facing the champions. The win made Brazil the first team to qualify for the second round.

June 23 (Marseille): Brazil 1 Norway 2 (0-0)

Scorers: Brazil — Bebeto 78th. Norway — Tore Andre Flo 83th, Kjetil Rekdal 89th penalty

Brazil lost their first World Cup finals match since the 1990 second round. Norway won it with a last minute penalty — initially controversial but later shown to be correct by video footage — when Junior Baiano pulled Flo’s shirt.

Second round:

June 27 (Paris, Parc des Princes): Brazil 4 Chile 1 (3-0)

Scorers: Brazil — Cesar Sampaio 11th, 27th, Ronaldo 45th (penalty), 70th. Chile — Marcelo Salas 68th.

Two goals each by Ronaldo and Cesar Sampaio sealed a convincing victory for Brazil over fellow South Americans Chile. Ronaldo, enjoying his best match of the tournament, also hit the woodwork twice as the champions turned on thestyle.

Quarter-finals:

July 3 (Nantes): Brazil 3 Denmark 2 (2-1)

Scorers: Brazil — Bebeto 11th, Rivaldo 26th, 60th. Denmark — Martin Jorgensen 2nd, Brian Laudrup 50th.

Brazil were pushed all the way by Denmark in one of the best games of the tournament.

Semifinals:

July 7 (Marseille): Brazil 1 Netherlands 1 (after extra-time. Halftime 0-0, score after 90 minutes 1-1. Brazil won 4-2 on penalties).

Scorers: Brazil — Ronaldo 46th. Netherlands — Patrick Kluivert 87th.

The much-anticipated match between two of the most exciting teams in the tournament burst into life a minute into the second half as Ronaldo scored his fourth goal of the tournament. The Dutch stormed back but could not find the net until three minutes from time when Patrick Kluivert was left unmarked to head home. No further goals in extra-time meant it was penalties and goalkeeper Taffarel became the hero with excellent saves from Phillip Cocu and Ronald de Boer to send Brazil to thefinal.