Thierry Henry slotted home after the break to give France a 1-0 victory over Brazil on Saturday and end their bid for retaining the World Cup title. Henry converted a Zinedine Zidane cross just before the hour mark to secure a place in the semi-finals for France. The 1998 champions will play Portugal, who beat England 3-1 on penalties earlier this day, in the last four. France started with their usual 4-5-1 with Henry deployed as a lone striker and surprisingly Brazil opted for the same formation as Carlos Alberto Parreira dropped striker Adriano for holding midfielder Juninho. Both sides split dominance over the first-half without real threat on either goalkeeper until the last minutes that witnessed France's first real scoring opportunity. Zidane released a darting Patrick Vieira in between the Brazil stoppers and Juan had no option except bringing the Juventus midfielder down for a dangerous free-kick. Henry executed the ball that hit Ronaldo's hand at the edge of the area and the referee awarded another free-kick that Zidane failed to convert home.
Zidane (R) challenges Kaka Vieira almost scored a trademark goal just after re-start when he towered to Zidane's free-kick from the right flank but his header went inches wide. Brazil almost snatched the lead against the run of the play when Ze Roberto capitalized on Fabien Barthez's poor clearance but he failed to convert home. France grabbed the lead in the 57th minute when Zidane fed Henry for the precious winner. Zidane stepped up from the left to deliver a curling free-kick towards Henry who ghosted behind the daydreaming Brazil defenders and sent a first-timer into the roof of Dida's net. Les Bleus had a golden opportunity to stretch the lead in the 63rd minute when Frank Ribery outpaced Roberto Carlos and crossed on the floor before Juan almost converted the ball into his own net. Ribery squandered another chance midway through the second period when he latched on to Henry's through pass but fired at the Brazilian keeper. Brazil pressed hard in the remaining minutes to level the score but an organized defense from France rescued the victory.
