Go Les Bleus!

Brazil Beaten at Its Own Game as France Reaches Semifinals - New York Times.

"France has also received criticism from the far-right politician Jean-Marie Le Pen, head of the anti-immigrant National Front. Le Pen, as he has done many times, has accused the team of using too many black players. And he has said the squad was not sufficiently respectful in singing the national anthem.

The World Cup victory in 1998, achieved with a diverse team with backgrounds in the former French colonies, was considered a victory for multiculturalism and a repudiation of Le Pen's position.

That team was widely hailed while winning in its own country. And this one is already being embraced. The victory brought tens of thousands of people and fireworks to the Champs-Elysees.

"The public supports the team," defender Lilian Thuram said earlier in the World Cup. "They don't ask what color the players are." - Jere Longman