They wildly exceeded expectations ...

... Nobody was talking about them as potential winners at all, as far as I could remember (even less so Italy), and I thought the general consensus was that Barthez, Thuram and Zidane in particular were past it and playing on reputation alone.

Yes, Brazil were poor in the QF, but I thought France's performance in that game was fantastic, and they played very well against a Spanish team that had looked like potential champions in the group games.

I thought France were the better team last night, too, after a far harder route to the final than Italy's. So yes, I do think they over-performed.

Posted By: Ottosson Foxtrot, Jul 10, 11:08:59