Poor Pedro, Lovely Lilian

"Having scored the goal with Zidane near half-time, they [the French] cruised to half-time and then in the second half, they decided to sit back and try to contain the Portuguese because they felt that they didn't have a real striking option," opined Le Saux.

But sitting back nearly cost France.

"They did nearly pay. Even though Portugal did not get out of the trap until late in the game, they created enough chances to cause concern for the French bench, so overall the tactic of withdrawing so early on in the game was maybe a mistake.

Portuguese had the better of possession (55%-45%), but did not dominate:

"[When] France sat back, that allowed the Portuguese to pass the ball a lot, you see them with 426 total passes compared to the French with 294 and so what you're seeing is the French sitting back and inviting Portugal to get at them, but the French were trying to restrict them from long-range shots and that's what they more or less did throughout most of the game."

No arguing FIFA's call making Lilian Thuram Man of the Match:

"He had a fantastic game," said Le Saux. "He really showed his quality of reading the play, some good interceptions, you can see all of his work is done defensively, but impressively enough as well, he played 41 passes so not only did he break the Portuguese line of attack up, but also when he got the ball, he was clever enough to break out and make some decent passes out of defence."

"Basically, I think he was so strong in the air. I mean Portugal haven't got any great attackers but when they did start throwing crosses in, his head was on it most of the time, which was fantastic.

"We were all disappointed. Every time the Portuguese came into the box, basically the slightest touch, even feeling an arm on their back, they would throw themselves down and I'm surprised the referee didn't make a couple of bookings for feigning fouls."

So can Portuguese coach Felipe Scolari harbour regrets after the loss?

"Not necessarily," says Le Saux. "They've got a fantastic team, they've done well to get this far, but that final piece of the jigsaw, which is the Portuguese attack. I don't think even he had an answer to it despite being such a great manager."

So let's not beat around the bush. The man who did not deliver was Paris-Saint-Germain striker Pedro Pauleta.

Once again top scorer this season with 21 tallies, Pauleta, who has 46 international goals to his credit, also had a disappointing Euro 2004 campaign.

Le Saux looks at his numbers over five games in Portugal's World Cup campaign:

"OK he scored one goal, that's not bad but to have only had ten shots in the whole tournament, I think that shows a lack of supply, a lack of leadership up front, and although he's a very talented player, it just shows where the Portuguese team breaks down. It's that attacking third and I think that what France felt comfortable with in terms of defending against it."

Ricardo, who was heroic in elimating England on penalties in the quarter-finals, could not replicate his miracle when Zidane stepped up to the spot.

He dived the right way, but Zidane's penalty was so accurate, a short run-up as well but with a lot of power, that gave the goalkeeper no chance but you can see on the replays of the foul that [Ricardo] Carvalho definitely follows through with his spare leg and catches Henry and I don't think there was any doubt from anyone in the stadium that that was a penalty."

Going into the final against Italy, the only bad news for France now is the suspension of Manchester United striker Louis Saha, who came on as a substitute only to receive his second booking of the knock-out phase.

"Disappointing for Saha. It was a bad tackle, it fully justified the yellow card, but France would say they're fully on course with a full squad to pick from."
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