In her hour of need France found an unlikely saviour in defender Lilian Thuram and now football fans across the globe will count down the hours to Sunday and what should be one of the great World Cup finals in the 68-year history of the spellbinding tournament.
With two goals from defender Thuram, France came back to beat Croatia 2-1 in a superb and historic semi-final before 75,000 emotional fans in the Stade de France and will return to the futuristic arena in Saint-Denis to play world champions Brazil on Sunday.
From the heartfelt singing of La Marseillaise to the final whistle - unheard in a cauldron of frenzied noise as 10-man France desperately hung on - this was a game that touched the hearts and captured the minds of a nation.
For the first time France are in the World Cup final. Brilliant French teams were denied in 1982 and 1986 but the first man on his feet in the presidential box when the game, running over four minutes into stoppage time, ended was Michel Platini.
It was the hugely talented Platini who led the great French teams of the 1980s and raised aloft the European Championship trophy at the Parc des Princes in 1984. But the old foe, West Germany, twice denied Platini a place in the World Cup final.
Platini leapt to his feet, punching the air with both hands and a tournament which began almost five weeks ago will now have a final about which FIFA - and the French - must have dreamed.
