David John
Two sleeping giants have awoken from their slumber in Germany - and now one will really have to rub the sleep from the eyes as France meet Brazil in Frankfurt for a place in the last four.
The French made laboured progress from Group G into the knockout phase, beating Togo in the final fixture after dour draws with Switzerland and South Korea.
'Madame Guillotine' was ready and waiting for the aged Les Bleus with a flashy Spanish side the reward for only taking second place behind the Swiss.
Zinedine Zidane, Patrick Vieira and an isolated Thierry Henry up front had made little impact on the tournament.
This was a veteran side creaking around waiting to be put out of their misery, not the one predicted by so many to roll back the years.
Certainly not one that represented value at 14/1 before a ball was kicked in anger.
But after being given the runaround by Spain for 35 minutes on Tuesday night, the Euro finally dropped as they started playing like a team with some purpose.
Late goals from Vieira and Zidane on top of Franck Ribery's equaliser answered the critics and kept the dream alive.
All of a sudden, France are now as low as 15/2 from 25/1 to win the World Cup with plenty of observers now predicting they can see off the reigning champions.
It puts punters in a quandary also.
Are we about to see France really get the bit between their teeth?
Or did they do nothing more than take advantage of a young Spanish side who once again froze under the intense glare of the spotlight?
Adding to the difficulty of drawing a strong conclusion in this tie, is the fact that Brazil have hardly carried all before them.
Ronaldo 'McDonaldo' has lumbered around up front but still sniffed out three goals.
Flashes of inspiration from Ronaldinho, Robinho and Kaka have been in scant supply - but it does tend to end in a goal.
While the back four remains shaky and incredibly suspect to pace.
An efficient 3-0 victory over 10-man Ghana in the last 16 set up this tie so perhaps, like France, that round could be the catalyst to spur them onwards and upwards.
Both coaches are predicting better still and on paper this has the potential to be an extremely good game.
But it would also be no great shock either if the pair failed to deliver on the grand scale expected, leaving us once again with a feeling of being underwhelmed by two top teams.
That is the theory I am inclined to adhere to and the odd goal for either side could just do the job.
Stan James
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By Bettingzone.co.uk
Used with permission.
