After an excellent first round, this was supposed to be their year.

"We were all convinced that this would be the World Cup when would make it," said veteran striker Raul Gonzalez. "But the moment of truth was today. And yet again we're disappointed."

Spain got its hopes up in the 28th minute, when Lilian Thuram stepped on the foot of Pablo Ibanez in the area, prompting referee Christiano Copelli to award a penalty kick. David Villa slotted it perfectly, low in the left corner and just out of the reach of Fabien Barthez.

The game turned when France got its equalizing goal in the 41st minute. Vieira sent a lightning-quick Frank Ribery into open space with a pass, and the Marseille winger swept the ball past goalkeeper Iker Casillas with his right foot and sent it home with his left, just ahead of two onrushing defenders.

At the end of the game, France's "old men" ¡ª Zidane, Vieira and Barthez ¡ª were all embracing and saluting the ecstatic tricolor fans among the 43,000 sellout crowd.

"We are still far from winning the cup but that's our target," said Vieira. "We know that we can achieve a lot and we'll keep working hard. Many people didn't expect us to win today but we proved them wrong."

He said the team was already looking forward to Brazil.

"We have an exceptional game ahead of us," Domenech said. "As the players were saying in the locker room, it is for games like this that we live in the soccer world, for this kind of excitement."

But French plans now go further.

"Our only aim is to be there on July 9," the day of the final, said Domenech.