Munich ? William Gallas has a theory on how Portugal became a surprise World Cup semifinalist, and it has more to do with acting than soccer.

“They like to dive, so it depends on the referee,” the French defender said. Les Bleus will meet Portugal today for a berth in Sunday’s World Cup final against Italy, a 2-0 winner in extra time over Germany.

While Germany fixated on Die Nationalmannschaft’s game up in Dortmund, France and Portugal worked out in an ultramodern stadium that resembles a white spaceship.

Back in December, Les Bleus were a 12-1 longshot to win the World Cup. Portugal was even farther back in the pack at 20-1, listed along the likes of the Czech Republic.

Brazil, Argentina, England and the Netherlands – they’re all out of here. When it comes to the final, part of the stadium will be in red, white and blue cheering “Vive la France!” or in green, red and yellow yelling “Viva Portugal!”

By the end of the night, they will be a big party on Paris’ Champs-Elysees or Lisbon’s Avenida da Liberdade.

“We never aimed to be world champion. We just concentrated on the next game,” Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari said Tuesday. “They’re overcoming limits. When you do that, the limits fall away, and you can start dreaming.”

Portugal's Christiano Ronaldo balances the ball during World Cup training. Portugal and France practiced Tuesday at the World Cup Stadium in Munich, Germany.

France beat Portugal on penalty kicks in last year’s World Cup – OK, it was the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in Brazil. As far as the real thing, Portugal is 0-7 against the French since a 2-0 exhibition win at Paris in 1975, including losses in the 1984 and 2000 European Championships.

When these teams last met in a match that counted, the 2000 Euro semifinals, it got ugly. France won 2-1 when Zinedine Zidane converted a penalty kick with three minutes left in sudden-death extra time. Portuguese players protested the call by Austrian referee Guenter Benko, who ruled Abel Xavier used his left hand to block Sylvain Wiltord’s shot.

Xavier was suspended from international competition for six months, Nuno Gomes got a seven-month ban and Paulo Bento a five-month penalty.

“There’s huge rivalry between France and Portugal,” Portuguese forward Helder Postiga said. “That 2000 game stuck in our throats. It was really frustrating.”

France, coming off its first World Cup championship in 1998, went on to add the European title but then was bounced out of the 2002 World Cup in the first round without even scoring a goal. Portugal also was in a 2002 flop, losing to the United States and South Korea, but made it to the 2004 Euro final, which it hosted, before losing to Greece. The French were knocked out in the quarterfinals when the Greeks ended their 22-match unbeaten streak.

Now Portugal has a 19-game unbeaten streak since a February 2005 loss to Ireland and has reached the World Cup semis for the first time since 1966. Scolari, coming off a penalty-kicks victory over England, is unbeaten in 12 straight World Cup matches. He led Brazil to the 2002 title and is trying to become the first person to coach two nations to world championship.

France, which opens the World Cup with a pair of ties, is unbeaten in eight games since an exhibition loss to Slovakia in March. But after opening the tournament with a pair of ties, the French were in danger of early elimination.

“We were criticized, but we knew what we wanted to do,” Gallas said.

Zidane, a three-time world player of the year, is among six holdovers from the 1998 world champions, joined by Thierry Henry, Fabien Barthez, David Trezeguet, Patrick Vieira and Lilian Thuram. He set up the decisive goal in the second-round win over Spain, then scored himself, and set up Thierry Henry’s goal in the 1-0 quarterfinal win over Brazil.

Now 34, he plans to retire from soccer after this week.

“I don’t talk about veterans, but about players that still improve like a good French wine,” FIFA president Sepp Blatter said. “France has left such an impression that its opponents should really worry.”

Portugal’s Luis Figo, who turns 34 in November, also is nearing the end of his national team career. He was the world player of the year in 2001.

Scolari paid tribute to both stars.

“We’ll show respect for Zidane. In a split second, he can change the course of a game.” Scolari said. “It’s a shame age is overtaking him because, like with Figo, we’d like him to keep playing another seven, eight, 10 or 20 years. We enjoy watching both of them. It’s like I say, the ball doesn’t cry when it’s at their feet.”

Portugal enters with a tournament-leading 20 yellow cards, and has five players who would be suspended if they receive another: Figo, Ricardo Pereira, Nuno Valente, Ricardo Carvalho and Maniche. Scolari didn’t think much of accusations by some media that Portugal is a dirty team.

“That’s just word games, interests, selling more newspapers,” he said. “It doesn’t bother us.”

Figo and Cristiano Ronaldo were expected to play despite thigh injuries.