MUNICH, Germany – The last Brazilian left standing in this World Cup took the applause as he walked into the press room of the Allianz Arena. The men clapping were journalists from his own country who wanted to know if he would come home to take charge of the Selecao after Brazil’s rudderless display in Germany.

Luiz Filipe Scolari, the Brazilian-born coach of Portugal, was smiling a lot yesterday on the eve of today’s World Cup semifinal against France. As he arranged the press tape recorders into a neat tactical formation, inwardly he would have been laughing that four years ago he was facing a torrent of criticism from the same Brazilian press even as he steered them to the final in Japan.

His counterpart, French coach Raymond Domenech, would have understood the feeling. Twelve days ago, as France’s final group match against Togo stood level at 0-0, it seemed they would exit a second successive World Cup without registering a win. Had the unpaid, unregarded Africans held out, the amount of ordure dumped over Domenech’s grey locks would have made the parting shots aimed at England’s Sven-Goran Eriksson look like volleys from a cap gun.

At his press conference, Scolari made the point that in his three and a half years with Portugal, he had only seen two players sent off, both against Holland in the brutal second-round encounter in Nuremberg.

However, it is the number of opponents Portugal frustrate into lashing out and sealing their own dismissals that has angered both the Dutch and the English in this tournament. With six players on yellow cards, the French cannot afford to become sucked into a battle this evening. Defender William Gallas acknowledged he was aware of what happened to former French star Laurent Blanc, denied his place in the 1998 final by some blatant play-acting from Croatia’s Slaven Bilic. But it will not change the way he plays.

“Portugal will try to destabilize us,” he said. “They do that with little fouls and we will need cool heads because they do like to dive and a lot will depend on the refereeing. They have the players who can get under the skin of their opponents, you just have to see the way that Ronaldo asked the referee to give Rooney a card for the sending off against England.”

But the high tension of a World Cup semifinal could just as easily unnerve the Portuguese. Twice in European Championship semifinals, Portugal have come undone against the French. In 1984, the brilliance of Jean Tigana and Michel Platini overcame Jordao’s skill in an epic 3-2 victory in Marseilles. Six years ago, Portugal lost amid chaos and acrimony as Abel Xavier handled in the area and Zidane converted the decisive penalty. Xavier received a nine-month ban for attacking the linesman.

“History tells us that France must be favorites,” Scolari said.”

Not since the July night in 1966 when Eusebio’s brilliance was neutered by Nobby Stiles have Portugal come this far. Any advantage they had, Scolari argued, came from their relatively low expectations.

“I only really prepared the players to win in the second round and then see what happened. The players are relaxed because they never thought they would be anywhere near a World Cup final. We will not change tactics now. We will play with the same spirit and heart that got us this far but we have to pay special attention to Zidane. When the ball goes to Zidane’s feet, it doesn’t cry. In my playing days when it went to my feet, it used to weep.”