France has come alive. Following the victory of their national soccer team over Portugal on Wednesday night there were spontaneous celebrations in major cities all across the country. As honking cars raced by with flags hanging out of the windows, people danced in streets.

In Paris around half a million people poured out onto the streets chanting, cheering and setting off fireworks. One man died after he climbed onto the roof of a subway car, slipped and fell in front of another train.

Things were calmer in the countryside where many French are heading to spend their summer holidays. In La Roche Posay, some 300 kilometers southwest of Paris, Carlos, a local pub owner, suffered through the entire 90 minutes of the match that Les Bleus won 1-0 after a penalty by French captain Zinedine Zidane. But that didn't please Carlos. He's the only Portuguese person in the town of 1,800.

Dozens of his French neighbors stormed into his bar Don Luiz, where all the World Cup matches have been shown on a giant projection screen. But instead of trying to ruin their celebrations, Carlos grudgingly offered his congratulations: "The better team should win, and they were."

After the match, his guests headed out into the streets to join the growing public party chanting "Final! We're in, we're in, we're in the final!" The historic center of La Roche Posay was transformed into throbbing mass of cheering, honking and flag-waving people.

"I'm actually really relieved," said 21-year-old Aurélien, who has mixed feelings about Sunday's final. "I'm half French and half Italian, but I think France will win."

All across the country, what was once considered impossible is become more possible. "The Gods Are With Us," was the headline of France Soir newspaper, which also suggested the Italians "should start trembling today."

Sports paper L'Equipe said France's progress testified to "the brilliance of an entire generation but also a certain type of football."

"The entire planet now knows that France doesn't just shine at a World Cup when it hosts it," wrote the paper.

The whole country agrees there is only one person to thank for the team's success: Zinedine Zidane, the amazing midfielder who plans to end his career after the tournament. "A grand gift: a departure with thunder and trumpets for Zidane," wrote the leftist daily L'Humanite. Another paper, Le Parisien, even demanded "a monument to Zidane, immediately, no matter where."

The 34-year-old has underlined his status as a soccer legend. During the previous match, when France beat Brazil, one TV commentator said after watching one of several brilliant plays by Zidane: "Man, he mustn't be allowed to stop playing football."