French fried: Coach loses for 1st time

MUNICH, Germany — Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari picked a bad time for his first World Cup loss.

Scolari's 12-game unbeaten streak at the World Cup ended Wednesday with a 1-0 semifinal loss to France. The defeat also snapped Portugal's 19-match unbeaten streak under its Brazilian coach, who led his native country to the title four years ago with seven straight victories.

Instead of leading Portugal to its first final — and instead of becoming the first coach to win a World Cup with two different teams — the "drill sergeant" leads his squad to the third-place game against Germany on Saturday.

"When you are losing you have to produce something special," Scolari said. "Today we didn't do that."

Even so, with a win Saturday against the hosts Portugal could equal the milestone set in 1966 by Eusebio's team, which took third place at the World Cup in England.

Scolari is an outsized personality who yells and scowls his way through matches, pumps his arms in disgust and on occasion bangs his fist on the dugout.

He may try to confuse opponents with false promises about what players he will use, and during matches he doesn't shy from berating the referee — as he did Wednesday.

He also is a motivator beloved by his players, who want him to stay once his contract expires July 31.

During his three years in charge, he has taken Portugal to the 2004 European Championship final, where it lost to Greece, and now into the last four at the World Cup.

The Portuguese had been undefeated in five games in Germany until they ran up against the French, a team they haven't beaten in 31 years.

Though often smooth with their midfield passing, the Portuguese were the lowest scoring of the four semifinalists with six goals. On Wednesday, their attack rarely burst to life.

Needing a goal, Scolari reshuffled his attack with substitutions and the team threw everything forward in the last 15 minutes — even goalkeeper Ricardo. France scrambled, but held firm.

"Our players have been marvelous. We did our best to get to the final, but we failed," Scolari said. "I have to thank my players for their effort."