Buoyant Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari says his team are more than capable of breaking a 31-year jinx to beat France and make the World Cup final for the first time ever.

But the 57-year-old Brazilian, who is attempting to become the first man to guide two different teams to World Cup glory, warned his side against complacency when they face the highly organised outfit led by masterful Zinedine Zidane.

“Portugal haven’t beaten France for the last 31 years so the main favourite has to be France for all that they have done and achieved,” Scolari said in his pre-match press conference.

“But Portugal are playing very well and so we can change that history. The favourite is France but the favourite does not always win.

“I don’t have an explanation why we haven’t won in 31 years but we couldn’t beat Brazil since 1966 and we beat them in 2003. We couldn’t beat Spain for many years and we also beat them recently.”

Portugal had only ever been to three World Cups before this year’s finals and failed to get past the first round in two of them. Their greatest ever triumph was making the semi-finals in 1966, where they lost to England 2-1.

Their chances of going further in Munich on Wednesday hang in the balance with injury concerns over influential captain Luis Figo and dangerous winger Cristiano Ronaldo.

Figo picked up a thigh strain in Portugal’s quarter-final win over England and was replaced four minutes from the end of regular time in a match that went to penalties.

Ronaldo, who scored the decisive penalty that ended English dreams, played with a thigh injury he picked up against the Netherlands in the round of 16 and complained that the problem slowed him down in the later stages of the match.

“Figo and Cristiano have been training well. They know they have problems and we need to check how they are to see if they can play,” said Scolari, who is on a 12 match unbeaten run in the World Cup finals.

“The possibility is that Cristiano has a bigger chance and Figo a little bit less.”

While both men trained at the Allianz Arena on Tuesday, they did so apart from the rest of the squad, jogging and stretching but not getting involved in the team’s practice match.

Scolari, who coached Brazil to the 2002 World Cup, will be buoyed though by the return from suspension of midfield playmaker Deco and his minder Costinha, which will mean Tiago is relegated to the bench.

Armando Petit is suspended after picking up two yellow cards.

Getting past a resurgent France will need all the ammunition Scolari can muster, with the 1998 champions on a high after knocking out Brazil in the quarter-finals thanks in large part to an inspired display by Zidane.

Scolari singled out the 34-year-old as the danger man who could change the game in an instant, but said the whole squad was “spectacular”.

“Zidane is a player that in a fraction of a second can define a match, so we need to take care of him but keeping the way the team plays,” he said.

Conscious of the threat they pose, the Brazilian revealed that Portugal had sent a spy to keep tabs on France and the report he received confirmed what he already knew - they are a team to avoid.

“We sent a spy to follow the French and he sent a report and the report said that if you could choose who you had in the last four, we should stay away fron France. They are the worst team to meet in the semi-finals,” he said.

“The team is highly organised, the players are extremely good and they are very tall. They are very good on the high ball, so who knows, maybe a final wouldn’t be as difficult as this match.”

Source:Soccer News