''Thirty-two teams started the World Cup and four got to the semi-finals. To be among the four is an achievement for us, it's historic,'' he told reporters.

''We want to thank everyone in Portugal for all the displays of affection towards our players and to tell them our players did their best from the start.'' ''I want the world to know that we're proud of our players,'' added the man known as Big Phil, who led his native Brazil to their fifth world title in 2002.

''We're not going to drop our heads or feel bad because of yesterday's defeat,'' he added, after leading Portugal to the last four for the first time since 1966.

''We lost to an outstanding team, we want to thank immensely everyone who supported us yesterday, not just in Portugal but in other parts of the world.'' Scolari avoided any criticism of Uruguayan referee Jorge Larrionda, who gave France a controversial penalty from which Zinedine Zidane scored the only goal of the game.

''We will play a third place match with Germany, although we would rather be playing for first and second place against Germany,'' he said. ''For us, third place would be marvellous.'' REUTERS SHB KP2304