Fulltime

Be sure to check back here Friday morning for our next live game blog. We'll be following the quarter-final game between Germany and Argentina from Berlin. Coverage starts at 10:30 a.m. EDT.

Fulltime

So the final eight is set. England-Portugal, Germany-Argentina, Italy-Ukraine and Brazil-France. If you haven't bought that 52-inch plasma TV yet ... hop to it.

Fulltime

Unbelieveable game. Experience paid off for Les Bleus as they move on to play Brazil, who they crushed in the 1998 World Cup final. More heartbreak for Spain, whose phenomenal performance in the group phase means nothing now.

92nd minute

GOOOOOOAAAL. 3-1 France!!!!!!! Zizou crushes Spain's World Cup dreams. The maestro dribbled around Puyol in the box and made no mistake placing the ball by a prone Casillas.

90th minute

Three minutes of injury time. Can Spain's young guns manage a tying goal and end the culture of crashing out?

88th minute

Barthez takes care of business, but should Spain tie this up, France is without their most prolific goal scorer.

87th minute

Uhhh, this is a really strange sub ... Wiltford for Henry? Spain has a free kick here, Domenech. Maybe you should've waited on this one? And where's Trezeguet?

83rd minute

GOOOOOAAAL! What on earth happened there!!! Viera's header bounced off the inside leg of Spain defender Sergio Ramos at back post and deflected by Casillas. 2-1 France.

82nd minute

Henry and Puyol a.k.a. Captain Caveman just collided in the Spain zone. Yellow card for Puyols. An uncharacteristic tackle by Puyol, but a theatrical performance by Henry. Both players were going full speed.

79th minute

Gallas just blocked a bullet from Senna from 25 yards out ... that'll leave a nice ball print. Seconds later, Joaquin controls the loose ball and his strike hits the side netting (sighs soar among the crowd).

75th minute

Aragones is steamed up about something. He's almost out of his coaching box and is mouthing off to the official. Not sure what that's about.

72nd minute

Xavi is off and Marcos Senna is on for Spain - Aragones has used all of his subs.

69th minute

Henry is offside - again. Seven times so far, but you have that feeling that he will somehow creep in homefree sooner or later.

68th minute

First card of the game goes to .... drum roll, please. Viera.

65th minute

Mak-e-le-le. Makelele. Makelele. Makelele. Sorry, a bit of a tangent there, but the guy has the coolest name in the biz. He just brilliantly defended Torres as well.

61st minute

Back-to-back corners for France without a scoring chance. Henry fouled Casillas on the last one.

57th minute

Spain gave up just one goal in the tournament, but it should be noted that France did the same. Les Bleus veteran backline of Thuram, Sagnol, Gallas and Abidal (returning from one-game suspension) are solid and have made the speedy, skilled Spaniards work for every chance they've got - which isn't many.

53rd minute

Double substitution ... under-12 style. No birthday goal for Raul - sniff, sniff. Luis Garcia is in for him and Joaquin is in on the right side for goal scorer Villa.

46th minute

Return to the edge of your seats - game on.

Halftime

What a half! Possession changes, up-and-down action ... supreme skill by the likes of Zidane (Zizou) and Torres (El Nino - The Kid). Should be a nailbiter the rest of the way.

41st minute

Viera deftly played the ball behind the Spanish defence, Henry was in an offside position (though wasn't directly in the play), but Ribery wasn't, timing his run perfectly onto the through ball and feinted around Casillas and knocked the ball into the net as two Spanish defenders converged on him.

41st minute

GOOOOOOOOAL - it's tied up folks. Ribery scores his first-ever international goal. 1-1.

38th minute

Zidane free kick rounds into the box, but Spain keeper Iker Casillas's big mitts were there to pull it away from danger ... and by danger, I mean the heads of Viera and Thuram.

35th minute

Spain has gained momentum with the goal. The youngsters are playing with confidence ... I don't think Domenech has a choice but to bring on Trezeguet in the second half.

27th minute

GOOOOAAAL. 1-0 Spain after David Villa buried just inside the right post ... Barthez had absolutely no chance on it. Textbook penalty. France has had the edge in possession so far - let's see if they can get it back.

27th minute

PENALTY SHOT FOR SPAIN. Thuram just got the back of Pablo Ibanez's legs.

22nd minute

Finish that!!! Beauty chip by Zidane to Henry down the right side and Henry's cross seemed to trickle through the box by the tangled up feet of Franck Ribery and Patrick Viera. Still no shot on goal.

20th minute

Crowd is getting restless ... could it be because there hasn't been scoring chance?

14th minute

Spain is the youngest team at the World Cup. At an average age of just over 25, they are five years younger than their French opponents. Just three players on the new generation team played at the World Cup in Korea four years ago. Will inexperience be a factor?

8th minute

Free kick for Spain. 25 yards out ... Makelele's challenge for a header didn't go over well with the Italian official. Mariano Pernia's left-footed kick just bent wide - tres close.

4th minute

Back to Henry (who just about got in on a break had Ramos not cleared the ball away). Henry has something to prove in this World Cup after failing to score a goal four years ago when France failed to advance past the group phase. He's got two markers so far in Germany. He'll need some service from Zidane and Claude Makelele against the Spaniards.

GAME ON

And here we go.

5 minutes to kickoff

Crap. What is French manager Raymond Domenech thinking?!!! It looks like Henry is going to be France's lone striker up front ... sheesh. Rumours were abound that David Trezeguet would be pairing up with Henry, Arsenal's prolific forward, but alas, he's on the pine.

10 minutes to kickoff

Happy Birthday Raul! You're starting. The 29-year-old Real Madrid star has 43 international goals to his name and you know he's looking for more. (Duh, what striker isn't). Anyway, paired with Fernando (El Nino) Torres, Raul should cause problems for Thuram and the French boys.

20 minutes to kickoff

There's also Spain's unfortunate habit of crashing out at the World Cup. Spain has played in the big tourney 11 times, but always seem to exit in the quarter-finals. Could they change their fate today in Hanover?

20 minutes to kickoff

So many subplots in this match. Spain manager Luis Aragones and France striker Thierry Henry up against each other. In October 2004, Aragones was televised making unacceptable racist comments about Henry in a "pep talk" with Jose Antonio Reyes, Henry's Arsenal teammate. He was fined a day's pay for his derogatory comments - a slap on the wrist for an unclassy offence.

25 minutes to kickoff

Hard to believe Spain and France have met 27 times in the past, but never in World Cup competition. In those encounters, Spain has won 11, France 10 and six matches have ended in draws.

However, note that Spain has never beaten Les Bleus in a major international game. The squads have met three times in the European Championships with France beating Spain twice (1984 final and 2000 quarter-final) and tying once (1996 group play).