Zinedine Zidane scored a pair of goals, and Emmanuel Petit added a final tally as France defeated Brazil 3-0 in the World Cup final match at the Stade de France. The victory gives the French their first-ever World Cup title and an automatic berth at the 2002 competition in Japan and South Korea. Zidane, the midfield maestro for France, became the first player to score twice in a World Cup final since Argentina’s Mario Kempes in 1978. After the ejection of French defender Marcel Desailly, Brazil brought on Edmundo for Cesar Sampaio in an effort to supply more offense. France countered by bringing on Patrick Vieira for Youri Djorkaeff. Even with the extra player and the added firepower, Brazil continued to struggle to get quality chances against the French defense, and appeared both disorganized and dispirited. In fact, in the first 15 minutes after Desailly left the field, the best chance fell to the French, when a long ball on a counter left Dugarry one-on-one with Taffarel, but his 18-yard shot rolled wide left. Brazil, despite the ball skills of Denilson, was unable to exert the kind of pressure it did against the Netherlands during the overtime period of their semifinal match, and the final minutes were instead a display of superb team defense and discipline on the part of the French. In stoppage time, some fine work in the box from Denilson and Edmundo freed the former for a shot from inside ten yards, but it flew over the crossbar. Emmanuel Petit provided the capper for the evening and the packed house in St. Denis when he scored deep into stoppage time. After a run by Dugarry, Petit streaked on to a ball in the left corner of the box, blew through a pair of defenders and hit a low shot that beat Taffarel to the far post for the final tally.