HAMELN, Germany -- The shiny, bald pate of goalkeeper Fabien Barthez. The uncatchable swiftness of Zinedine Zidane's feet.

Many things cry out for comparisons with France's World Cup-winning team in 1998.

Don't even try, France coach Raymond Domenech says.

After his team was all too often linked to the World Cup disaster of 2002 ahead of Saturday's win over Brazil, he doesn't want people to go deeper in search of lost time, however glorious those days may have been.

"It is another team, another story we have to live. In the end, comparisons are tiresome," Domenech said Sunday when assessing France's stunning 1-0 win over Brazil and a place in the semifinals against Portugal.

Yet the analogies are impossible to ignore.

After all, Domenech picked Barthez for his big-game World Cup experience over the in-form Gregory Coupet, and Zidane was lured back from retirement to rekindle the spirit of 1998.

Now, Patrick Vieira is dominating the defensive midfield to seek his second World Cup final and Thierry Henry has developed from a prodigy into a star at the height of his powers without losing any of his youthful elegance.

And, on Saturday, Lilian Thuram was charging into the Brazil penalty area, just like his attacking forays that resulted in two goals in the 1998 semifinals against Croatia.

And Zidane is again the undisputed leader. Throwing around passes at will, setting up goals and finishing them off, looking like anything but a player who will retire after next weekend.

With veterans like that, it makes France a favorite for Wednesday's semifinal match against Portugal in Munich.

And the French public also senses the spirit of 1998.

"Each time, people tell me: We are back in 1998, we are back in the same rush of happiness," said Aime Jacquet, the coach of that championship team. "It is fantastic."

Joyous Parisians already set off fireworks and climbed atop historic statues waving red-white-and-blue French flags, further rekindling the memories.

For Domenech, it is time to put the brakes on. Immediately.

"Wait, there still is the July 5 match," he said. "It is time to bring back everybody to reality."

Domenech has already shut off his mobile phone, which was overflowing with congratulatory messages. Even getting to the semifinals could be considered a huge success for a coach who has been derided for so long.

"A successful World Cup only applies to the team that wins," Domenech says now.

Barely a month ago, Domenech and his team were booed and whistled off the field at Stade de France, where they won the World Cup eight years earlier, after a bad preparation match against Mexico. Parisian fans thought they were ready for another first-round exit.

In South Korea four years ago, France failed to score a goal and became the first champion to fail to make it past the opening round.

That team was stunned by Senegal in the opener and Domenech admitted "the ghosts of Senegal" still weighed on the team early on.

"It is true, it may have counted," he said in a candid admission. "I felt it, too, a little bit."

It didn't help when some retired heroes of the 1998 campaign, including Laurent Blanc and Didier Deschamps, started sniping at the team.

Once Les Bleus squeezed out of the first round despite poor play this year, everything changed.

"It created a sense of freedom," said Domenech.

It also created a 3-1 win over Spain in the second round and the shutout of Brazil.

The 2002 comparison is history now and Domenech wants to avoid a new one.

"The players don't want to be compared to 1998," he said. "This is 2006."

Defender Willy Sagnol, however, took exception and said the championship squad still had a magic the current edition cannot capture.

"We are no longer a team that can dominate opponents, but we have other qualities. Defensive qualities. We have become a team that is tough to budge," he said. "The Brazilians tried to play, could not and got testy."

In a sense, this year's team has already achieved more. Before the semifinals, it already eliminated favorites Spain and Brazil. Eight years ago, the only team of renown it had to beat to get to the final was Italy.

Now it may play Italy again next Sunday. The Azzurri meet host Germany in the other semifinal match Tuesday.