An email from France brought to light a possibly enormous soccer scandal soon after the World Cup quarterfinal between Brazil and France ended, the Jinan Times reported Thursday.

France's Zinedine Zidane (R) applauds as Brazil's Ze Roberto lies on the pitch after their World Cup 2006 quarter-final soccer match in Frankfurt July 1, 2006. [Reuters]

The email said France fixed the game and bribed Brazil with 25 million euros, double the amount of the World Cup winner prize, so the Brazilian soccer players threw the match and gave up the glory of the World Cup championship.

Currently, no evidence can prove the news is reliable. However, it sends a signal: Brazil's technical and mental mistakes probably contributed to its failure, but the large gap between the two teams' levels of play during the match makes many suspect that something more was going on.

The public probably won't know the answer for a long time, but maybe after several decades the truth will come out, just like it eventually did about the 1978 World Cup in which Argentina paid off Peru, a fact that is now common knowledge.

Last weekend, Brazil, commonly revered as the best team in the tournament, lost to France 0-1 in the quarterfinal. All the Brazilian stars looked like they were sleepwalking on the field as they managed only one real shot and committed a host of passing mistakes. Although many fans expected to see Brazil avenge its 3-0 loss to France in the 1998 Word Cup final, the way the game was played and the end result disappointed them.

France's Zinedine Zidane (R) applauds as Brazil's Ze Roberto lies on the pitch after their World Cup 2006 quarter-final soccer match in Frankfurt July 1, 2006. [Reuters]

FIFA (Federation of International Football Association) graded every player after the match on a scale of 1 to 10. Brazil's Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, and Kaka all received scores of 3.5, while France's Zidane received a 9.5.