On their way to the final, defending champions Brazil, coached by their former player Mário Zagallo, recorded victories over Scotland (2–1) and Morocco (3–0) to top their group with 6 points from three matches, suffering a surprise 2–1 defeat at the hands of Norway in their final group game. After a 4–1 win over Chile and a 3–2 success against Denmark, they reached the final with a penalty shoot-out victory over the Netherlands. As for France, they won their three group matches and defeated Paraguay in the knockout stages on golden goals. They had a penalty-shootout with Italy in the quarter-finals, and defeated recently formed Croatia to reach the final.