image: fifaworldcup.com

There's a lot at stake on Sunday. There's the World Cup final of course, which is fairly important, but we'll also know once and for all whether ghosts exist or not.

You may or may not know that Zinedine Zidane came out of international retirement after a late night visitation. Here's how he explained it:

"One night about three o'clock in the morning I woke up suddenly and began speaking with someone. Afterwards I didn't tell anyone about it, not even my wife.

"It's a total enigma, but don't try to explain it - you can't. It's someone that you are likely to never meet. I can't even begin to explain. This person exists, but it's a total mystery."

"A few hours later I was with my wife at home and that's when I decided.

"I've never had an experience like it. It was like I was powerless against this presence that was forcing me.

"It was like a revelation, and suddenly I realised I had to go back on my decision to retire."

Soccer-Weblog is normally very suspicious of people who claim to have seen ghosts (mostly because it's scary) but is very intrigued by Zidane's story, particularly his decision to keep the ghost's identity secret. I would love to know who he spoke to. Was it Napoleon? Proust? Or maybe just Raymond Domenech in a white sheet?

There was also a feeling of inevitability about France's semi-final win over Portugal, especially after Zidane scored that penalty past Ricardo to give France the lead.

If Sunday night in Berlin ends with Zidane holding the trophy, then I'll be sleeping with the lights on.