Not even the World Cup crowd can drink France dry, but hearty bands of survivors are doing their best. Four nations remain in the tournament. As the soccer narrows down to high-intensity, high-stakes final stages, so does the partying.

France meets Croatia in Paris today to determine which of the two makes the finals on Sunday and who can throw a better street party. And yesterday here, it was Brazil and Holland.

On a scorching day, both sides partied together at Prado Beach by the giant screen where English hooligans and ethnic Tunisian locals rumbled last month. Also, they gathered at the port, another England-Tunisia riot scene, now swept clean of broken glass.

``We are the champions,'' bellowed Stephan Dammers, a 25-year-old medical supplier from DenBosch with a bright orange face, along with the music blasting out of monster speakers on the beach. This was before the game, but the Dutch had no doubts.

Their opponents, whose faces were painted in blue, green and yellow, had four prior World Cups to boast about. They looked indulgently at the happy Dutch and chanted, ``five times, five times.''

At Prado Beach, Colombian restauranteur Carlos Contreras was rooting for Brazil ``I guess it's South American solidarity,'' he said. ``The whole idea is to have a good time and that's happening.''