The Hindu : Sport / Football : Brazil's record shouldn't weigh France down, says Henry

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Saturday, Jul 01, 2006

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Brazil's record shouldn't weigh France down, says Henry

The Arsenal striker feels that his team needs to play a fast-paced game

HAMELIN: Stop to think about the quality of Brazil's players, its record five World Cup titles, its two Golden Ball winners and already you have lost the match, French striker Thierry Henry said. ``If you go on to the pitch with that on your mind, then there is no reason to go on to the pitch,'' he said.

Henry said the Les Bleus would ignore Brazil's achievements in Saturday's World Cup quarterfinal.

``We are going to go there with the right spirit,'' he said.

Underdog

France will be the underdog when it goes up against former three-time FIFA Player of the Year Ronaldo, also a former Golden Ball winner, and the reigning two-time FIFA winner Ronaldinho, the current Golden Ball holder.

However, France has won two of the three meetings against Brazil at the World Cup — a 3-0 victory in the 1998 final, and in a penalty shoot-out in the 1986 quarterfinals when Luis Fernandez converted France's winner after Michel Platini shot over the crossbar.

``I know they respect us, and we respect them,'' Henry said. ``When you are playing Brazil... you know they have five stars on their shirt. They always reach the final.''

However, Henry is seemingly happy with France's outsider tag. ``It's never easy when everybody is waiting for you,'' the Arsenal striker said. ``It's the same task as when we played Spain..

A lot of people thought we were going to lose. If you want to win (the World Cup), you have to win against them (Brazil). That's the way it is.''

Henry has two goals so far, adding to the three he scored in 1998 when he appeared in every match except the final.

Level with Platini

That gives him a share of France's World Cup record with Platini, and second-most for Les Bleus overall, six behind the legend.

Apart from 1958, when Just Fontaine set a World Cup record with 13 goals in one tournament, France has struggled for a consistent scorer — a problem magnified in 2002 when it was eliminated in the first round without scoring a single goal.

Other than Fontaine, only Henry and midfielder Alain Giresse in 1982 have managed to score three goals during a World Cup.

Henry, regularly caught off-side in Tuesday's win against Spain, feels the team still needs to play more to his strengths, as at Arsenal.

``If we play a little bit quicker, I would have had some better opportunities against Spain,'' Henry said.

Fast and slow

France playmaker Zinedine Zidane often slows play when Henry likes to make an early run.

In their 60 matches together, Zidane has not assisted even one of Henry's goals.

Against Spain, the contrasting styles led to Henry being caught off-side.

Brazil's tendency to push forward almost ceaselessly sometimes leaves defensive gaps, and could play to Henry's strengths by giving him pace.

``It's sure that when you attack like that, when you go forward, sometimes teams can exploit that,'' Henry said. — AP

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