"You can't underestimate the threat," said Butcher. "John Terry's absence would be a blow, considering all the centre-backs already ruled out, but you have to get on with it.
"If he's out, I'd select Ledley King, who looked very composed when I saw him play against Portugal in February.
"Whoever plays, the most important thing is to avoid the temptation to get too close to Henry. Sol knows him well and doesn't need me to tell him that if you play tight up against him and he turns past you the chances of catching him are remote.
"If you're deeper than him he will run at you and has the ability to go past on either side. This is a problem but this can be handled by the defence as a whole.
"If they stay compact as a unit and are not too stretched across the field it means there are fewer spaces for a player like Henry to run through.
"What is important is that the more experienced defenders like Sol look after Ledley or Jamie if they have to play. It won't be comfortable for an inexperienced central defender to be isolated with Henry bearing down.
"The tighter you are as a group in those central areas the harder it will be for the French to break through.
Henry is a real threat to us and we have to handle that situation well. But we can't afford to focus solely on him because the French have so many good players."
The defending champions won all their qualifying games en route to Lisbon, haven't conceded a goal in 11 matches and are the favourites.
Coach Jacques Santini has some of the world's great players at his disposal though a similarly glamorous squad returned home from the World Cup two years ago without scoring.
Santini is a 4-4-2 man who encourages his wide midfielders Zinedine Zidane and Robert Pires to carry the ball into the heart of the opposing defence.
Zidane, considered by many to be the world's best player, can cause havoc cutting in from the left while, hopefully, Ashley Cole has the pace and discipline to cope with his Arsenal team-mate Pires on the other flank.
Another of these intriguing club sideshows pits Frank Lampard against his Chelsea team- mate Claude Makelele, while we must hope that the running of David Beckham on England's right can force his Real Madrid colleague Zidane to devote some of his time to defensive duties.
'Les Bleus' flopped when Zidane missed the first two games in the last World Cup because of a thigh injury. He is the playmaker par excellence with sublime touch and vision.
England may lack the same individual brilliance but can usually be relied upon to perform with diligence and character on the big stage. Since Eriksson took over three years ago, his team have lost just one competitive game and that was against world champions Brazil in Japan in 2002.
Despite the absence of Rio Ferdinand and doubts over goalkeeper David James, England have a realistic chance of securing one of the two qualifying places from Group B and then beating either Spain or Portugal to reach the semi-finals.
Teams evolve and develop as tournaments unfold and a win against France would provide a sound platform upon which to stage a serious bid.
Winning is a long shot, but they reached the last four under Terry Venables in Euro '96 and the last four of the World Cup under Bobby Robson in 1990. Anything less this time would be a serious disappointment.
