Sorry, Sven, England lack va va voom

14 April 2012

Thierry Henry was raving about Italy's Francesco Totti. "Outside of my own team-mates, I think he could be the player of the tournament," he said. Then he started waxing lyrical about Zinedine Zidane. "If you tried to do with your

Who were the players who made him sit up and gasp? "The ones who suddenly do something that no one had thought about or seen on the pitch. The guy I like to see at the moment is the Italian [ Antonio] Cassano, who has the ability to do something to surprise you at any time."

As he outlined this Euro 2004 beauty parade, I desperately began to wonder if an Englishman might make his list. A Gerrard? A Beckham? "No, not really," he was forced to concede. hands what he does with his feet, you'd find it impossible."

Henry seems a good bloke but when you're as brilliant as he is and you're surrounded by masters, it must take a lot to really impress you. Almost as an afterthought, he finally seemed to take pity by suggesting that at least "Rooney has that extra thing like a Gascoigne where he'll do something which makes you ask why he tried it.

Chris Waddle used to do it and it's why, when I was younger, I liked to watch him."

Henry was talking to Standard Sport during a promotion by one of the official Euro 2004 partners, Coca-Cola, to give away a million footballs. The fact the sponsor had chosen him and Wayne Rooney seemed to give you the billing for Sunday's match in a nutshell. In the blue corner: possibly the best player in the game, representing the achievers of world football. And in the white corner: a hopeful kid representing the underachieving dreamers of world football.

Not that Henry comes across as either arrogant or complacent. His respect for the collective quality of this England team is such that, whatever materialises on Sunday, he believes they could meet again in the final and he does not buy the comparison between recent French triumph and English flops.

"Under-achievers? In 1990, you were in the semis of the World Cup, beaten only on penalties and we weren't even there," he said. "In 2002, I can't see which of the other teams left in the quarter-finals of the World Cup, apart from Brazil, would have beaten you. You were unlucky.

"All I've read in England is people giving stick to your squad, saying they don't have the same young talent as elsewhere. I don't get this. I think England has the possibility of winning something major in the next 10 years the way the side is maturing."

Ten years? We've been waiting nearly 40. "Yes, but it took us a long time to win anything after the European Championship win of 1984. It doesn't happen overnight. I can see this England squad getting five times better the more this squad plays together all the time," said Henry.

The Arsenal man still believes the pressure of being favourites sits comfortably on Les Bleus. "It means nothing. Even favourites can go home early like we did in the World Cup and teams you don't expect can even go on and win it, like Denmark. For me, England, Holland, the Czech Republic, Italy, Spain, Portugal at home - they're all favourites. It's so open, it's going to be more than difficult."

Having Henry on your side could represent the difference. I suggested to him that perhaps the only thing he has not achieved for France now is to become the dominant personality in a major championship and perhaps this was the stage.

Great players have egos, though, and Henry seemed slightly miffed by this suggestion that he had yet to indelibly imprint himself on a tournament. "I was a major part of winning Euro 2000 and the 1998 World Cup," he said. "I've been consistent for five years but it's only in the last year-and-a-half people have opened their eyes to me."

Now that Henry's name has been bracketed with the great Zidane's whenever the subject of the world's best player is brought up, surely there is much more expectation on him to shine too?

"No, there's no more pressure on me. After the World Cup, I wasn't chosen for the national team for 18 months and they called me back to play in Euro 2000. For me, that really was pressure, to have to prove something after so long out.

"As for Zidane, you can't be compared to him. No one can do what he does on the pitch. There is only one Zidane just as there's only one Ronaldo [surely there are two!] or Ronaldinho and the only thing I'm happy about is that we're on the same team."

With that, he broke into a smile and I broke into a cold sweat. Henry, Zidane and the memory of Ronaldinho uttered in one sentence. It sounded like England's worst nightmare. It still could be.

Sorry, Sven, England lack va va voom

Read More