Source: Shanghai Daily/Agencies
06-05-2008 13:20
Special Report: 2008 European ChampionshipsBEIJING, June 5 -- Thierry Henry celebrated his 100th cap for France in a 1-0 Euro 2008 warmup win over Colombia at the Stade de France on Tuesday.
Winger Franck Ribery opened the scoring from a penalty after striker Henry, who became the sixth French player to reach the century milestone, was fouled in the box early in the first half.
"Not many strikers from the big nations have reached 100 caps so this means a lot to me but the main thing tonight is that we won," Henry told reporters. "We prepared ourselves in order to win Euro 2008, that's the goal."
The game ended South American-flavored preparations for the 2006 World Cup runner-up, which defeated Ecuador 2-0 last week before being held to a 0-0 draw by Paraguay at the weekend.
"The important thing is that we did not concede a goal in our three warmup games," Ribery said. "That's positive."
But France is set to arrive at its European Championship training base in Switzerland with a squad of walking wounded.
Patrick Vieira's thigh tear has ruled the midfielder out of the team's opener against Romania on Tuesday, winger Franck Ribery hurt his ankle in the game against Colombia, defender William Gallas says he's only 70 percent fit, and fullback Willy Sagnol also looks to be out of condition.
"You saw the players were not really at their top level, but there are (several) days left to get there," Henry said.
Coach Raymond Domenech has until June 8 to decide whether to drop Vieira from the tournament squad and replace him with Mathieu Flamini, who is a backup.
"We would like him (Vieira) to stay, obviously," Henry said of the France captain, who has 105 caps and six consecutive major tournaments behind him.
Despite these fitness concerns, Henry remains confident Les Bleus have enough strength to win the June 7-29 tournament in Austria and Switzerland.
After the Romania match, France plays Netherlands on June 13 and Italy on June 17.
"We are prepared for it, otherwise you should stay at home," Henry said.
Gallas and Sagnol played the whole match on Tuesday and neither looked comfortable.
"Their objective was to go right to the end and to play a full match," Domenech said. "We know everyone can do better, but they already played 90 minutes without problem. They stood up to a very intense match, that's good."
Domenech hopes he has done enough to get his team in shape for Romania. "We gave playing time to a maximum amount of players," he said.
Editor:Zhang Ning
