France play down striking concerns

France are playing down concerns about strikers Thierry Henry and David Trezeguet, who were virtually marked out of the game in their dramatic opening Euro 2004 win over England.

The pair never looked likely to break the shackles imposed by Sol Campbell and the highly inexperienced Ledley King, extending an international goal drought for each player dating back to November.

France coach Jacques Santini, however, is not unduly worried.

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"Thierry tried a lot of things. He didn't find the way to the net. To me, he doesn't look like a player who doubts about himself," Santini said.

Henry, England's player of the year after another dazzling season with his club Arsenal, was also philosophical.

"It's true that I don't score bunches of goals at the moment," Henry told news conference. "But I guess you have times like this in your career.

"My best tournament so far was Euro 2000. But there is still time in front of us. Especially if we defend our title until the final."

Trezeguet is the French team's leading scorer with 28 goals in 52 internationals.

Apart from the 4-0 demolition of Andorra in a warm-up match last month, France have struggled for goals in their last five games.

They were held to goalless draws by the Netherlands and Brazil and avoided another 0-0 against Ukraine only courtesy of an 88th-minute goal by playmaker Zinedine Zidane, whose two injury-time dead-ball kicks secured the victory over England.

The situation brings back memories of the 2002 World Cup when France, deprived of the injured Zidane, made a first-round exit without scoring a goal.

"Every team now sets up special plans when they take us on," Santini said. "We saw it against Ukraine and again against England.

"They review the way we play and they adapt their strategy accordingly to silence our strikers. We are not surprised by this anymore. And it's up to us to find new options every time."

For the second Group B match against Croatia on Thursday, Santini is not considering making changes.

"If we beat the Croatians we will be on a maximum of six points and we will be qualified for the quarter-finals," Santini said.

"We now know what we can expect. We are fully aware this European Championship is going to be tough. So there is no fear and no impatience."