{"id":118796,"date":"2026-06-10T14:52:32","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T13:52:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.betway.com\/?p=118796"},"modified":"2026-06-10T15:04:31","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T14:04:31","slug":"thierry-henry-france-must-watch-out-for-senegal-and-norway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.betway.com\/ca\/soccer\/thierry-henry-france-must-watch-out-for-senegal-and-norway\/","title":{"rendered":"Thierry Henry: France must watch out for Senegal and Norway"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":116520,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[780],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-118796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer"],"acf":{"brief_description":"In his latest exclusive Betway blog, our global ambassador previews the World Cup, warns caution over France's opening game against Senegal and praises Portugal's \"scary\" midfield.","auto_update_sportal365":true,"property_type":["","run_ads","","","",""],"authors":[116526],"properties":{"ads_enabled":true,"adult_content":false,"important":false,"live":false},"live_url":"","type_of_redirect":"permanent","body":[{"acf_fc_layout":"editor_block","content":"

What do you think of the short turnaround between the club football season and the World Cup?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s put the World Cup in perspective \u2013 you\u2019re supposed to perform at the highest stage when you\u2019re almost dead physically and mentally. You have to find a way to not celebrate too much if you won at the end of the season, or not get down too much if you lost.<\/span><\/p>\n

You don\u2019t prepare for the World Cup, you play it. You arrive there when you\u2019re actually the most tired in the season, needing to perform in a place where it\u2019s 35 or 36 degrees and humid. I played in the MLS, and I can tell you how brutal it is.<\/span><\/p>\n

But look, it\u2019s the World Cup. Nobody’s going to think about if you’re too hot or if it\u2019s too humid. Even if you played 70 games, you have to perform.<\/span><\/p>\n

You coached France to the final of the Olympic Games. What different qualities does it take to be a successful tournament manager?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

You need to understand the balance of the team, your identity and your philosophy. It’s always great when you have the core of a group that’s been there for a very long time, and new guys who are going to come in. You need to know how you will keep everybody happy, and how you will keep on winning.<\/span><\/p>\n

When you look at Didier Deschamps, he could go to his third World Cup final in a row. That\u2019s so hard, to keep everyone happy and handle the pressure of the fans and the press.<\/span><\/p>\n

You might have a guy who is the captain of his club, and suddenly he\u2019s a sub in the national team \u2013 how do you deal with that? The guy who started the competition might not finish it, and vice versa. You need to keep everyone focused to stay in the tournament.<\/span><\/p>\n

How do you design a session with some intensity for the guy who played 70 minutes and the guy who played 40? They have to be together, but they can’t push the same way. The sports science team need to do their job, and everyone has to arrive on point, physically and mentally at the same level to be able to perform. It’s not always easy, it\u2019s really different, and there are so many components that you need to have to be able to win.<\/span><\/p>\n

France\u2019s first game of this tournament is against Senegal. What are your memories of that famous upset in 2002, and how far have Senegal come since then?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

That was great for Senegal and they deserved it and it will go down as a historical win. But it was almost the end of an era for us.<\/span><\/p>\n

Senegal has always been a country with special players, they just couldn\u2019t get over the line by winning an AFCON. It\u2019s been done since, and since that 2002 team they\u2019ve never looked back.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a dangerous game for France. You can go back to Argentina v Cameroon in 1990 to see that if you\u2019re not ready from the start, it\u2019s dangerous. You also have to understand that Senegal play us differently, because of the colonies and what has happened historically. Beating France is something massive for them.<\/span><\/p>\n

Norway is also in our group, and those are the two teams I\u2019ve told everybody to watch out for. It\u2019s good for France to start that way, because you have to be ready right from the start. There won\u2019t be any easy games and you play against two outstanding teams.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jean-Philippe Mateta scored the winning goal in a European final for Crystal Palace and now he\u2019s in the World Cup squad. How pleased are you for him?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I called him up for the Olympics when I could have called so many other players in that position, because I believed in him.<\/span><\/p>\n

The way he plays is very old school, and it\u2019s very rare to find a No. 9 like that now who can have an impact in the game. He\u2019s a character, he makes everybody laugh, he works hard and he will always be at the service of the team. I had zero doubt, because he\u2019s a warrior and he has always had to prove to everyone that he should be there.<\/span><\/p>\n

I’m more than happy for him and he deserves it. No one gave him anything ever. I\u2019m happy he\u2019s done what he\u2019s done, and it shows I wasn’t wrong.<\/span><\/p>\n

Thomas Tuchel has coached in big matches and won a Champions League final against Pep Guardiola. Does he have the tactical acumen that could get England over the line?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Well, a lot of people have tried. Does he need to prove that he\u2019s good tactically? Well he got the job for a reason.<\/span><\/p>\n

Look at the number of managers who have coached England, guys who were proven to be tactically good. So it\u2019s not only about the coach. There has to be some kind of togetherness with the players, the fans, the coaching staff and everybody involved.<\/span><\/p>\n

What I know is that Thomas Tuchel knows how he likes to go about things. A lot of people were talking about his squad list, but that\u2019s the thing \u2013 it\u2019s his list, and whether we agree or not, he has selected players to play his style of football.<\/span><\/p>\n

With Vitinha and their other midfield players, do you think Portugal could emulate PSG\u2019s style of play in this World Cup?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

All I can say is that their midfield is scary. Vitinha, Joao Neves, Bruno Fernandes and Bernardo Silva. Not only is the midfield scary, but also in that team you have Nuno Mendes from PSG, Joao Cancelo who had a great season with Barcelona, Ruben Dias \u2013 and they still have the monster upfront in Cristiano Ronaldo, whoever plays, that team is loaded,<\/span><\/p>\n

But a lot of things also need to go your way. It depends on your path, how you\u2019re going to recover from the heat and many other things.<\/span><\/p>\n

I was part of that staff with Roberto Martinez and Richard Evans, so I know the boss is going to give them a tactical advantage that will be important. If you look at the final of the Nations League against Spain, that was a hell of a game that Portugal won, so it will be interesting to see what\u2019s going to happen with them.<\/span><\/p>\n

How do you rate Germany\u2019s chances after going out in the last two group stages?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

There is a question mark over a lot of teams, and you need to find that cohesion going back to what they could do before. Every country is wondering why they\u2019re not winning it. Cohesion and carrying momentum are key, whatever country you are.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been in four World Cups \u2013 two were a disaster, one was outstanding when we won it, and one was great although we lost to Italy in the final. So every country has its own issues that they need to deal with.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m not inside the dressing room to know what\u2019s happening, but all I know is that at one World Cup, Germany will go back to being Germany. When is it going to happen? I don\u2019t know, but it is in their hands.<\/span><\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"editor_block","content":"

Visit Betway’s <\/i>World Cup odds<\/i><\/a> page.<\/i><\/p>\n"}],"main_image":116521},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.betway.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.betway.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.betway.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.betway.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118796"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.betway.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118796\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":118797,"href":"https:\/\/blog.betway.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118796\/revisions\/118797"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.betway.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.betway.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.betway.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.betway.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}