France puzzled by finals goal drought

HAMELIN, Germany, June 15 (Reuters) France could tell you that relying on two of the finest marksmen around is no guarantee you will score on the World Cup scene.

Thierry Henry and David Trezeguet have been nightmares for defenders in England and Italy respectively for years but are not quite as prolific when on international duty.

Both have had their moments, Henry scoring 33 goals from 79 appearances and Trezeguet netting just one less in 63 caps, but now that their scoring instinct is needed most, it seems to have gone missing.

Both 28, the former world and European champions are at the peak of their powers at club level.

Only if they live up to the occasion can France, who have not scored a World Cup goal since lifting the trophy eight years ago, dream of going a long way in the finals.

Henry was a shadow of the player he is for Arsenal in Tuesday's dull 0-0 Group G draw with Switzerland while Trezeguet, who keeps treating the Juventus fans with plenty of goals, did not even come on.

''I have no regrets,'' said Henry. ''I kept trying to put myself in a position to score and there was no one-to-one situations. You have regrets when you miss those.'' Despite his credentials, Trezeguet has been used mostly as a substitute over the years, starting only two internationals alongside Henry since Raymond Domenech took over as coach after France's quarter-final exit from Euro 2004.

Just two days before France played Switzerland, Trezeguet had said he found it difficult to understand why he was not an automatic starter.

CISSE OUT ''When you have players like Thierry Henry, Zinedine Zidane or myself, you should not ask yourself questions,'' Trezeguet said.

''In my opinion the example to follow is Brazil. Look at them, they play with Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Adriano and Kaka all together in the same team and see nothing wrong with that.'' Domenech had been expected to pair Djibril Cisse with Henry up front for France's opener until Cisse broke his leg in a warm-up game.

The coach then decided to field Henry as a lone striker but could revert to a system with two forwards when France play South Korea in their next match on Sunday in Leipzig. Togo complete the group.

The favourite to team up with Henry is not Trezeguet but Louis Saha, who pushed Dutch scoring machine Ruud van Nistelrooy on to the Old Trafford substitutes' bench last season.

The key to success for France is to put Henry in a position to score.

Zidane, one would think, would be the ideal person to do that but he never has.

The two have played together for France 53 times but, in an amazing statistic, not once did Zidane present Henry with the decisive pass.

He might start on Sunday. Otherwise, maybe Henry should ask Saha.

REUTERS SY BD2219