Pressley desperate to avenge French lesson

FRANCE inflicted an international debut of desolation upon Steven Pressley when they last visited Hampden, so a portion of retribution for the Hearts captain this weekend would be especially sweet.

Goals from Sylvain Wiltord and Thierry Henry, both of whom are in Raymond Domenech's squad for Saturday's European Championship qualifier, consigned Scotland to a 2-0 friendly defeat at the National Stadium in March 2000 as Pressley cut the figure of an eager, but ultimately mournful, debutant.

As he prepares to encounter the French again, Pressley knows within himself that he is a far more mature footballer in an international context.

He recalls being introduced at half-time by Craig Brown six years ago to replace his former Tynecastle colleague Paul Ritchie, but could only cast a forlorn eye as Wiltord and Henry dismantled the restructured Scottish defence.

Cries of "it was only a friendly" are little consolation to the defender, who admits he waited patiently for years to be inducted into the coveted international arena.

The French now sit joint top with Scotland in qualification Group B for Euro 2008 and Pressley, now a mainstay of the Scottish side under Walter Smith, can think of no better occasion on which to avenge his maiden international experience.

Wiltord and Henry may not remember him from their romp on Glasgow's south side six years ago - just three months later they would be crowned champions of Europe in Rotterdam - but the centre-back certainly recalls the impact the French had on his international future.

"I came on initially as a full-back and ended up playing several positions that night," he says. "It was very much a baptism of fire. I had been waiting a long time to play international football and that was a fantastic occasion to make my debut. Losing 2-0 wasn't ideal but it gave me my first taste of playing against the top players in the world. I thoroughly enjoyed that aspect of it.

"One thing I learned from playing someone with Henry's pace is to play as deep as possible. He is blessed with fantastic speed but he's very much an all-round footballer. Possibly he's the greatest striker in the world at the moment, so that's a huge challenge for myself on Saturday. As a team, we need to try and nullify their creative play." As a consequence of injury, Pressley was spared the humiliation of a 5-0 annihilation by the French in Paris in Berti Vogts' first game in charge. However, he has been a keen student of their football over the last decade and will have noted that, since 1990, when qualification began for Euro 92 in Sweden, France have lost only one European Championship qualifying match. In 16 years of qualification, only one team has managed to inflict defeat upon Les Bleus, which came in June 1999 at the Stade de France when Aleksandr Panov scored twice and Valeri Karpin once in a 3-2 victory for Russia.

"Over the last ten years they've been the top team in the world and have produced some of the best players in the world," continued Pressley. "I think if you look at their record in qualification matches for the last three European Championships it is absolutely phenomenal. That in itself shows the enormity of the task we face, but we've produced some great results and performances at Hampden in the past and we must believe we can do it again.

"I can't overstate how tall an ask it is for us to win this game, but it is possible. If we play to the level we're capable of producing and make the correct decisions at the correct times in the game then we can definitely get a result."

Witnessing Scotland's attempt at what feels like Mission Impossible will be two of Pressley's club colleagues, Julien Brellier and Ibrahim Tall. Hearts' two Frenchmen will seat themselves with their compatriots at Hampden fully expecting to see their nation triumph, and, like Scotland's journey to Lithuania last month, it seems there are some bragging rights up for grabs.

"Julien has been talking to me about the French for some time," smiles Pressley. "He's been reminding me that beating all these other nations is okay but that the real test is still to come. I know he's attending the game with Ibby, and again it will be great for bragging rights in the Hearts dressing-room if we can get the right result.

"I'm sure they'll enjoy the occasion but I don't blame them for sitting with the French. I'd do the same if I was playing over in France and Scotland were visiting."

With Italy lagging behind Group B's pace-setters, victory for either side at Hampden will leave them as clear leaders in the section - something no-one in Scotland could have thought possible after three matches when the qualifying draw was made last year.

A central reason for improvement has been the influence of national coach Walter Smith, a man who has wisely cultivated a club-style environment amongst a group of players who meet up on average around six times a year. Yet despite camaraderie seldom being better within the Scotland camp, Pressley can still pinpoint an area that could be refined.

"Some of our better performances under Walter have come away from home. We've had great successes on our travels but something I think we still need to rectify is our Hampden form. France is the kind of game that might suit us against a top nation where the onus is not so much on us to go and take the game to them. It's still very early in the group. If we were to take anything on Saturday it would be a fantastic achievement.

"We have had a brilliant start to this section but even if we beat the French there is still a long journey ahead before we can even get close to talking about progressing to the finals themselves."

No sooner will Pressley be taking his boots off after combat with Henry than he will be lacing them up again to face Andriy Shevchenko in Ukraine next week - a day when the Hearts captain turns 33. "They just keep coming, don't they?" he said. "But that's why you play international football, to pit your wits against the world's finest. I enjoy a challenge and over the next week or so there are no bigger challenges than Henry and Shevchenko."

Taken from the Scotsman