Henry dedicates strike to Foe as French commiserate

"Everyone in the world of football is shocked. The first goal was for him." --Thierry Henry, French soccer player

France striker Thierry Henry dedicated the goal he scored in the 3-2 victory over Turkey to Cameroon midfielder Marc-Vivien Foe who died during the first semi-final of the Confederations Cup on Thursday.

Henry opened the scoring by slotting home a cross from playmaker Robert Pires to put the defending champions ahead in the 11th minute.

After he netted the ball, Henry shrugged off his team mates' congratulations and pointed to the sky, a highly symbolic gesture which triggered tears in the eyes of coach Jacques Santini.

"Everyone in the world of football is shocked," Henry said. "The first goal was for him."

The Paris match was preceded by a minute's silence for Foe, whose image was beamed onto the stadium's giant screens.

"If something like this happened to us, I would not play in the final and I would understand if Cameroon refused to play," French captain Marcel Desailly said.

"It was a very emotional moment," midfielder Olivier Dacourt said. "It was very tough to get focused on the game and on what we were doing."

"Foe was an outstanding character. He was like a big brother to us," said France goalkeeper Gregory Coupet who looked particularly affected. "Our thoughts go to his family.

"Now life must go on. We had to play this match and pay our respects to him as he was as solid as a rock," the Olympique Lyon player added.

Coach Jacques Santini, a former Olympique Lyon coach, looked devastated by the news and said he considered changing his starting line-up at the last minute.

"What happened between the warm-up session and the return to the changing rooms can't be expressed. The players did not have their minds set on the match," he said.

"They looked like they didn't know that they had a semi-final to play. We asked [his former team mates] Sidney [Govou] and Greg [Coupet] if they wanted to be replaced in the starting line-up. Eventually they decided to play."

When the French national anthem was played in the Stade de France, Les Bleus bowed their head, looking at their feet and trying to hide their tears.

"Even the victory can't lift our mood," Santini said. There is nothing to say. It's really hard for those who knew him. We are going to miss him.."