French soccer captain Patrick Vieira wants to pursue his
international career until at least the 2010 World Cup in South
Africa and he believes the future remains bright for France's young
national side.
"Of course I will be there in 2010," said the 31-year-old
midfielder.
"I will play as long as I can. There will be a time when I have
to stop but I am not planning on that. I am too young and have too
much desire."
He said prospects for the French team remained bright even after
the retirement of three-time FIFA World Player of the year Zinedine
Zidane exactly a year ago on Monday after the World Cup final
defeat to Italy in Berlin.
"It's a young team but one that already has a lot of experience
and I believe it has a really good future," he said.
"It's not easy to lose a player like Zidane ... but we still
have some dynamic forwards so I'm confident it'll be okay."
Asked whether the side could better the impressive results of
the Zidane era, Vieira said: "We will just keep working hard and be
ambitious. We want to be at the top and to win trophies, that is
what it is all about."
Plagued by thigh and knee problems since February, the World and
European Championship winner said he believed that he would be back
on form this season for Italian champions Inter Milan.
"Things are going really well. I've had treatment on the injury
and I will be joining the club for pre-season training on July 15,"
he said.
Vieira said his former club Arsenal, which he left in 2005 for a
year with Juventus before a subsequent move to Inter, would bounce
back from the departure of their talismanic striker Thierry Henry,
who joined Barcelona in an estimated 24-million-euro ($32.71
million) deal last month.
"Thierry Henry is a huge player and it is a big blow for the
club to lose him, certainly. But this has happened before at
Arsenal, losing big players through the years, and they always come
back," said Vieira
Just a week after Henry's departure, Arsenal signed Dinamo
Zagreb's 24-year-old Croatian international striker, the
Brazilian-born Eduardo Da Silva on a four-year contract.
"Arsene would not have let Henry go if he didn't think he had
someone who could replace him," Vieira said, adding that existing
Arsenal strikers Emmanuel Adebayor of Togo and Robin Van Persie of
Holland were also accomplished internationals.
Arsenal are set to make another foray into the tranfer market,
after agreeing a deal - yet to be completed - to bring French right
back Bruno Sagna to the club. Sagna, 24, will move from Auxerre for
a fee of 7.5 million pounds ($15 million).
(China Daily via Agencies July 11, 2007)