Thierry Henry aiming to 'make history' with Belgium national team

Posted Monday, August 29, 2016 by ESPN

Thierry Henry believes Belgium can "make history" if they fulfil their potential and is eager to work on their mentality after being announced as Roberto Martinez's assistant.

The former Arsenal striker will be working with the likes of Eden Hazard, Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku when he meets up with the Red Devils ahead of the friendly against Spain and the World Cup qualifier away to Cyprus.

"It is an exciting challenge, but one of the things we are going to have to work on is the team's mentality to make sure they can become a great team," Henry told Sky Sports.

"I am the second assistant, Roberto is the main guy and I will help with the structure and help him make sure that the team goes really far. I think this team can make history, it is just a matter of believing in themselves."

Belgium will take on Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece, Estonia, Estonia and Cyprus in qualification for the 2018 World Cup finals in Russia, and Henry is under no illusions about the size of the task ahead.

"We [Roberto and I] are meeting [on Sunday evening] straight after my duties here to see how far we can go in that first game," he said. "I myself as a player have been in this type of situation. The first game in Cyprus away from home -- I know everyone thinks this will be an easy game, but it is an extremely difficult place to start.

"The conditions, the field, it is going to be hot, so it will not be an easy one.

"Greece did not start well in the last qualification, so I am sure they are going to want to erase that, Bosnia, nothing is easy nowadays. We saw what Iceland did at the Euros, so starting away from home against Cyprus will be very difficult."

Thierry Henry won two Premier Leagues and three FA Cups as an Arsenal player.

As a player Henry won Ligue 1, the Premier League, La Liga, the Champions League, the World Cup and the European Championship and he hopes he harness those experiences to teach a talented generation of Belgian footballers to believe in themselves and learn to win.

He said: "It is frightening [their talent]. I myself grew up as a player in a generation where we had to believe we could do it. We missed the 1990 and 1994 World Cups and we were known in France as a team that had good players, but when it came to winning, they never come around.

"So you need to understand you can do it. Believing in yourself is very important. We all know how hard it is to make a team a team, but that is the aim.

"Back in the day, Manchester City probably never thought they could never win the Premier League and now they are believing about winning the Champions League, so it is all about believing in yourself.

"You need belief, quality, a plan, guidance, philosophy, an identity, but you also need amazing players. And they have to understand what is at stake and make sure they are going to be part of history.

"At the end of the day, it is always about now. You never know if you are going to be part of the team, if you are going to be back, if you are going to qualify for sure, what is going to happen.

"So when you have an opportunity to grab, you have to make sure you try to do it and make sure you are there. Now you have great teams all over the world, not only the Belgium team, but you have to focus and concentrate on what you can do and try to do your best."