Anthem gaffe 'helped Croatia'

The British singer who sang the Croatian anthem before last night's match accidentally sang 'My penis is a mountain'.

Tony Henry was trying to sing the national anthem in Croatian, but reportedly got the words wrong.

Fans say the mispronounciation helped the players relax before the game at Wembley where Croatia beat England 3-2.

The national anthem is written in old style Croatian, and there can be slightly different interpretations in English because it is a very lyrical language.

The line in which Henry slipped up should have been "mila kuda si planina" (You know my dear how we love your mountains).

But what he actually sang was "mila kura si planina" which means "Dear Penis, you are a Mountain" or "My Dear, my penis is a mountain".

Croat players like Manchester City's Vedran Corluka and Arsenal target Luka Modric started looking at each other and grinning when they realised what he was singing.

Croat fan websites have been calling for Henry to be given a medal of honour for helping the players relax, they also want him made an official team mascot for the tournament.

Mate Prlic, publisher of the top Croatian footballing Torcida Magazine said: "It would be great if Tony Henry could join the Croatian team and fans at the European Championship in Austria and Switzerland.

"He obviously relaxed the Croatian players before the match at Wembley and if that's a winning combination why not invite him to join the team at Euro 2008 to keep the winning streak going."