Thierry Henry leaves Barca for NY Red Bulls

Rob Williams

Rob Williams

Editor-in-Chief
Staff member
Moderator
It's been rumored for a while that Thierry Henry was going to move from Barcelona to some MLS team, but man, now that it's happened, it's just a shocker. Henry has won pretty much anything there has been to win, yet he's moving to MLS... for what reason? It's not as though he's going to be challenged there, unless you consider "challenge" to mean a "different kind of football". Ahem, "soccer".

All I can figure is that A) He wants to bring his prescence to the US, for whatever reason, or B) he just wants a change of scenery... something different. Hard to disagree with that line of thinking... he <em>has</em> played in both the Spanish and English leagues, and for a while at that.

Let's just hope he keeps his hand balls to a minimum over here on these shores.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/8820649.stm

http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/arsenal-legend-henry-joins-new-york-red-bulls

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=808676&sec=transfers&cc=5901

Oh, and "Red Bulls"? Yeah, I remember now why I can't take MLS seriously.
 
G

GFreeman

Coastermaker
I'm not surprised, he seems not to be able to get that old level back if you ask me. I've read that his divorce and his daughter he can only see once in a while had a big effect on his play on the field. I haven't seen him being his normal selve again. I hope we'll get to see him back in shape soon again.

Yes the reason he's moving to that club doesn't make much sense lol..
 
Greg King

Greg King

I just kinda show up...
Staff member
MLS has some solid sponsors so while the popularity is clearly lacking, the money seems to be there. If I was a professional athlete, in my waning years, I would certainly consider joining a team where I could play in a league I could dominate. New York is great sports city as well.

It kind of makes sense if you don't see American soccer as absurd. Most do.
 
Rob Williams

Rob Williams

Editor-in-Chief
Staff member
Moderator
Doomsday said:
Show me tha Moooney!!
Click to expand...

That's the weird thing... I haven't heard a single quote of what the team is paying him to join. I can't see it being quite as high as Beckham back in the day, but it wouldn't surprise me to see it upwards of &pound;25 million, or there-abouts.

Greg King said:
It kind of makes sense if you don't see American soccer as absurd.
Click to expand...

I'll admit two things. By default, I tend to hate American sports. You're the sole reason I ever got into the NFL, because I simply ended up looking past the things I hated about it. There's just something about American sports... the absurd amount of advertising, the 60 minutes of actual game time out of 180 minutes worth of air time, the lack of class by the commentators. For whatever reason, I am very European in the way I like my sports, I can't explain it.

I think the main reason people have a hard time taking football seriously in the US has a lot to do with the fact that for years and years, most American's hated the sport, and even mocked it. Even today that still exists, but it's really hard to take a league that seemingly came out of nowhere in the US seriously when it seems more like a bandwagon jumping than anything.

I am not saying it is, and I hate to be so blunt about it, but that's just how I feel. Despite that, I do hope it becomes more popular over on these shores, because the sport deserves the recognition. With Henry, who used to be one of my favorite footballers, in NYC, I might have to make it a point down there to watch him play one of these days. NYC isn't really that far from me all things considered. At least then, I'd be able to see the sport first-hand and gauge it better.
 
Rob Williams

Rob Williams

Editor-in-Chief
Staff member
Moderator
I heard that about Ronaldinho, but I'm not sure if there's much merit to it at this point. It could be just the media wanting to stir stuff up, as that's not exactly uncommon. Still, it's not out of this world to think that it could happen. I never thought I'd see Beckham or Henry on these shores either.

GFreeman said:
I saw a picture of him, he got a bit fat lol.
Click to expand...

Yeah, he does seem to have lost some of his touch over the years, but I really haven't seen him play since he was with Barca, so I'm not exactly the authority to judge. Even if he was to leave football today, he'd go down as a legend, though. Thinking back to some of his goals gives me chills.

Like this one:

<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/IYkdPxRwPVA&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1?color1=0xe1600f&amp;color2=0xfebd01"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/IYkdPxRwPVA&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1?color1=0xe1600f&amp;color2=0xfebd01" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
 
G

GFreeman

Coastermaker
I agree with you, he does still that that technical skill, but physically he is not as strong as he was. Who knows he might fight himself back when it comes to that. Yes for sure he will go down as a legend.. He made some breathtaking goals.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top