Thierry Henry stepped onto the fables pitch of the Red Bulls Soccer stadium in Harrison, New Jersey for an international friendly against Tottenham Hotspurs (make sure to pronounce the English side with an English accent at all times). Henry has already faced plenty of criticism over the last couple of months. First with the French national team for their first round exit at the World Cup. This story does not seem to go away. But the French side was aging and frankly they were not that strong besides some key players like Ribery, Henry and Evra. I am not going to mind everyone about an earlier blog post that I wrote questioning how Evra could possibly think that they are the strongest squad, only because Evra plays for Man U, my favorite team.
Henry delivered in his first match. He scored a quality goal in the first thirty minutes of the game where he showed even with age he understands the game. He made a brilliant little run that left a defender in his wake and the keeper out of place and then had a nice little touch to put a cross into the side window. This is a veteran footballer demonstrating the importance of experience. Younger players may make more runs and be quicker than Henry but he will score in MLS, not only because he has to, but because he is a smart player on the pitch, with a great touch.
Henry also had other chances he should have made count. For example in the 12th minute he once again positioned himself in an ideal location to receive the ball on the 18 with just the goalie separating him from a goal and made a poor finishing attempt. His positioning was top notch, but it is imperative that the Red Bulls learn to play his style of soccer and move to where he expects them to be.
American soccer mentality is based on grinding and working hard at all times. Unfortunately, the purveyors of this school of thought are mostly playing in leagues besides the MLS. The Red Bulls must improve their conditioning and always be available for square balls and drops when Henry gets the ball at the top of their formation. Kandji's quick pace as the potential other forward on the Red Bulls will assist Henry but the players lack the mental toughness and tenacity of other international footballers. Let's hope Henry can show some leadership and explain the intellectual side of soccer to this squad.
I have been reading a lot about the business of soccer in recent months and realize that it is a terrible business. The MLS was a decent business model because it refused to follow the model set by other leagues of buying players high, giving them huge salaries and always operating at or near a loss. The English Premier League has turned into a toy for the super rich, where billionaires are willing to lose money on their team as long as they generate titles. No need to look past Manchester City for this business plan. The MLS was smart and capped salaries and transfer fees and has general restraint on the economics behind the league. But over the last couple of years, that restraint has gone out the door as aging players have come to the MLS to receive nice contracts after they have been unable to perform in better European leagues. Beckham is the main culprit of this thinking. Did Beckham bring more fans to MLS? Probably, but did he create an economy for soccer in America? Definitely, no. The MLS needs to be careful to not continue to buy older players with names and let them retire here. The MLS should not be a senior league for the European leagues but should attempt to compete with them. We are a nation of 300M, which is much bigger than any of the other countries with top soccer leagues. We produce strong athletes in every sport, but why not soccer? The question of how to make MLS a better quality league and how to make American soccer better has occupied my mind for some time. Over the next couple of weeks I will propose a number of solutions. MLS executives take notice. We want a better league, here and now.
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