Thierry Henry played his first full match in months, and while he missed a few golden chances, the French star still showed plenty of the skill expected of one of the world's most famous soccer players.
Henry assisted on a pair of Juan Pablo Angel goals, but Houston's Brian Mullan spoiled the debut with a 90th-minute equalizer to help a 10-man Houston Dynamo earn a 2-2 draw at Roberton Stadium on Saturday night.
The Red Bulls looked on their way to a win in Henry's MLS debut when Dynamo midfielder Lovel Palmer was issued a red card just before halftime, and after Brad Davis missed a penalty kick attempt, but Angel's second goal of the night was cancelled out when Mullan converted a header in the 90th minute.
Here are the highlights:
What did you think of Henry's MLS debut? Impressed with Houston's comeback? Still think New York's defense is too shaky to be a title contender?
Share your thoughts below.
Wow. What a crap atmosphere.
Dear NYRB,
We sympathize with the HOU/PK thing.
Signed RSL
The imbalance pales in comparison to leagues like MLB. Adding one or two salary cap exempt players to an 11 man sport is nothing compared to teams in other sports having 10 times the payrolls of others
HORRIBLE game by the Red Bulls. How is it that they were a man up at the end of the game and were giving away possession repeatedly??? All they had to do was to keep possession of the ball and run out the clock. But half of the time, they would just be kicking the ball halfway down the pitch directly to the keeper or beyond the touch line to give the ball back to Houston. Absolutely pathetic. As a Red Bulls fan, it really pissed me off. HORRIBLE. A complete waste of 2 points.
Frankly, Hans Backe is a terrible coach. Not only was possession of the ball all that was needed to win the game and get the 3 points, but it was beyond obvious that Henry was spent by about the 75th minute, and needed to be subbed out. Yet Backe could not seem to do it until the last minute – when the goal was scored.
Frankly, if they are going to waste points as flagrantly as yesterday, I’d prefer they not spend the money on Henry and Marquez.
I am going to blame it on the Jabulani ball.
He has played with Nike balls which are much much heavier than the Jabulani.
If you have not played with one, it is a freakish ball and does strange things.
Once you learn how to play it, it is a deadly ball.
I have always resented the other major leagues stacking the deck in favor of the NY/LA/CHI teams. It’s dispiriting to see MLS do this as well. The only league that has resisted the temptation of loading up the mega city teams is the NFL. Isn’t it logical that the NFL is the most popular sports league by far? How can the other leagues not see this?
I saw the game as not the glorious debut of a new striker but the beginning of the end of the parity in MLS as deep pocketed, large market teams outspend the smaller franchises. The days of Columbus/KC/RSL winning MLS Cups is fading quickly.
The sad thing is Backe had 2 subs waiting to come in when Mullen scored
I was at the game and it looked like Henry and Angel slowed down despite having the man advantage. I don’t understan why Mac Kandji was playing as a far withdrawn forward on the right wing while Angel and Henry played centrally. That seems pretty counter-intuitive for a player in Kandji who stands at 6’4″.
I was actually most impressed with Dane Richards’ (Really, Dane Freakin Richards?!) run on the second Angel goal. He mad that goal happen. Dane is the most frustrating guy in MLS for me to watch cuz he is either on fire or not on at all. If he could play consistently at that level he’d be amazing. His criss-cross run coming to the 18 yd box with Angel totally jacked up the defenders and gave Angel all the space he needed to finish.
That late goal was Backe’s fault plain and simple. He should have used his other two subs around the 85th minute to slow down the dynamo. Instead he let them attack relentlessly while Angel and Henry were running out of gas.
Can i add Bergkamp to the list?
Eto is a head of Villa IMO .
Henry and Angel looked great. MLS has gotten so much more fun to watch with all these new DPs.
Also, don’t forget that both teams were playing in 96-degree weather, which explains some of the brain farts.
For me new York became much more deadly when Henry dropped back to a withdrawn forward or attacking mid in the second half because new York wasn’t able to move the ball in the middle of the field at all but when he did this he was no longer getting looks at goal hself like in the first half. So not really sure rafa Marquez is what they needed. They need a David ferrera or quality attack mid in the middle. Tchani was actually a good ball winner but can’t distribute causing lots of issues for their d so I see how rafa will improve this part of their game though. They should try and trade condji or Dane richards for a real left midfielder. Their coach was questionable to for waiting too long to sub last night. If I coached them I would make sure my mods when receiving the ball would allow their first touch to be more to the center of thefield so they can see all options when working the wings. Too often they didn’t leaving them only with the option to pass it back to where it came from almost killing a couple of their players with hospital balls
What was with the NY defense kicking the ball upfield like US national team style, dont they know they can pass the ball up the field and let Angel and Henry do their thing. Idiotic playing at times by the Red Bulls, they should have won easily. Tchani has a brick for a foot, sure he wins a lot of balls but OMG his passes or bricks remind me of Clark. Marquez should be a huge upgrade.
?
I was bothered a bit by the lack of good first touches in this game. I’ve seen better games from both teams.
+1
Marquez is also adept at karate kicking opposing keepers on set pieces so they’ll have that going for them as well.
So he missed a couple of chances in his first league game when admittedly not at full fitness. Every striker misses a few so there’s no cause for alarm. The pairing of Henry and JPA looked deadly as they both clearly understand the timing and movement required of great strikers and with some more games under their belt, they will be fantastic to watch. With Marquez coming along shortly, we should be able to shore up our defense and really be dangerous. Great times lie ahead!
another fun MLS game to watch. Angel may go off the rest of this season; see how much space he saw last night, like on his second goal?
still, how does 10 man Houston salvage a point so late? that’s pretty impressive on their part, but for NY, yuck
Angel and Henry going forward were a sight to behold, the only problem was that Houston going forward was equally threatening, even with 10 men. Angel and Henry looked winded at the end and should have been subbed out earlier. Hopefully Marquez will slow down opponents’ attacks and help keep the ball moving.
OMFGWTF EVERY1 PANIK!!!@!#!!
6 of the best strikers of the past 15years.
Ronaldo, Henry, Van Nistlerooy, Raul, Klose, Villa,
So we go a man up right before half time, leave Henry (one of the greatest finishers of this generation) on to do his thing, and….he misses a few sitters.
Time to hit the panic button.