New York Red Bulls star Thierry Henry returned from his one-match suspension in style, tearing apart Toronto FC's defense to help the Red Bulls snap their recent funk and give them a much-needed boost.
Henry notched three assists before capping his stellar night with a perfect long-range chip to lead the Red Bulls to a 4-1 thrashing of last-place TFC in front of an announced sell-out crowd at Red Bull Arena on Saturday night.
Henry set up a pair of Cooper goals before delivering a classy finish of his own on a long-range chip to snap New York's two-match winless skid.
The win pushes the Red Bulls into second place in the Eastern Conference. They are tied on points with the Chicago Fire, but hold the tiebreaker (goals scored). The Red Bulls and Fire do battle at Red Bull Arena next Saturday.
Toronto actually scored first, courtesy of Ryan Johnson, but the Canadian side didn't hold the lead for long before Henry set up a Markus Holgersson equalizer with a dangerous corner kick headed home by the Swedish centerback.
Henry played provider again in the 27th minute when he delivered a perfect pass to set up Kenny Cooper with a wide-open net to give New York a 2-1 lead. Henry set up Cooper with his second goal when, with three defenders closing in, he hit a perfect pass to a wide-open Cooper that he buried to make the score 3-1.
With the match already decided, Henry added a highlight-reel finish when he one-timed a long pass from Cooper over TFC goalkeeper Freddy Hall from 30 yards away.
Here are the match highlights:
What did you think of the match? Think Henry deserves MLS MVP consideration. See the Red Bulls beating the Fire next week? Is Toronto FC the worst MLS team you've ever seen?
Share your thoughts below.