In celebration of Thierry Henry’s signing to Red Bull New York for the forthcoming MLS season, we look at six memorable moments and fascinating facts about France’s legendary international soccer star.
Scout’s honour
The Henry story as we know it began in 1990 when the 13-year-old Thierry was watched by AS Monaco scout Arnold Catalano. Seeing Thierry bang in every goal for his Paris-based amateur club ES Viry-Châtillon in a 6–0 thrashing, Catalano asked Henry to sign for Monaco without even the formality of a trial at the club, and also persuaded the management of the famed Clairefontaine elite academy near Paris to take on the teenager, despite his less-than-glowing school report. By 1994, he was ready to make his full Monaco debut, beginning a relationship with then-coach Arsène Wenger. Thierry went on to score 20 goals in 105 appearances, during which period the club won the French league title and made the 1998 Champions League semis, with Henry scoring seven goals along the way.
International recognition
While still at Monaco, Henry won his first senior international cap for Aimé Jacquet’s French side, late in 1997, just as France were beginning to build a head of steam in international soccer. Though he was only an unused substitute in the 1998 World Cup final won by his team, Henry did score three goals in the tournament and was rewarded with the award of Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur (Knight of the Legion of Honour), France’s highest decoration. The knight put on his shining armour and went into Euro 2000 at a charge as well, scoring another three goals and being voted Man of the Match as France beat Italy in the final.
Thierry has a Fab time
After a short unhappy period at Juventus in 1999 after leaving Monaco, Thierry was reunited with his old boss Wenger, this time at Premier League club Arsenal. Though it took Henry a while to settle back into the role as a striker, not as a left-winger, the move of position proved to be another Wenger masterstroke, and Henry finished his first season on 26 goals. Between 1999 and 2007, when he moved on to Barcelona, Henry scored a club record 174 goals in 254 Gunners games. He particularly enjoyed playing against Arsenal’s then-arch rivals Manchester United, especially terrorising his fellow French international Fabien Barthez. Perhaps his best goal against United was the one below in 2000, but he also scored two in a memorable Champions League win in 2001, which you can view here. For some reason, Barthez appeared to turn to the crowd and attempt to rip off his shorts and pants after Thierry’s second goal. Well, he was a bit mad.
Milestone in the Faroes
Most big-name teams breathe a sigh of relief when they are drawn in qualifying groups with the Faroe Islands (a small European country halfway between Scotland and Iceland, population 48,000). It was almost 10 years to the day that Thierry scored his 41st goal for France at the Torsvollor Stadium in front of 8,000 fans in a 6–0 dismantling of the minnows on October 13, 2007, equalling the great Michel Platini’s total, which Henry then exceeded in Nantes against Lithuania four days later with two more goals. Henry has now scored a record 51 goals for his country.
The ‘Hand of Frog’
Perhaps Thierry’s most controversial moment came in November 2009 in a play-off for World Cup 2010 against the Republic of Ireland. Henry instinctively handled the ball to keep it in play in the penalty box, which was missed by the officials, shortly after which William Gallas scored the winning goal to deny the Irish and see France through to the tournament. The condemnation was widespread, the incident quickly dubbed as the ‘Hand of Frog’ (in reference to the French nation’s nickname derived from their supposed love of eating frogs’ legs, plus Maradona’s 1986 ‘Hand of God’ goal versus England), and prompting Henry to consider international retirement. More bizarre events included the vandalism of Thierry’s Wikipedia page, where he was referred to throughout using an extremely rude word beginning with ‘c’. There were even reports that some Irish cleaners had vandalised their own vacuum cleaners because they were called ‘Henry’. Ireland tried to get FIFA to let them into the World Cup as the 33rd team, conveniently forgetting that they’d have had to beat the French on penalties anyway to get there by right in the first place…
Reena Mahtani
Born under a bad sign
Despite being regarded as one of the best players on the planet, Thierry didn’t always enjoy the full endorsement of the now-outgoing France coach Raymond Domenech. The former France under-21s coach, drafted in as senior coach to the surprise of most commentators en France after the team’s poor showings in the 2002 World Cup and Euro 2004, famously trusts astrological readings from the Zodiac rather than form on the pitch. Robert Pirès, Henry’s onetime Arsenal colleague, was left out at the peak of his powers largely because Domenech “didn’t trust Scorpios”, of which Pirès was one. He was also “wary of having too many Leos” in his teams, which included Henry and Gallas, though this hasn’t stopped Thierry winning 123 international caps, second only to Lilian Thuram’s 142 for his country.
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