It’s the question that’s loomed large since the New York Red Bulls and New England Revoution booked their places in the Eastern Conference Championship series two weeks ago: would Thierry Henry, 37 years old and a rare participant on artificial turf during his illustrious five-year MLS career, feature for the Red Bulls in the second leg at Gillette Stadium.
Following Sunday’s first-leg defeat at Red Bull Arena — and perhaps even more importantly, Bradley Wright-Phillips’ second-leg suspension for yellow card accumulation — we have our answer.Question answered. Thierry Henry says about second leg on turf, “I’m playing. You happy?” #RBNY
— Franco Panizo (@FrancoPanizo) November 23, 2014
That Henry will play next Saturday (Watch live on NBCSN and online via Live Extra, 3 pm ET) in what could his team’s — not to mention his career’s — final game is hardly a surprise. That Henry and Red Bulls head coach Mike Petke left the question unanswered for the last two weeks was nothing more than simple gamesmanship.
In his MLS career, Henry has played twice on the artificial surface at Providence Park in Portland — regarded by many the “best” synthetic surface in MLS; zero of two times at Seattle’s CenturyLink Field; zero of three times at Vancouver’s BC Place; and zero of five times at Gillette Stadium.