HARRISON, N.J. – Fired up and on fire: That was Thierry Henry on Saturday as he led the New York Red Bulls to a commanding 4-1 victory over the Columbus Crew.
Henry put on a show against a Columbus side that finished with 10 men at Red Bull Arena, scoring a goal and delivering a hat trick of assists in a win that extended the club’s unbeaten streak to five.
The masterful performance runs Henry to a career total of 37 assists in a Red Bulls uniform, pushing him into first place in all-time club history.
The win in front of 17,028 fans created some separation between the two Eastern Conference teams, who entered the game with identical 4-5-8 records. The Crew are now winless in their last seven and have not won a league match since May 24.
Henry set up the entertaining game’s opener in the 17th minute, receiving a defense-splitting through ball from Eric Alexander before hitting a square a pass to MLS Golden Boot leader Bradley Wright-Phillips for a simple finish.
The Red Bulls captain then scored on a shot that looked effortless but was tougher than it appeared just before halftime,
canceling out substitute forward Adam Bedell’s equalizer and snapping a scoreless streak that dated back to April 23.
Try as they might, Columbus had no answer for the masterful Henry. He set up Lloyd Sam’s second goal of the season in the 56th minute and fed Eric Alexander in the game's dying moments.
Adding insult to injury for the Crew was the fact that they lost forward Jairo Arrieta to injury in the first half and Bernardo Anor to a late ejection for kicking the ball at a fallen Chris Duvall, drawing his second yellow card.
Both teams continue their respective three-games-in-eight-days stretches with matches on Wednesday. The Red Bulls will head south to take on the Philadelphia Union, while the Crew host Sporting Kansas City.
BOX SCORE
New York Red Bulls 4, Columbus Crew 1
July 12, 2014
MLS Regular Season
Red Bull Arena, Harrison, NJ
Scoring Summary:
- NY: Bradley Wright-Phillips 15 (Thierry Henry 7, Eric Alexander 6) 17’
- CLB: Adam Bedell 1 (Ethan Finlay 2) 39’
- NY: Thierry Henry 4 (unassisted) 45’
- NY: Lloyd Sam 2 (Thierry Henry 8) 56’
- NY: Eric Alexander 2 (Thierry Henry 9) 91+’
Disciplinary Summary:
- CLB: Bernardo Anor (caution) 43’
- NY: Luis Robles (caution) 73’
- CLB: Tony Tchani (caution) 84’
- CLB: Bernardo Anor (second caution, ejection) 85’
- NY: Lloyd Sam (caution) 89’
New York Red Bulls (5-5-8, 23 pts.):
Luis Robles, Chris Duvall, Jamison Olave, Matt Miazga, Ambroise Oyongo, Lloyd Sam, Tim Cahill, Eric Alexander, Bobby Convey (Dax McCarty 61’), Thierry Henry (Andre Akpan 92+’), Bradley Wright-Phillips (Ibrahim Sekagya 82’)
Substitutes not used:
Ryan Meara, Connor Lade, Kosuke Kimura, Peguy Luyindula
Columbus Crew (4-6-8, 20 pts.):
Steve Clark, Michael Parkhurst (Tyson Wahl 59’), Chad Barson, Eric Gehrig, Bernardo Anor, Ben Speas, Wil Trapp, Fedrico Higuain, Tony Tchani, Ethan Finlay (Aaron Schoenfeld 70’), Jairo Arrieta (Adam Bedell 25’)
Substitutes not used:
Matt Lampson, Dan Paladini, Justin Meram, Kevan George
Referee:
Ted Unkel
Referee’s Assistants:
Peter Manikowski, Bill Dittmar
4th Referee:
Daniel Fitzgerald
Attendance:
17,028
