We’re revisiting some of the top moments of the Red Bulls’ 2012 season from now until the end of the year. In this piece, we’ll look back at Thierry Henry’s one-goal, three-assists outing against Toronto FC.
By now you’ve seen no shortage of Moments from 2012 featuring the likes of Thierry Henry. There was his first-career MLS hat trick on Mar. 31, his goal against New England that helped spark a five-game win streak, and his incredible goal from the corner flag that amounted to a 3-1 win over the Crew on Sept. 15.
In this installment, we’ll highlight another Henry goal, while also admiring a little bit of his set-up work as well.
Match Highlights: NY vs. TFC
By the time Sept. 29 rolled around on the schedule, Toronto FC’s hopes of making the playoffs had gone up in smoke. Although they didn’t have a postseason to play for, they were equipped with two things that can make any side a tough go late in the season: players with jobs on the line, and the thrill of spoiling another team’s playoff dreams. Thankfully, for the Red Bulls’ sake, Toronto was unable to do the latter of the two in the final regular season meeting between the two clubs.
Of course it didn’t look that way right out of the gate, when Toronto struck first in the sixth minute off a Ryan Johnson goal to give his club an early 1-0 lead.
Seven minutes later, Henry positioned himself at the corner flag and sent a line drive into the box that was met by Red Bulls Defender of the Year Markus Holgersson, who made easy work of a header past goalkeeper Freddy Hall to draw New York level.
In the 27th minute, Henry headed a soft ball to the feet of the speedy Lloyd Sam, who was quick to shift the momentum up field toward the Toronto goal. Sam fed a through ball to a rushing Henry, who drew two defenders and Hall out of the box as he rushed further into the Toronto zone. A sprinting Kenny Cooper caught Henry’s eye, and the captain dished a nifty pass off to his fellow forward that met the back of the net following a smooth finish.
It was Henry again working his magic in the 88th minute after he juggled a feed from Jan Gunnar Solli inside the box that drew four defenders and the attention of Toronto’s Hall. After settling the ball down quickly, Henry sent a pass with eyes through the defense to the waiting foot of Cooper, who picked up his second of the match to put New York up 3-1. But Henry had one more trick up his sleeve.
Already with three assists on all three New York goals, Henry capped of a wondrous night at Red Bull Arena when he sent a long-distance chip over the head of Hall and into the netting in the 93rd minute to seal the 4-1 victory. Even a real-time replay captures the deadly accuracy of his shot, as it seems the ball sails in slo-motion up and over a defenseless Hall.
Prior to the win over Toronto, Henry had never before registered three assists in a single MLS match.
