Following the Red Bulls' equalizing goal on the stroke of halftime at Pizza Put Park on Thursday night, forward Thierry Henry made an effort to kick the dead ball back into the net, a regular goal celebration for the former Arsenal and Barcelona striker.
Henry, who made a similar emphatic kick following Dane Richards’ goal this past Saturday in a 3-1 win over Colorado, got some of the ball when he went for the celebratory kick, but also got plenty of FC Dallas goalkeeper Kevin Hartman's right foot.
Hartman, who wasn’t braced for impact, went down in a heap and suffered an injury to his MCL. He was replaced after halftime by Dario Sala.
“The ball was there and like I do sometimes, I just wanted to kick the ball back in the net. He put his foot out there and that’s how he got injured,” Henry said after the match. “That was unfortunate.”
Walking into the locker room after the first half whistle blew, Henry made several attempts to soothe Hartman, who appeared irritated at the Red Bulls striker.
After some dialogue, the two players did a fist-bump as Hartman walked off the field. In the second half, Hartman sat on the FC Dallas bench, icing his knee.
“I went to apologize at halftime because I didn’t mean to hurt him,” Henry said. “He put his foot out there and I just wanted to smash the ball back in the net – a pure accident. I told him I was sorry. He accepted it. It was one of those stupid things.”
Hartman said he didn’t want to read into Henry’s actions or fault the player, and chose his words cautiously so as to not “start anything in the media about it.”
“I'm not real sure exactly how it happened,” explained Hartman. “We'd given up the goal, obviously, and it was just one of those things where you want to get the ball back to midfield.
“Henry went to hit the ball and I tried to intercede and, unfortunately, I hurt myself or got hurt.”
Next up for the Red Bulls is a matchup with Landon Donovan and the rest of the League leading Galaxy on Friday night at the Home Depot Center at 11pm ET on ESPN 2.
