MLSsoccer.com polled 22 of our editors, writers, videographers, statistics specialists and social media masters to bring you the Stories of the Year, our annual look at the biggest storylines from the outgoing year in Major League Soccer. Contributing editor Charles Boehm highlights the magic and grace of Thierry Henry.
Thierry Henry announced his retirement on Tuesday, a confirmation that saddened but did not surprise, much like the revelation he'd made two weeks beforehand about the close of his four-and-a-half-year stint with the New York Red Bulls.
It's cold comfort to fans of both Henry and the Red Bulls to point out that the great master from Les Ulis played his last game in Red Bulls colors, but it's a small satisfaction worth taking. Even as he entered the final stage of his well-traveled 20-year career, he lit up MLS with every bit of the style and panache he'd flashed in Spain, England, Italy, France and points across the globe as a star member of the French national team.
And in 2014 he graced us with his greatest year on these shores.
You can measure it in both team and individual metrics as well as the simpler, more primal thrills he delivered nearly every week: The vision, class and intensity, meshed with quickness of both foot and mind, that made him – even at age 37 – the league's most feared attacking weapon.
His legs could still outpace many an MLS defender and his finishing skills remained razor-sharp. But this seasoned Henry incarnation was every bit as dangerous, perhaps even more so, as a provider, serving up 14 assists – many of them eye-popping – alongside his 10 goals, leading his teammates toward goal both literally and spiritually.
“To have a conversation with Thierry about soccer is like talking to Albert Einstein about physics,” New York head coach Mike Petke told reporters in October. “It’s truly amazing, to be honest with you.
“I think for a long time after this, the effect of Thierry Henry is going to be felt. It’s not necessarily a great thing, because to replace someone like him ….[is] pretty damn near impossible.”
And to the lasting gratitude of the RBNY faithful, he saved some of his greatest moments for the clutch environs of the postseason.
Yes, the Red Bulls secured the Supporters' Shield last year, the first major piece of hardware in club history, while 2014 was a barren haul by comparison. But their postseason travails continued in 2013 with an ignominious upset loss to fourth-seeded Houston at the first hurdle, extending New York's odd postseason winless streak at their Red Bull Arena home.
This year Henry led RBNY through an early-season swoon (they stumbled out to a 3-5-5 record leading up to Memorial Day) and helped Petke engineer the formation change that keyed a late surge and powered them into the MLS Cup playoffs. There they broke their RBA hoodoo twice over: first knocking off defending champs Sporting Kansas City, then upsetting their hated Atlantic Cup rivals D.C. United in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
Speaking of hoodoos, ask any grizzled “Metro” fan how sweet it was to finally cast aside the one that surely ranked among their most painful: the long-running inability to get past D.C. in the postseason. This November, the Red Bulls defeated United for the first time in five playoff meetings, defeating the East's top side 3-2 on aggregate with all three RBNY strikes set up with devastating precision by Henry.
The Conference Championship proved a bridge too far, though, with a red-hot New England Revolution slipping past New York by their skin of their teeth over two of the most riveting games played on any MLS field in this or any other year. But Henry could walk offstage with his head held high, having created five of his team's eight postseason goals as he gave everything he had for the cause.
And there's another aspect of his legacy, another nasty tradition he obliterated for a star-crossed club grown accustomed to high-priced disappointments like Lothar Matthäus, Sergio Galván Rey, Claudio Reyna, Frank Rost and Rafa Marquez.
This Designated Player never coasted, never took a paycheck for granted and never allowed his teammates to do so, either, haranguing and cajoling the best out of his younger colleagues.
As Petke said, he leaves his club with a near-impossible hole to fill, and he leaves all of us – fans, journalists, even adversaries – wanting just one more glimpse of that TH14 magic.
