It’s Red Bulls not Les Bleus for Henry
FRANCE striker Thierry Henry has called time on his international career after being unveiled as a New York Red Bulls player.
And the striker, 32, promised to be a better servant to Major League Soccer than David Beckham by staying “fully committed” to his club.
Henry, who won 123 caps and scored 51 goals, said he decided to retire from the national team before the World Cup, in which Les Bleus suffered a humiliating first-round exit.
“I couldn’t announce it before because that’s the not type of thing you announce before a World Cup,” said the former Arsenal captain, who made his final France appearance in a 2-1 defeat to the tournament hosts.
“That was my last game against South Africa. Ironically, my first game for the national team was also against South Africa.”
Henry, who is thought to have signed a four-and-a-half-year contract with the Red Bulls after being granted a free transfer by Barcelona, is the first global superstar to arrive in the MLS since Beckham in 2007.
But while the former England skipper has compromised his Californian commitments by keeping his international career alive, and attracted much criticism in the process, Henry has vowed to be more dedicated.
“I always want to be here [in New York] 100 per cent and am fully committed to this cause and the organisation,” added the Gunners’ all-time top scorer.
One of Henry’s last acts in a France shirt was his most infamous – the handball in November’s play-off that helped deny the Republic of Ireland a place at the World Cup – and he conceded he had not heard the last of it.
“I think they [Irish fans] will still have something, yeah, but that’s the game,” he said. “It was kind of weird, but that’s the way the game is. I already talked a lot about what happened that day, and I made it clear it wasn’t intentional.”