Henry bicycles through Montreal, 2:1
May 8, 2013
Thierry Henry, Thierry Henry, Thierry Henry, Thierry Henry! Thierry Henry!
Tonight, Metro beat Montreal 2:1; Henry scored both goals. The first was a simple tap-in from close range on a play he started. The second... well, we'll get to the second.
With the bunch-up of games, Mike Petke elected to switch things up, replacing outside backs Roy Miller and Brandon Barklage with Heath Pearce and Kosuke Kimura. Fabian Espindola made way for Peguy Luyindula, but the Frenchman pulled up hurt early, so the Argentine resumed his customary position up front.
Other than a rare counter-attack by Montreal (Luis Robles came up huge to break up a potential breakaway), Metro owned the first half. Henry got behind the defense, but his shot from a difficult angle was parried by Troy Perkins. A Juninho free kick whistled just wide. Then, in injury time, Henry got the ball to Eric Alexander, who did well to create space for himself, then fired a rocket off the crossbar. The ball bounced back in play, where Espindola was smartly lurking on the endline. He got it back to Henry, now in the center of the box. The bearded Frenchman blasted it off a Montreal defender and into the net.
Metro had chances to extend the lead. Moments into the second, an Alexander header from close range was saved by Perkins. Later, Henry blew by a defender, served a cross to Steele, but the Irishman's shot was parried the Impact keeper.
The game looked to be over in the 88th minute. Off a Juninho free kick, S. Markus Holgersson kept the ball in play with a header. It hovered over Henry, as the spectacular superman flew into the air and bicycled it in, bringing down Red Bull Arena. It was amazing. It was brilliant. It was Henry.
Alas, Metro had to make it interesting in injury time. A lazy clearance by Robles was intercepted by Montreal, and Marco Di Vaio pulled one back. Moments later, the Montreal attacker hit both goalposts, but it wouldn't have counted anyway, as offside was ruled on the play.
So Metro gets its forth straight win, and Henry... well, what more can we say.
Thierry Henry!
Lineup: Robles, Pearce, Olave, Holgersson, Kimura, Steele, Alexander, Juninho, Cahill, Luyindula, Henry. Subs: Espindola, Miller, Akpan.
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