Thierry Henry goes to the MLS
Major Soccer League or MLS as it known in America has really started to take off in recent years. Firstly with the introduction of David Beckham to the league who provided an instant boost to the popularity of the sport in the country, and to the recent introduction of Thierry Henry, the league is making major inroads to the hearts of the American people. It is still to be seen whether football becomes as popular in America as basketball or baseball but with the current crop of new players and the impact that the US team had in the 2010 World Cup it looks like it has found a place in the country.
The idea for MLS was officially cemented in 1994 after the USA hosted that year’s World Cup. The popularity of the sport was noticed and the idea of starting a professional soccer league was brought up. The league was officially started in 1995 with ten teams representing ten different cities in America. Many teams started to make bids for places and eventually the league started to become popular with fans in the country. A World Cup championship for the league commenced and has become the pinnacle of the league. What is interesting to note is that as the league has progressively gotten more and more popular with fans all over America and even internationally now, teams have started to flex their financial muscles and are buying talented players from other more established clubs from Europe and South America.
The most recent arrival to the States is Thierry Henry. After Beckham’s stint which did not really see him pull off any miracles for his club. It now rests on Henry’s shoulders to make magic happen at the MLS. Henry’s decision to join the MLS team the New York Red Bulls had a lot of people confused. Here was one of the world’s top players and he had a lot of interest from a lot of different international clubs around the world and he chose to go to the MLS a few years before he retires. The great footballer’s career follows a very impressive line-up of clubs; Monaco, Juventus, Arsenal, Barcelona and then the New York Red Bulls. It is not immediately clear why he would choose a relatively new club after coming from such an impressive line of former teams, but maybe they offered him a great retirement package. He thought that he could earn a great deal of money before he leaves the game for good and he also might be able to help popularise the game in America even more than it is at the moment.
The reason to move to New York could have something to do with how he was getting on at Barcelona. He had a year left on his contract but the club agreed to let him go and he had not been performing very well during his last season with them. He had also just had a very poor World Cup showing with this country France and maybe he was just looking for a fresh start. There are other reasons that may have prompted his move. America is the brand capital of the world and more marketing dollars are spent there than in any other country in the world. Being a savvy commercial footballer, Henry knows that his brand can lead to big things in America and he is looking to capitalise on it. Some have even said that he might be worth more in marketing terms than even the icon of various brands; David Beckham.
It seems that the New York Red Bulls also have a purpose for bringing the talented striker to their team. They will be looking to fill a few thousand more seats in their stadium every game and they will hope that the brand power and recognisability of Henry will be able to do that for them. The fans themselves will be looking to catch a glimpse of one of their favourite players scoring some goals this season.
We will have to wait and see if Henry can deliver on scoring goals because that is the sole purpose of him being brought to play at New York. His performance of late has not been great but let’s see if he can make a fresh start and turn things around for himself and find his goal scoring prowess again.
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