HARRISON, NJ- Former France international Thierry Henry debuted successfully for his new club, picking up a goal in a 2-1 loss to English side Tottenham Hotspur.  Although the New York Red Bulls lost the match, they (along with their new superstar signing) still looked good, and the loss could easily be accounted to bad luck and poor finishing.

New York possessed the ball well against their star-studded opposition, and looked good in passing and the creation of chances.  Henry's goal came off an excellent play by Joel Lindpere in the first half, who decked his defender from a wide position and sent a hard ball across the face of goal to Henry, who finished expertly. Spurs replied in the second half with goals from Robbie Keane and Gareth Bale.  Keane's goal was a back door finish on a deflected corner kick, while it took an accident from New York's backline to give Bale a goal.  The speedy left winger was in a footrace with Jeremy Hall for a long ball, and Hall didn't put enough mustard on his head back to keeper Greg Sutton.  Bale tracked the ball down and slotted it past New York's back up keeper.  Even after going down, New York continued attacking and creating chances, but couldn't finish to level the match.

Starting Lineup:
New York: Bouna Coundoul (Greg Sutton, 46’), Chris Albright (Jeremy Hall, 64’), Roy Miller, Carlos Mendes (Mike Petke, 46’), Tim Ream, Dane Richards, Seth Stammler (Conor Chinn, 77’), Joel Lindpere, Carl Robinson (Sinisa Ubiparipovic, 63’), Thierry Henry (Tony Tchani, 46’) , Mac Kandji

Tottenham: Carlo Cudicini, Gareth Bale, Verdan Corluka (Adel Taarabt, 46’) , Kyle Walker, Kyle Naughton (Andros Townsend, 46’), Alan Hutton, Jermaine Jenas, Niko Kranjcar (Danny Rose, 70’), Luka Modric (Ryan Mason, 77’), Tom Huddlestone, Robbie Keane

Scoring Summary:
25: Henry (NYRB 1, Spurs 0)
62: Keane (NYRB 1, Spurs 1)
72: Bale  (NYRB 1, Spurs 2)

Attendance: 20,312

Post Match Reaction

Via Red Bulls Reader: New York Red Bulls head coach Hans Backe and players Thierry Henry, Joel Lindpere, Macoumba Kandji, and Tim Ream speak following the Red Bulls friendly match with Tottenham Hotspur in the opening match of the Barclays New York Challenge at Red Bull Arena on July 22, 2010.

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