One of the finer customs in football is the international testimonial.
As testimonials go, they are not typically the formal kind that clubs often give their long-time servants but rather a few, final minutes in the national kit that provide an entire country the chance to say goodbye.
Brazil icon Ronaldo was afforded the honour in 2011, five years after his departure from the Selecao, and in October the United States allowed Landon Donovan a 30-minute tribute against Ecuador.
Thierry Henry deserves a similar send-off, and the past few days have seen the launching of an earnest, if outspoken, campaign to get him one.
Between 1997 and 2010, the now-37-year-old made 123 appearances for France (only Lillian Thuram made more) and set Les Bleus' all-time goalscoring mark with 51 tallies, besting second-place Michel Platini by 10.
A World Cup winner in 1998, he also played in the 2006 final and in 2000 scored three goals en route to the European Championship.
"For all that he has given French football, it would be a lovely moment for him," former France team-mate Zinedine Zidane told L'Equipe when asked about a final tribute to Henry, according to Marca .
But affection for Henry in his homeland is lukewarm at best, and in a candid interview with the website Sports.fr, Emmanuel Petit unleashed a scathing attack on his countrymen, who he referred to as "smug" and "hypocritical."
"In England they've built a statue of Thierry," he said, as per the Telegraph . "He is revered there. This bad image [in France] annoys me. What can we reproach Henry for?"
Petit, who also won the 1998 World Cup and 2000 European Championship and was a team-mate of Henry's for three years at Arsenal, added that the French media had blackballed the just-departed New York Red Bulls forward in 2009, following his handball offence in a World Cup qualifier against the Republic of Ireland.
"He got screwed by the French press after his handball and has since not spoken to the French media," he said.
Be that as it may, there has always been the feeling that Henry is more appreciated abroad than at home. This could be down, at least in part, to the fact that he only played parts of five seasons in Ligue 1—just 141 of his nearly 800 career matches.
He enjoyed his best moments at club level across the channel, and after leaving Barcelona in 2010, it was the United States and Major League Soccer, not French football, that was graced with his final years before sending him off into what will likely be his retirement.
Even now, as he considers his post-playing options, it appears as though he continues to see his future outside France.
Earlier this week Gunners manager Arsene Wenger opined that a role could be open for Henry at Emirates Stadium, referring to him as "an Arsenal man," according to the Telegraph .
"The best moment certainly of his life and of his career has been experienced here," Wenger added. "Certainly one day he will come back."
He should get his testimonial first.
France are scheduled to face Brazil in March, and there could hardly be a better occasion for the country to give Henry the respectful gesture he has long merited.
Besides, there are fences to be mended, and a fond reunion would be in everyone's interest before one of French football's finest says adieu.
from Bleacher Report http://ift.tt/12vjzGu
via IFTTT December 03, 2014 at 11:33AM
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