Thierry Henry Retires From Soccer, Here's His Best All-Time Goal

Thierry Henry announced his retirement from professional soccer on Tuesday. The French legend has now taken a job working for Sky Sports in the UK. Whatever I write in this blog post will hardly do enough to encapsulate Henry’s greatness on the soccer field. If you saw him play, most-likely during his spell at Arsenal, you get it.

There might not be an “EGOT” for soccer, but Henry won nearly every important team accomplishment a soccer player can take home: the World Cup, the European Championship and the UEFA Champions League. Henry also won league titles in France, Spain and England. Maybe the only surprise is he never took home the Ballon d’Or, coming the closest in 2003 when he finished second to Juventus’ Pavel Nedved. I’ll chalk this up to the strange divide between England and continental European voters, since Henry’s best years came playing in North London, scoring 228 goals in 376 matches.

Although a Frenchman who made his name in England with Arsenal, Henry holds a special place in the hearts and memories on this side of the Atlantic, too. Arsenal is one of the best-supported English teams in America and Henry is part of the reason for that his best years dovetailed when the EPL became more accessible — that being said, his peak (Invincible) years at Highbury came when watching/following European soccer required much more effort than it does in 2014. Henry’s gracing the cover of the FIFA video games in that area can’t be discounted either, nor can his contribution in MLS with the New York Red Bulls. Add it up and, for a sizable portion of American soccer fans, Henry was “their” guy.

No, Henry didn’t have the pace in New York that he once had, but his first touch was still immaculate and capable of producing highlights at any moment — even if he couldn’t be bothered to celebrate most of the time.

On this day a legend departs, take 20 seconds of your time to re-watch the goal embedded above from a 2000 match vs. Manchester United. Is it the best Henry goal of all-time? The best EPL goal of all-time? Does it really matter? I can only imagine how many times it’s been uploaded to YouTube since the site when online in 2005.