Soccer

With Henry future in doubt, Red Bulls aim big

After 17 years of futility and frustration, the Red Bulls ended the trophy-less drought last season by winning the Supporters’ Shield for owning the league’s best record. But that just raised the bar for them to finally close the deal this upcoming season and win their first MLS Cup in what could well by Thierry Henry’s last campaign.

The Red Bulls topped the league in points (59), wins (17) and goals scored (58). And even though they were upset by the Houston Dynamo in the Eastern Conference semifinals, some much-needed continuity — a rare thing in their tumultuous history — has buoyed the hopes of hoisting the MLS Cup.

“Hopefully,’’ Henry said Monday at the team’s annual media day. “We went on a little run at the end of the season. We lost one game against Houston, and obviously it was one we shouldn’t have. The Supporters’ Shield was such a big thing for us. I know for you guys maybe it’s not that, but for the Red Bull fans it was pretty important. We wanted to carry on and win an MLS Cup and we didn’t.’’

Henry will turn 37 in August, and is in the last year of a five-year contract he inked after the 2010 World Cup. But the Red Bulls captain insists he isn’t thinking about retirement, but finishing what was left undone.

“We’re going to see what’s going to happen during the season. I’m not even thinking about it, anything after. I just want to have a strong season like we had towards the end and build on like that and carry on like that,’’ Henry said. “I’m not going to think about if it’s going to be the last one or not. I don’t even have that on my mind right now.

“Being able to have the same team for the first time since I’ve been here — usually it’s been 10 players leaving and coming, the staff leaving and coming — for the first time we can build on something that we have. We all know each other, hopefully that can help. … It makes it better when you know how that guy plays, you already have that bonding. It’s better when you have that continuity.’’

Henry and fellow Designated Player Tim Cahill both made their names in the English Premier League, where the regular-season table determined the champion. But in the American sports landscape, the 2007 Patriots, 1983 Nebraska Cornhuskers and 2001 Seattle Mariners amounted to teams that merely didn’t get it done.

“The bar always has to raise regardless of how your last season was,’’ Cahill said. “It was such a big deal winning the Supporters’ Shield. The league was crying out for a team like the Red Bulls, the commercialized team, we were the good-looking team that people thought were soft. Last year we won the Supporters’ Shield and now we’ll go anywhere and mix it up with the best of them.

“I feel winning the Supporters’ Shield, we were the most consistent team the whole year. I still feel we won the hardest thing to win, the Supporters’ Shield. This year the goal is to win MLS Cup. Last year we were all learning, it was Mike Petke’s first year. This year, it’s going to be difficult, but it’s just about finding the consistency.’’