At halftime, the Red Bulls were leading but captain Thierry Henry was fuming. At the break, he erupted at his own team, then he erupted on the other team. After demanding his Red Bulls play better, he showed what better looked like, in a masterful performance to lead them to a 4-1 rout of Columbus.
Henry scored one goal and set up the other three — by Bradley Wright-Phillips, Lloyd Sam and Eric Alexander — to lift himself into the Red Bulls’ record books and lift the team out of their malaise before a crowd of 17,028.
“We have to be better as a team. Period,’’ Henry said. “It’s how we played as a team. We’ve been doing that the whole season, conceding goals like that. Enough is enough. We managed to come back, and in a lot of times this year so many times we couldn’t. … We cannot carry on giving goals away. We have to do better as a team. Period.’’
After earning 14 points in their first 10 games, the Red Bulls (5-5-8, 23 points) mustered just six in their next seven. But despite some shaky first-half defense, Henry picked a great time to shake them out of their funk. They had come in level with Columbus for fifth in the East, and the last playoff spot.
Henry’s nine assists this season give him the league lead, and his 37 for his MLS career gave him the team record. But turning 37 next month and in the last year of his contract, it’s unclear if he will play next season. If he doesn’t, this was a masterful performance to remember.
In the 17th minute Henry took a through ball from Alexander and crossed to Wright-Phillips for a tap-in. It was the latter’s MLS-leading 15th goal.
But the Crew equalized when 18-year-old defender Matt Miazga whiffed on a clearance to set up a goal by substitute Adam Bedell. Henry put the Red Bulls back ahead just before halftime when he calmly lifted a rebound off a Wright-Phillips shot into the top of the net, but he didn’t celebrate, turning around and visibly cursing.
Then he cursed some more at the break.
“He came in at halftime and was just irate. It was good because he took it out on them in the second half,’’ goalie Luis Robles said. “When he plays like that there’s not a defense that’s going to be able to stop him. … He was not happy. But we need that. We need our leader to be emotional and guys fed off that.
“We were playing too defensively, playing like we were afraid. … When we’re in the lead, we have to dictate, continue to press. We’re at home, and we haven’t done that all season. You just get to a point where you couldn’t take it anymore. And I’m glad. I’m glad he lost it like that, because the guys fed off it.’’
The defense solidified once Dax McCarty came on for his first action since May. But Henry dominated, having a hand in as many goals as the Crew have scored in their last six games. He fed Sam for a clinical finish in the 56th minute and made a one-touch pass to Alexander for a breakaway dagger in extra time.