If you saw the New York Red Bulls match with FC Dallas Thursday night you saw what happened to FC Dallas ‘keeper Kevin Hartman. He was injured by Thierry Henry when Henry made an effort to kick the dead ball after a New York goal, only to slam the ball into Hartman’s foot.
Henry has apologized for the incident.
“The ball was there and like I do sometimes, I just wanted to kick the ball back in the net. He put his foot out there and that’s how he got injured,” Henry said after the match. “That was unfortunate.”
Walking into the locker room after the first half whistle blew, Henry made several attempts to soothe Hartman, who appeared irritated at the Red Bulls’ striker.
After some dialogue, the two players did a fist-bump as Hartman walked off the field. In the second half, Hartman sat on the FC Dallas bench, icing his knee.
“I went to apologize at halftime because I didn’t mean to hurt him. He put his foot out there and I just wanted to smash the ball back in the net – a pure accident,” Henry said. “I told him I was sorry. He accepted it. It was one of those stupid things.”
Hartman said he didn’t want to read into Henry’s actions or fault the player, and chose his words cautiously so as to not “start anything in the media about it.”
Traditional goal celebration by Henry or not, I’m amazed that such a veteran, world-class player would not be aware of the presence of an opposing player right next to him.