Henry scores in debut, Barcelona wins a preseason game (woohoo)

By: Isaiah | July 27th, 2007

Well, there you have it: Thierry Henry has scored as an FC Barcelona player. After subbing on at half time his first touch became his first chance on goal, which is a pretty promising start, but it wasn’t until a 90th minute penalty — and really it was technically from open play since the penalty was blocked and he stuck in the rebound — that he was able to put Barcelona ahead of a spirited Dundee United. The game ended 0-1, though it could have gone either way as Barcelona had a host of chances the blew and Dundee had a goal disallowed for a foul on Abidal.

Notable appearances: Toure, the only new face who was a starter; Henry, Abidal, Bojan, and Gio dos Santos. Despite the fact that it’s a preseason game and absolutely no one gives a crap, it’s nice to see the team out there, nice to see the players playing instead of fending off annoying questions from ~~mosquitoes~~ reporters. What’s more, both Bojan and Gio put in good performances. So chalk this one up as a victory in many ways, but it does seem that the finishing, the killing spirit, has not yet been instilled in the team, which is precisely why Barcelona didn’t win the league last year.

This was the starting lineup (minute off):

Valdes (45), Zambrotta (45), Thuram, Oleguer, Sylvinho(45), Toure (63), Iniesta (76), Xavi (45), Ezquerro (45), Ronaldinho (45), Eto’o (45)

And these were the subs (minute on):

Jorquera (45), Belletti (45), Abidal (45), Deco (45), Gio (45), Henry (45), Bojan (45), Motta (63), Crosas (76)

Obviously the 3 Ms (Messi, Milito, Marquez) were missing from this lineup, but fear not, they’re merely on vacation after the Copa America and will be back soon. Edmilson and Puyol are out with injuries and that means, among other things, that Motta and Thuram will have to step up. I’m assuming that Motta will leave in January, even if Galliani claims he is the man for Milan (my have the mighty have fallen from their once lofty perch). If you think about it, 4 probably starters were missing from the lineup and if you add Messi to any formation, you increase your chances of scoring goals.

No doubt the next few matches will enlighten us more as to where Rijkaard is going with his formations as yesterday’s really taught us nothing. He’s just playing around with things, mixing things up, seeing who plays well together and it’s great that Henry, Gio, and Bojan all turned in solid performances. I suspect that in the next game Henry will get on the field with Ronaldinho, which should be a joy to watch.