As the New York Red Bulls began preseason training on an indoor field in Waldwick, shared for some time by toddlers playing broom ball, Thierry Henry carried a much lighter step than when he arrived with the Red Bulls last summer, reports Conor Orr.

"Last year, I arrived on an empty tank,” Henry said. “Very difficult to find my form, so that’s what you want to do, you want to have the time to prepare yourself to be able to compete throughout the season.”

A knee injury limited Henry to a few minutes in the playoffs last year and he scored just twice in the regular season. He worked out with his former English Premier League team, Arsenal, to speed up the recovery from knee surgery.

"I never set myself any targets, so from a personal point of view, all I care about is the team winning,” he said. “You know, what happened last season, everybody got excited, we thought we could have done it. Every time you enter a competition you want to try and win it … you want to finally bring that trophy that New York never won.”