MLS IS BACK TOURNAMENT MEDIA DAY

July 7, 2020

Thierry Henry

Q. You're in Orlando, going to be resuming play very soon. How are you feeling? How is the team feeling in how are you getting your team ready for this return to play?

THIERRY HENRY: Well, thanks for asking those questions. I'm okay. Family is okay, too. I hope that you guys, also, are all okay, whether it's, shall I say, behind that TV, because I don't see anyone. But I hope that everyone is okay and all your family lies are all okay, and now I can answer all your question.

Yeah, listen, the players are the way they are. They have to deal with a situation that's not simple, and everybody has to deal with it, as we all know and all sad about it. People died. Some companies, some people lost their jobs. Some companies will never be there again.

So we are here. We find a way to come back -- MLS has find a way to come to this tournament, sorry. So we have to prepare the way we had to prepare. We want from phase one like everybody, phase two, phase three, and I don't know if you know but we are one of the team that was the latest to go back to training.

So it went down to trust with a lot of programs and stuff that you had to do at home. As you know, it not the same way if you don't train on the field, but the circumstances didn't allow us to train on the field, and we understood that. As soon as we could, we tried to prepare the players with the fitness coach and the staff, obviously, the best way we could physically, and also mentally.

People forget about mental health. It's very important those guys are mentally okay to play a game and feel safe to come and play.

And so this is where we are right now. We all know that it is not ideal in terms of preparation, but it is what it is. You have to adapt to what comes your way, and understand the protocol and whatever protocol it is. You have to adapt, adapt to it. So we tried to prepare the team the best we could physically and also mentally.

Q. Curious how safe you feel and how confident you feel that this tournament is going to be able to be played in its entirety, given that we've already seen one team drop out?

THIERRY HENRY: Like I said to you, I'm not trying to avoid the question. You have guys that are in position to think about it. It's already difficult for me to think about how to prepare the team physically and mentally because of the circumstances.

I'm talking about how it was, because usually when you go into a tournament, you play friendly games to make sure that your team can be ready to that first competitive game, and we didn't have that. I'm not finding excuses. I'm just saying that's how it is.

So this is what we have to talk about and think about with the staff, and make sure that those guys are okay to go and compete.

So then you have doctors and people in MLS that have to think about and deal with the Dallas situation. I'm not in their dressing room to know exactly what happened. I don't know what happened exactly. A decision has been taken. I didn't take that decision, so we just have to follow protocol.

Like I said to you, my main concern is trying to make sure now the team can be ready for Thursday physically, and then we see how it's going to go. But as long as we are here to play, we are going to play.

Q. I would like to expand on what you were saying earlier about preparing the guys mentally. What are some of the techniques that you're using to keep the guys mentally focused and ready mentally? Because we spoke with a few players this morning, and they were saying that they are not interacting with any players, but they are hearing rumors and I can imagine that could be very distracting.

THIERRY HENRY: Well, it is what it is. Like I said to you, technique, I didn't study a lot to know how to study the brain of someone. It's a bit tough for that one, but you have to adjust to what the situation is, and you try to speak to them. You try to make sure that you reassure them about the situation; that it's okay, and then obviously being on the pitch is always better.

It's when you have those moments where you're not doing anything, right. If you're on the field or if you're doing something in the gym, your mind is occupied or you're having treatments, your mind is occupied.

And when you start to think and maybe interact with people, and read what's happening; I don't read the press, for example, or I don't go anywhere to try to find out news. That's also maybe a way to not know what's happening too much.

But like I said to you, I don't have a lot of technique apart from guys, stuff something or you have questions or you're not sure about some stuff, you can always ask the staff. If we have the answer, we'll give you the answer. If MLS has the answer, they will give you the answer.

Like I said, it's difficult to be in someone's brain, but you can always help.

Q. Looking forward to the game Thursday with Montréal getting players fit again and new signings, will this game be one for you to test what you think your preferred tactics and a strong starting 11?

THIERRY HENRY: Like I said, that's going to be a tough one, because what gives you an idea of what your team can be before any competitive game at the beginning and bracket of the season, you need to have friendly games in terms of giving guys minutes for their legs to reach a certain level.

And tactically as you saw, the whole preparation of the season at the beginning of the season, we played in the back four, and then first game we played in the back five because that gave us an idea that maybe we couldn't play in the back four. That doesn't mean we will never play in the back four again, but we couldn't. So friendly games gives you that. It gives you the chance of making mistakes and change the tactic of players to get ready.

For this tournament, we don't have that luxury because of the reason that we know and we're not trying to find excuses. It is a fact.

So at the end of every day, we are going to have learn how the players are physically, how many minutes they can last. The humidity and the heat, it won't be easy, but from game-to-game, we're going to have to learn about the team and about whoever is going to play. Because as I'm sure you're aware; that we didn't play a lot of games before everything stopped.

So for me, it's kind of everything is new again, if you know what I mean, because I just arrived. But like I said, we've been working on tactics and everything to get those guys ready, but the games usually gives you the truth and tell you how your team is. But so far, that will be the first one and it's already a competitive one.

Q. Appreciate your time and I'm glad to see you're doing well. I understand you're not making excuses for yourself, for the team, but you're just starting to get to know the team, the players, and then this pandemic hit. What will you -- and as you said, you got such a late start to the team training because of the situation here in Quebec. What will be your message to the team Thursday night? What do you want to see from them?

THIERRY HENRY: Well, listen, we've been working tactically, as you can imagine, physically. But I keep on saying to the team, and I'm sure you heard me saying it since you're there: We've got to fight. Regardless of what it is, we've got to fight and play hard and make it difficult for all the teams.

I don't know how it's going to be, because I played not only the heat in Orlando, but I've played in Texas. It's not easy to perform under that heat and that humidity. But we used to do one game, bounce, and play somewhere else, but we're going to be here all the time.

So is it going to be easy to fight and last every single game? No. We have a lot of selves (ph), I know that, but this is the main thing: Tactically they are going to be ready to know what they need to do, whether it's going to work or not, but tactically they know what they need to could against the other team. I've always said to them since we've been here, we have to fight. That's very important. We have to fight.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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