June 15, 2012
NO GO
Henry, Marquez won't play for the Red Bulls in Chicago and Vancouver

Thierry Henry originally injured his hamstring against the New England Revolution. Linda Cuttone/Sports Vue Images

By Kristian R. Dyer
BigAppleSoccer.com Contributing Editor

UPPER MONTCLAIR, N.J. – Ahead of the Red Bulls' Sunday afternoon game at the Chicago Fire, coach Hans Backe has ruled out forward Thierry Henry and midfielder Rafa Marquez for the next two matches.

Neither player will travel with the team to Chicago or Vancouver and both will stay behind with their teammates who are not traveling to train and receive treatment.

Earlier this week, Henry reinjured his hamstring while doing conditioning on his own and did not train with the team on Thursday morning at Montclair State University. Marquez strained his calf two weeks ago while with the Mexican national team and while he participated in an early portion of training, he is not yet game-fit.

“They will not be available, they will not travel so they will be out for the two road games,” Backe said. “They should be ready for D.C. I would guess that a week should be enough.”

Backe confirmed that midfielder Mehdi Ballouchy will travel to the Chicago match but his asylum status will prevent him from being able to travel for the midweek match in Vancouver.

Midfielder Dane Richards and Roy Miller, both of whom participated in World Cup qualifying with their national teams over the past two weeks, should be “OK” to play. Backe also said that midfielder Joel Lindpere will likely play this weekend against the Fire after playing for the Estonian national team during the international window break.

“Joel is 100 percent, he’s been doing two sessions now but he picked up a back injury in Estonia so he hasn’t been playing for 10 days,” Backe said. “He looks quite fresh.”

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