A few days ago, Lloyd Sam shared with EoS the unique experience of training alongside Thierry Henry during the team’s international break and how impressed he was that this legendary figure in world football would take time out of his break to do so.

As Henry would say, “don’t get it twisted” – he wasn’t doing anyone any favors.

“I wasn’t looking to get anybody ready,” he admitted. “For me, that’s the way the game is. I don’t know what is a day off. We have the privilege to play. I don’t call it work. I do what I love. You don’t have a lot of people in the world that can say that, right?

“I just want to be the best player I can be and it just so happened that I saw (Sam) there”

The happenstance meeting between the players has blossomed into a competitive battle on the training ground. Last week, Sam took a central position in the absence of Tim Cahill and had a pair of memorable run in’s with Henry. Thursday’s practice at Red Bull Arena was no different. After a chippy job of defending against the French legend, Henry exacted revenge with a calm, cool but calculated slide tackle that sent Sam flying.

After practice ended, both players stuck around for what was supposed to be a light and friendly round of two touch. Competitive as ever, Henry scowled at the youthful exuberance of Sam who was having a fun time smiling and kicking the ball around with his new teammate.

The round ended with Henry blasting a shot at Sam, which sent the young Englishman to the floor once more.

The sequence left both men in a fit of laughter.

“We worked together. That was my mentality, that is his mentality,” Henry said. “He has just arrived. He could have come and said ‘You know what, I just arrived, I’m going to take it easy …’ No. He came to training, a hard training session. Luis Robles was there too and we worked for a week.

“I didn’t have any plan behind it because that is all I know.

“I don’t know what is time off, man. If you take time off, someone else is working. If you want to win the league, you want to help people around here, that is my only point and that is my only aim, and that is my mentality. I didn’t have any plan behind it and that’s all I know man.”