Intro:

The New York Red Bulls and Arsenal FC hosted press conferences at Red Bull Arena on Thursday (23rd July) ahead of their Saturday (26th July) friendly.

Script:

SOUNDBITE (English): Thierry Henry, New York Red Bulls forward (on facing his old club):

"I mean, for me it is like, it is going to be weird but it's like being in training. I trained with them offseason so the thing I am happy about is for the U.S. fans to be able to see Arsenal and some of the kids who are now on our squad to be able to play against them because some of the guys were not here yet when we played Arsenal at the Emirates so I think it will be a great thing for them to play against a team that has the quality of Arsenal Football Club."

SOUNDBITE (English): Arsene Wenger, Arsenal manager (on the state of football in the USA):

"I think there is a lot of work to do here but it's very exciting. I would love to be 30 years younger and witness that because I think the next 20 years will be very exciting to develop the game here and I hope it will become a force on world football here because have so many people, so many people love sport, the mental strength is there, the love for sport is here so it, the next 20 years should be very interesting for football here."

SOUNDBITE (English): Arsene Wenger, Arsenal manager:

"In England the competition, the level of competition is very high and it is very difficult as well to predict how much better every other team will be so it's just make sure that we will be better and that we have a good preparation and hopefully a good chance to win it."