New York Red Bulls star Thierry Henry and US national team forward Jozy Altidore appeared as special guests on Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel on Tuesday night with the topic of racism in soccer at the forefront of discussion.
The entire episode is not available to watch online, but HBO Sports did release a couple of web-only exclusive clips from Gumbel's chats with Henry and Altidore.
In the above clip, Henry calls for soccer's largest governing bodies, FIFA and UEFA, to be the ones to step up and put an end to racism in soccer through the use of points deductions, rather than miniscule monetary fines for clubs and federations.
In the below clip, Altidore explains the feeling of hearing racial abuse from the stands while on the field of play and admits that while he knows being the bigger person is the only way to properly respond, the temptation to counter with negative sentiments is sometimes strong.
Altidore was, of course, the target of racist chants during a Dutch Cup match in January 2013, which was just the latest in a string of racially-charged incidents involving USMNT players in Europe. In one instance, a Scottish man was given six months in jail for Twitter insults hurled at then-Rangers midfielder Maurice Edu.
