The New York Red Bulls will indeed be without Thierry Henry and Jámison Olave with Supporters' Shield position on the line on Sunday.
Red Bulls head coach Mike Petke confirmed that his side would be without two of their key starters for Sunday night's trip to Seattle (9 pm ET, ESPN) to take on the Sounders in a battle of the top two teams in MLS, something Petke hinted at earlier in the week.
Henry and Olave are currently healthy and both trained fully on Friday afternoon with the rest of the team at Red Bull Arena, but Petke said afterwards that the two veterans would not head to Seattle so as to avoid risking injury to their respective Achilles and knee on the turf at CenturyLink Field.
"Olave and Thierry will not be traveling," Petke told reporters succinctly after practice.
There is no questioning that the Red Bulls will be severely shorthanded without both stars as well as injured starting forward Bradley Wright-Phillips, who is recovering from a right hamstring strain. But Petke is still confident that New York can go to Seattle and get the job done so long as they enter the game with the right frame of mind.
"If we're about two players, well then we might as not well go to Seattle," said Petke. "It's two players, very important players of course, but the quicker we get that out of their head that they're not going to be here, the better off we'll be.
"It's not about two players, it's about the 11 who suit up and I have confidence in the 11 who suit up. Are we the underdog? Of course we're the underdog. Even if Thierry and Olave were there, we'd be the underdog, and that's fine. We'll see what type of mentality we have see what type of character we show in this game."
