This Wednesday evening (9 p.m.) at the Stade Vélodrome in Marseille, Thierry Henry, coach of the French Espoirs team, challenges the United States for the entry of the Blues into the men’s football tournament of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The 98 world champion ended his playing career in MLS, with the New York Red Bulls (2010-2014), and his French teammate at the time Peguy Luyindula told a very amusing anecdote to the MLS website (for a portrait of the legendary Arsenal striker).
Luyindula’s story goes back to the French Espoirs team.
“That evening, we were allowed to sleep at the Château de Clairefontaine, which was normally reserved for the French A team. My room was next to Henry’s, so we met up to play Pro Evolution Soccer. We were playing on the same team for the World Cup. It was 1am and we had lost in the semi-finals. I told him: ‘Thierry, I’m tired. I’m going to sleep.’ He grabbed me, threw me on the bed and said: ‘I’m not leaving you until we win this Cup.’ I said, ‘It’s a fucking video game! Get off me! I want to go to sleep!’ He said: ‘No! I won’t let you go. We have to win this Cup!‘ », explains the attacker who was also a French international (6 selections).
Henry and Luyindula finished at 5am
Pierre-Guy Luyindula Makanda (his full name) thus continued to play “PES” (renamed eFootball in 2020) with Thierry Henry. “We stayed in the room until 5am, until we finally won the Cup. And when we did, he was so happy. And to be completely honest, I was happy too.”remembers the player who played for OL, PSG and OM.
Luyindula, 45, Dijon’s sporting director until November 2020, is currently leading a project to buy Red Star with investors from Texas, the Todd family. As France 3 Centre-Val de Loire reports, negotiations are well underway between the former striker and 777 Partners, the American investment fund that owns the Saint-Ouen club (and which is in serious financial difficulty). Luyindula would then become the president of this team that reached Ligue 2 last season with Habib Beye on the bench.
