Saturday’s come-from-behind win was special for Red Bulls striker Bradley Wright-Phillips in so many ways, from financial to football.
Yes, Wright-Phillips scored twice in the Red Bulls’ four-goal second-half eruption, giving them a 4-2 win over Montreal, but it was more than just that. The 29-year-old Brit made his 20th start of the season, kicking in a clause in his contract that extends his deal for next season. Not that he or the Red Bulls wanted to part ways, but rest assured there’s plenty of interest in his services.
And why not? Wright-Phillips scored his 19th and 20th goals of the season, first tying and then breaking the team’s single-season scoring record set back in 2007 by Juan Pablo Angel. Is the MLS record of 27 next?
“Early this year – in the first two, three weeks of preseason – if you’d told me that he’d be on 20 goals with 10 games left, I would’ve laughed at you,” coach Mike Petke admitted. “We laugh about it now. Even in preseason in shooting practice, Bradley couldn’t score. It got worse and worse for him. But he’s worked incredibly hard, he’s a phenomenal person. I’m extremely happy to have him on my team.
“He’s willing to learn and he wants to learn and he does anything I’ve asked of him. The thing that goes unnoticed about Bradley are the little things: his positioning, the way he moves, him cleaning up his first touch, which seven, eight months ago, it was lacking. … If anybody’s going to beat the record, Bradley certainly deserves to. Juan Pablo’s a legend for this club, and hopefully we have Bradley around for as long as we had Juan Pablo.”
With the contract extension kicking in, Wright-Phillips will be at the club for at least another year. That is, unless some big-spending team simply blows the Red Bulls away with an offer, which – considering the way he’s been scoring, and the interest sporting director Andy Roxburgh said has picked up – is possible.
Still, the start to Wright-Phillips’ evening Saturday underscored Petke’s point about finishing. Midfielder Lloyd Sam seemingly served him up a goal on a silver platter, with a perfect cross from the right side in the seventh minute, but Wright-Phillips butchered a sitter in front of an open net. He didn’t lose confidence.
“It’s too early in the game to think that. I just thought that, ‘I’m getting chances and that was unlucky,’ ” Wright-Phillips said. “It was a great ball by Lloyd, the defender or the keeper did well to get a touch on it. I actually thought it was going to be a decent night.”
And it was, first putting away the record-tying goal off a Thierry Henry assist, and breaking the record in extra time. And Henry – eight of whose MLS-high 11 assists have set up Wright-Phillips tallies, all but one primary assists – said the English striker could and should have hit the mark a while ago.
“I think he should’ve have done that after 10 games into the season. He scored two [Saturday] and missed five,’’ Henry said. “You guys are laughing, but it’s true. I told him he’s going to have to make sure that when he has one, it’s a goal, because maybe in one game he’s going to have one (chance). It’s not every day that you’re going have five opportunities or six or seven, and he’s scoring some of them.
“I’m not having a go. I’m just saying if you look for how you can improve, and I keep on telling him: ‘You should already be on 35-40 goals.’ I’m not even joking.”
Wright-Phillips claimed he had no idea of the league’s goals record, which is shared by Roy Lassiter and Chris Wondolowski. With 20 goals in 23 appearances, if Wright-Phillips plays the Red Bulls’ remaining 10 league games, he’s on pace to finish with 28.7 – which would break the record.