On a mild August Saturday night Bradley Wright-Philips wrote himself forever into the club lore of the New York Red Bulls/Metrostars. Simply put, he broke Juan Pablo Angel’s record for most league goals scored in a single season by a New York Red Bull.
Many will talk about this in the coming years, and speak of how the legendary Thierry Henry was simply using the Englishman as an instrument, as has happened before with Luke Rodgers, Kenny Cooper, and, to a certain extent, with Fabian Espindola. Can some of Wright-Philips’ goals be attributed to having the best player, even at 36, in MLS as a strike partner? Sure it can, but it isn’t the whole story. Henry has not assisted on every single Bradley Wright-Phillips goal this season. In fact, Henry assisted on the first BWP goal on Saturday night, but he wasn’t even on the field for the second one, which was assisted by the French connection of Peguy Luyindula and newly acquired Saer Sene.
No, Bradley Wright Philips is the real deal. He has world class finishing ability and has not only been on a hot streak of sorts, but he’s also been gaining steam. It simply comes down to quality. Wright-Philips is a world class finisher and continues to prove it over and over.
Need some visuals? Consider Wright-Phillips’ strike in the MLS All-Star game below.
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That strike is not your normal, run of the mill Kenny Cooper-esque dirty goal. It’s also not the type of goal that would come from an English 2nd Division cast-off who’s troubled past seems a distant memory that I pointed out when he came to the club over a year ago.
Juan Pablo Angel came to the club in a very different manner. In 2007, in a very MLS 2.0 type of move, JPA was signed as the club’s second designated player after spending 6 years at Aston Villa of the English Premier League. Angel ripped into the MLS, immediately setting the record that was broken by the son of Ian Wright yers after. Juan Pablo enjoyed his time in New York, building an instant bond with the fan base. He even refused to celebrate goals he scored against them after he left the Red Bulls. That said, here’s a reel of every JPA tally in a New York Red Bulls kit.
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Even though he never quite embraced the MLS Cup playoffs, being quoted in his first season with the club as saying, “It’s very American, in every sport the playoff system … I think there should be more credit to the guys who do well in the regular season. It’s interesting. It’s a little bit unfair. I’m trying to understand it. I might answer you in a different way in a couple of weeks,” he wrote his name into Red Bulls history, not for the goal record, but maily for leading the team to the club’s first ever MLS Cup final, which they lost to the Columbus Crew 3-1. However, JPA was never really the same. The following season, Red Bulls missed the playoffs, and again the phrase “So Metro” echoed around the fan base.
Now, let’s fast forward 6 years…
Much of Bradley Wright-Phillips story is yet to be written. Europe has come knocking, looking for his services. When one listens to Wright-Phillips speak, one thinks that he, too, is enjoying his stay in New York. For him, MLS may have provided just the fresh start he needed. Wright-Phillips’ time in England was surrounded by legal controversy, and that may have proven a distraction. You get the feeling that even if he is offered the world by some club in Europe, he would prefer to stay here. He seems determined to settle here and raise his family. There were rumblings that his brother Shaun would come join him in the red and white.
Back to the important thing – the goals. Time will tell if BWP’s scoring touch continues in the prospect of a post-Henry Red Bulls club. Nothing is settled there, of course, with the legend Theirry Henry playing things as close to the chest as he often does. The fact is no one knows what the future holds, but one thing is certain. If the New York Red Bulls are to make the playoffs in the quickly changing landscape of the Eastern Conference (oh, ‘allo, Jermaine Junior), the Red Bulls are going to need more of this…
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…and less of this, this, and that.
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