New York Red Bulls forward Bradley Wright-Phillips was voted MLS Player of the Week for Week 23 by the North American Soccer Reporters (NASR), it was announced on Tuesday.
Wright-Phillips became the leading scorer in Red Bulls history on Saturday, scoring two goals to lead New York to a 3-1 win against the Montreal Impact. The strikes were the 58th and 59th regular season tallies of Wright-Phillips’ Red Bulls career, moving him past Juan Pablo Angel to become the club’s all-time leading regular season scorer.
The English striker got things going in the 22nd minute, running onto a Sacha Kljestan through ball at the top of the area and fighting off a challenge to slot a shot past Montreal goalkeeper Evan Bush and tie the game at 1-1.
Wright-Phillips gave the Red Bulls the lead in the 41st, heading a Sean Davis cross inside the left post from just inside the penalty spot to put New York up 2-1.
Wright-Phillips, who didn’t score in New York’s first seven matches of the year, now has 14 goals this season, one behind Sebastian Giovinco and David Villa for the league lead.
New York are currently in third in the Eastern Conference, one point behind Toronto FC for second place and two behind New York City FC for the conference lead. The Red Bulls will play at Salvadoran club Alianza in CONCACAF Champions League action on Tuesday (10 pm ET; Facebook) before returning to MLS action against D.C. United at RFK Stadium on Sunday (3 pm ET; ESPN in the US, MLS LIVE in Canada).
The MLS Player of the Week is selected each week of the regular season by a panel of journalists from NASR. The group consists of members of print, television, radio and online media.
