Bradley Wright-Phillips set a new standard for consistent MLS goal-scoring excellence on Saturday, netting his 15th league goal of the year to become the first player in league history to score 15 or more goals in five consecutive seasons.
The English star stabbed an instinctive close-range finish past goalkeeper Richard Sanchez to deliver a 1-0 road victory for the New York Red Bulls over the Chicago Fire at Toyota Park, running his career MLS regular-season total to 101 goals.
Having scored 27 in 2014, 17 in 2015, 24 in 2016 and 17 last year, BWP was already one of only two players in league annals to have bagged 15 or more in four straight seasons, an honor he shares with LA Galaxy icon Robbie Keane.
LA’s Irish striker netted 16 in 2012, 16 in 2013, 19 in 2014 and 20 in 2015 en route to a regular-season total of 83 tallies over his MLS career. Only three other players in league history have scored 15-plus goals in three or more consecutive seasons.
What other milestones might Wright-Phillips take aim at next? He's now tied with Taylor Twellman at ninth on the all-time MLS scoring chart, which is topped by Landon Donovan with 145 career regular-season goals, and he sits third among active players, behind only Chris Wondolowski (140) and Kei Kamara (107).
Earlier this summer RBNY’s poacher-in-chief became the fastest player in league history to reach 100 goals, doing so in just 159 appearances, and last week the Red Bulls announced that as a tribute no other player would ever wear his No. 99 jersey again, at senior or academy level.
