Against D.C. United on August 31, 2015, Bradley Wright-Phillips scored two goals. They were the second and third of the game for the New York Red Bulls, allowing the scoreline to reflect accurately the near-total domination imposed on visiting DCU.

They were also two goals that bumped BWP further up the list of all-time goalscorers for this club. His first of the night was a confident volley from just short of the penalty spot.

That was his 12th goal of the 2015 MLS season. It was also his 45th of all time, in all competitions, for RBNY. It put him joint-third with Clint Mathis on the club's all-time scoring list.

The tie with Mathis lasted less than an hour in real time. BWP scored his 45th goal for RBNY in the 42nd minute of the match. His 46th came in the 64th minute. It was the goal that made Wright-Phillips the stand-alone third-most prolific goal scorer in the history of RBNY.

It also put BWP joint-third (with Giovanni Savarese) on the club's all-time scoring chart for league games. He now has 41 in MLS regular season matches.

It was surprising to see him pulled out of the game in the 74th minute with DC totally incapable of resisting the Red Bulls and a hat-trick apparently his for the taking. But neither BWP nor RBNY wants to put his personal scoring record ahead of the team's success, and head coach Jesse Marsch explained that BWP had been playing hurt for most of the game.

#RBNY Marsch "When BWP drew the yellow from Birnbaum, he was injured. His toe bothered him for the rest of the game."

— Eric Krakauer (@bigsoccerheadNY) August 31, 2025

Yikes. Birnbaum was carded in the 8th minute. Clearly, the injury didn't prevent BWP from playing, and hopefully a few days rest will see it right.

A few days in which, perhaps, he can reflect on the extraordinary impact he has had on this club. Only five players in the history of RBNY (and MetroStars) have scored more than 40 goals in a career with the team. Only three, including BWP, have cleared 45. The other two - Thierry Henry and Juan Pablo Angel - are also the only players in RBNY history to clear 50 goals. JPA is the only one to have more than 60.

There is still some distance for BWP to travel if he is to become RBNY's all-time greatest goalscorer. He needs six more to catch Henry, and he's 16 behind Angel. But he has got to third on the all-time list with extraordinary speed, largely thanks to having scored 40 in MLS regular season play over the last two years.

Here, from MetroFanatic.com's statistical archive, is the list of the club's top five goalscorers of all time:

In terms of minutes played, BWP has played the equivalent of almost eight games fewer than Savarese: 705 minutes. He's 3,119 minutes short of Mathis: just over 34 games - basically an entire MLS regular season. He's the equivalent of almost 44 games (3928 minutes) behind JPA's minutes played. And Thierry Henry's career-minutes for the club is more than double BWP's current total.

Can Wright-Phillips keep going for RBNY for another 5720 competitive minutes? And if he does, how many goals will he have added to his present total? These are questions fans of this team will be lucky enough to see answered.

Congrats, BWP. Get well soon, and we hope to be marking your 50th goal for RBNY in the not-too-distant future.