This club has seen it’s fair share of strikers going up and down the field either at Giants Stadium or at Red Bull Arena. The names are easy to come by as we all remember those fantastic attacking players that scored some fantastic and highlight reel goals.
Giovanni Savarese, Clint Mathis, Adolpho Valencia, Alex Comas, John Wolyniec, Juan Pablo Angel, Amado Guevara and of recent times Thierry Henry, Luke Rodgers and of course Tim Cahill and Kenny Cooper. But since coming over in the Summer Transfer Window of 2013 there has been one man who can truly be called the king of goals and that is Bradley Wright-Phillips.
On Saturday, April 14th against the Montreal Impact, BWP converted his 90th career league goal as he received a brilliant ball from Florian Valot who led him towards it and all Bradley had to do was get behind it and smacked it past Evan Bush to open the scoring in the 5th minute of that match.
Since his breakout season in 2014 Wright-Phillips converted twenty-seven times to tie a league record scoring most goals within a single season that he shares with Chris Wondolowski of the San Jose Earthquakes and the original league goal scoring threat in Roy Lassiter.
Out of all the clubs he has scored against the original club that has been pulled apart is the Houston Dynamo as he scored his first league goal at BBVA Compass Stadium and in the second leg of their playoff series back in 2013 after securing their first Supporters Shield, BWP beat the keeper with an amazing shot to retake the aggregate lead till they lost it in extra time.
But since then he has been on a tear. Then in 2015 NYCFC came in and you all know the story about those games. In ten matches in all competitions Wright-Phillips has scored ten times scoring a brace in four of the ten matches. Twice at Yankee Stadium and twice at Red Bull Arena.
The proper derby between the NYC sides has really brought the best out of Wright-Phillips including that famous seven goals to nil match back in 2016 when he converted twice inside the big ballpark in the Bronx.
The list is long and even though he hasn’t scored against Atlanta United, Los Angeles Galaxy, Real Salt Lake and hasn’t yet faced LAFC, the majority of the clubs in the league has felt his wrath. The nets have been burned to a crisp.
The list is long but here are his victims and the amount of goals he has scored against them.
NYCFC= 10
TORONTO= 9
CHI/CLB= 8
HOU/PHI= 7
DC/NE/MTL- 6
SKC/SEA/ORL= 4
VAN/MNUFC= 3
PORTLAND= 2
COL/FCD/SJ= 1
This list is still active and we shall see when he gets to that famed mark for a century of goals. But here is something that is also fascinating, while Bradley only needs ten more to reach that milestone he could be the fastest MLS striker to reach that mark.
Currently Taylor Twellman was the fastest player to score a hundred goals playing in 173 games played while Edson Buddle has the most with 318. Currently Bradley Wright-Phillips has played in 144 games and if he can reach the century mark, he can become the fastest striker in league history getting a hundred goals.
But as always BWP has never been given the credit nor the respect on the field from the referees who continue to look the other way when he has the ball at his feet trying to score another goal.
Either fouled outside the area or inside the area BWP has continued to get fouled, grabbed, held, tackled down and not once has the referee put his whistle to his lips and blows it in favor of the Red Bulls.
So as we get ready for the next match at Red Bull Arena against the Chicago Fire in another afternoon affair, can BWP add to his goal totals and make that mark closer than it really appears to be? Personally I believe he will reach that mark and hopefully it will be celebrated at Red Bull Arena.
Here is the list of players who scored their 100th goal and the amount of games they did it.
EDSON BUDDLE: 318 GAMES PLAYED 8/20/2014
DWAYNE DeROSARIO: 301 GAMES PLAYED 8/29/2013
KEI KAMARA: 288 GAMES PLAYED 3/10/2018
JEFF CUNNINGHAM: 279 GAMES PLAYED 8/16/2008
JASON KREIS: 269 GAMES PLAYED 8/13/2005
LANDON DONOVAN: 227 GAMES PLAYED 8/1/2010
JAIME MORENO: 227 GAMES PLAYED 5/31/2006
ANTE RAZOV: 216 GAMES PLAYED 6/11/2006
CHRIS WONDOLOWSKI: 211 GAMES PLAYED 5/30/2015
TAYLOR TWELLMAN: 173 GAMES PLAYED 6/7/2009
BRADLEY WRIGHT-PHILLIPS: 90 GOALS IN 144 GAMES PLAYED