Bradley Wright-Phillips put the New York Red Bulls on his back on Sunday afternoon.
Wright-Phillips notched a hat trick, scoring in the 41st, 76th and 90th minutes, each time drawing the Red Bulls even with D.C. United en route to a 3-3 draw.
"He doesn’t get many chances, he doesn’t get many looks, but he’s able to put himself in the right spot and he wills himself to it, but it’s his knack to score goals and his love for doing it,'' Head Coach Chris Armas said of his forward.
Wright-Phillips became just the second player in MLS history to score three game-tying goals in the same match.
The three goals from Wright-Phillips helped the Red Bulls pick up a point on the road, helping them stay in the top 2 spots in the Eastern Conference heading in the final five matches of the regular season. He now has 19 on the season, second in MLS this year.
"I just try and make it difficult for defenders," Wright-Phillips said. "I don’t care who we're playing or what kind of formation they use, I play my game and see what I get out of it.”
For his career, Wright-Phillips moved into eighth place all-time in MLS with 105 league goals.
“When Brad scores, I just thank God. I thank God for Bradley Wright-Phillips," Captain Luis Robles said. "He is an incredible talent, he is an incredible forward. A great example for the younger generation, when it comes to professionalism and just making plays when it counts."
The Englishman moved into a three-way tie with Stern John and Diego Serna for second-place all-time in hat tricks with his fifth.
“He’s a competitor and he’s a winner," Armas said. "In those games that seem to have a little more on it, he rises. In all reality, the reason he’s good against those teams is the reason he’s good against all teams. He scores against everybody. On this day, it’s three, so he’s always up for these games.”
All the accolades for BWP, though, he would have much rather seen three points.
"It is obviously good to score but we were always coming back, it was always we had to score to get back into the game," Wright-Phillips said. "We are fighting too hard to get these wins the last two games and I don’t really like the feeling of that. We came away with a point but it doesn’t really feel good right now to me.”
