HARRISON, N.J. – Thierry Henry put on his salesman suit Wednesday, convincingly dissecting to the media why he believes teammate Bradley Wright-Phillips should take home the MLS MVP award.
And it wasn’t all about the forward’s record-tying 27 goals, but also his performance from the beginning of the season to the end.
Wright-Phillips bagged a brace in the Red Bulls' 2-0 win Sunday over Sporting Kansas City to tie the 27-goal mark set previously by Roy Lassiter and Chris Wondolowski. According to Henry, Wright-Phillips should be given more consideration than he is currently receiving for the league’s ultimate individual award.
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Henry believes Wright-Phillips’ comprehensive campaign outdoes fellow candidates Lee Nguyen, Robbie Keane and Obafemi Martins.
“No disrespect to anyone, Bradley’s been doing that since Day 1,” Henry said ahead of the Red Bulls’ MLS Cup Playoffs, presented by AT&T, Knockout-Round game at home Thursday against Sporting (8 pm ET; ESPN2, get tickets here). “Not finished well, not played well in the middle or started well. He started, was still there in the middle and finished strong.
“He played well from the beginning. … And the [MVP award] is for the player of the season. Player of the season, not the last three months, not the middle months, not the five first games. Player of the season. Did you play well the whole season? How many games has Bradley had? Thirty-two. That’s why for me he will get my vote.”
Many believe the accolade will be captured by either Nguyen, Keane or Martins.
But if Wright-Phillips is not named MVP, he will still finish with some lofty accomplishments: the joint scoring record and 2014 Budweiser Golden Boot, thanks to his knack for getting into good positions and selfless demeanor.
Henry thinks he could have accomplished even more and, like Wright-Phillips, was upset he didn’t set the scoring record in the final game of the season.
“You saw it when the ref blew the whistle,” Henry said when asked what his initial thoughts were when he saw Wright-Phillips finish with a piece of the record. “I won’t say what he said, but you could see he was upset. That’s the right attitude, and that’s why he reached that level this year because he wanted more and more and more.”
So much more, in fact, that Henry said Wright-Phillips could have scored 50 goals this year.
“If you look at the amount of goals he missed one-v-one with the ‘keeper, and I’m not having a go,” Henry said. “That’s what I kept putting in his head because you want that guy [motivated]. Because let’s be honest, if it wasn’t for him, I don’t know if we would’ve made the playoffs. I’m just saying, now what?”
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Unprompted, Henry elaborated further to drive his point across.
“You have to poke him a bit; you have to poke him a bit, and he likes that,” Henry said. “You can see he’s never satisfied, and that’s the type of thing you want from your goalscorer. But I was upset in that way because I’m upset he didn’t beat it.”
Henry also said Wright-Phillips’ season is satisfying due to the criticism he received at the beginning of the season.
“Now they’re all like, ‘We like him. We love him,’” he added. “You perform then you’re good. If you don’t perform then you’re not good, but that’s the story of the game.
“I’m happy for him at the end of the day. … He had an amazing season.”
Franco Panizo covers the New York Red Bulls for MLSsoccer.com. He can be reached by email at Franco8813@gmail.com.
