HARRISON, NJ (December 2, 2014) – New York Red Bulls forwards Bradley Wright-Phillips and Thierry Henry have been named to the 2014 MLS Best XI, as announced by the league Tuesday. New York’s dynamic duo combined for 37 goals and 16 assists in the regular season, more than any other scoring tandem in the league.
This is the third MLS Best XI award for Henry, who captained New York to the Eastern Conference Finals in his fourth and final season with the club. He scored 10 goals this season, reaching double digits for the fourth time in his MLS career.
It is the first Best XI honor for break-out striker Bradley Wright-Phillips, who tied the MLS single-season goal record with 27 tallies before scoring four times in four playoff games. Wright-Phillips also earned distinction as the Castrol Index Top MLS Player of the Year, an award that uses a unique analytical system to determine a player’s efficiency and value to his team. The pair were also named MLS All-Stars in July.
Henry played a large role in the emergence of Wright-Phillips this season. Though he has always taken pride in setting up his teammates, this season he fully relinquished center forward duties to Wright-Phillips, moving out to the left wing to facilitate the Red Bulls attack. The move was rewarded with an MLS career-high 14 assists in the regular season, and five more in five playoff games.
The legend has helped shape Wright-Phillips’ physical and mental game, instilling knowledge about the striker position in addition to providing great service and creating scoring chances. Henry assisted on eight of BWP’s 27 regular season tallies, and found the Englishman twice more in the playoffs.
Joining the two Red Bulls on the list are D.C. United's Bill Hamid and Bobby Boswell, LA Galaxy's Omar Gonzalez, Landon Donovan and Robbie Keane, Seattle Sounders' Chad Marshall and Obafemi Martins, New England Revolution's Lee Nguyen, and Portland Timbers' Diego Valeri.
