Bradley Wright-Phillips has been one of the biggest breakout stars in Major League Soccer this year, becoming the first player in New York Red Bulls franchise history to reach 20 goals in a single season.
But long before he partnered with Thierry Henry, scored in the MLS All-Star Game or logged the first hat trick by an English player in the league’s history, he was a wide-eyed kid who saw his father play at Wembley Stadium, and realized then and there he was born to play the beautiful game.
The latest episode of the Emmy-nominated MLS Insider series takes a look at Wright-Phillips and his father Ian Wright, one of the greatest players in Arsenal’s history. Fate eventually led Wright-Phillips out of England and to MLS, where he’s partnered with another Arsenal great to make history in New York.
“I would always ask him, ‘what is it like to score a goal?” Wright-Phillips says of his father. “He could never explain it to me. Now I score goals, and now I know he’s talking about.”
Click here for more from the MLS Insider series, including past episodes covering the rise of MLS Academy systems, Henry’s memorable match against Arsenal earlier this summer and the picture-perfect life of Sporting Kansas City’s Dom Dwyer.
