PST’s Major League Soccer Player of the Week: Bradley Wright-Phillips

Shocking, I know. The guy who scored four goals last week wins not only Major League Soccer’s Player of the Week honor but also our weekly PST award. Wasn’t very suspenseful, was it?

The choice was actually more difficult than you’d think. Wright-Phillips took a huge lead on the pack with his three-goal performance midweek against Houston, but after Clint Dempsey’s big day Saturday in Seattle, we had something to think about. Given the nature of Wright-Phillips’ right place, right time hat trick, the door was still open for a more well-rounded performance. Had he done nothing on Saturday, Wright-Phillips could have well seen his three goals come up short.

But the Red Bulls striker didn’t stay silent in Columbus. Instead, he scored one of the weekend’s best, most well-executed goals. On a second half cross from Lloyd Sam, Wright-Phillips took one touch before turning on a shot fired against Steve Clark’s left post, giving the Crew number one no chance to prevent New York’s equalizing goal. Scoring his fifth of the season (in his fifth start), Wright-Phillips extended New York’s unbeaten run to three, moving third in the league in scoring in the process.

Where it not for that goal, Dempsey could have very well snagged this week’s honor. Game versus games, his performance against Colorado may have proven more valuable than Wright-Phillips’ hat trick, once we broke it down. With Wright-Phillips’ contribution toward a second result, however, the choice as much easier. There are only so many games per week Dempsey can dominate, particularly when his team only appears once on the schedule.

	PST Award	MLS Award
Week 1	Will Bruin, Houston Dynamo 2g, 1a vs. New England	Nick Rimando, Real Salt Lake 8 saves, PK save at LA
Week 2	Víctor Bernárdez, San Jose Earthquakes 2g, 1a vs. Real Salt Lake	Jermain Defoe, Toronto FC 2 goals at Seattle
Week 3	Fabian Castillo, FC Dallas 1 goal vs. Chivas USA	Bernardo Añor, Columbus 2 goals vs. Philadelphia
Week 4	Álvaro Saborío, Real Salt Lake 2 goals vs. Toronto FC	Graham Zusi, Sporting Kansas City 1 goal, 2 assists at Colorado
March Player of the Month	Michael Bradley, Toronto FC 3 games, 0 goals, 0 assists	Mauro Díaz, FC Dallas 4 games, 2 goals, 0 assists
Week 5	Diego Chara, Portland Timbers 2 goals vs. Seattle	Clint Dempsey, Seattle Sounders 3 goals at Portland
Week 6	Clint Dempsey, Seattle Sounders 2 goals at Dallas	Clint Dempsey, Seattle Sounders 2 goals at Dallas
Week 7	Nick Rimando, Real Salt Lake 4 saves vs. Portland	Nick Rimando, Real Salt Lake 4 saves vs. Portland
Week 8	Bradley Wright-Phillips 4 goals vs. Houston, at Columbus	Bradley Wright-Phillips 4 goals vs. Houston, at Columbus

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