Photo by Denny Medley/USA TODAY Sports

By TATE STEINLAGE 

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Bradley Wright-Phillips split the defense, took his shot and turned to embrace his teammates. He’s done it all year, but this one was significant.

Wright-Phillips’ 27th goal of the season tied a Major League Soccer record for the most goals in a single season and gave the New York Red Bulls a 2-0 victory on the road against Sporting Kansas City on the final night of the regular season.

“I’m happy (about tying the record) but I was more happy with the way we played today,” Wright-Phillips said after the match. “Like Mike (Petke) said, I think we came together as a team, everyone bought into it. We got the clean sheet and the win.

“Me being me, I’m kind of upset as well. I think I had a chance to get No. 28. But there are two great players that hold that record — I’m just delighted to be in and amongst it with them.”

The second-year star entered the night with 25 goals on the year. After goals in the 15th and 70th minutes, Wright-Phillips was nearing uncharted territory.

Goal No. 28 wasn’t meant to be, despite a trio of opportunities late in the contest, but Wright-Phillips’ performance secured the Red Bulls at least one more game at Red Bull Arena this season. The rematch against Sporting KC is scheduled for 8 p.m. Thursday in New Jersey. The winner of the fourth-fifth-place match will move on to the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Columbus Crew.

The Red Bulls (13-10-11, 50 points) finish the regular season on a high note after losing 3-1 to the Crew last weekend. Sporting KC (14-13-7, 49 points) close out the regular season in disappointing fashion, compiling  just two victories in their last 10 games.

“I’m extremely proud of these guys for one fact: they played like a team tonight, and that was our game plan,” Red Bulls manager Mike Petke said. “Last weekend against Columbus we were completely out of sorts. Kansas City is a very similar team to Columbus, they enjoy having the ball, they enjoy stretching teams out and they’re very good with the ball.

“We knew we had to be patient coming in here. Credit to these guys, they bought into what we wanted.

“I’m happy for the result but that means nothing because Kansas City is a great team. It doesn’t matter if we’re playing here or at home at Red Bull Arena Thursday, it’s going to be very difficult — they’re going to be up for it for sure.”

Wright-Phillips’s evening started with a bang. Eric Alexander played an excellent ball into the box toward his striker in the 15th minute, forcing Sporting KC’s Aurelien Collin to go all-in on a challenge. Collin whiffed and Wright-Phillips slid a quality shot into the back of the net past goalkeeper Eric Kronberg to give the Red Bulls an early 1-0 advantage.

He nearly tallied a second nine minutes later on a counter, but this time Collin was able to get a foot on the shot to block the attempt. Collin had his hands full in the first half dealing Wright-Phillips and Lloyd Sam, who combined for five shots through 45 minutes.

Red Bulls goalkeeper Luis Robles did his part to keep New York from conceding a goal in the first half. Eight minutes into the match, Graham Zusi took a nifty touch in the midfield and passed ahead to Dom Dwyer to set up a shot. The effort went across the face of Robles, but he was able to parry it away from danger.

Robles later safely dove to his right to punch away a Paulo Nagamura shot. The save preserved the 1-0 scoreline as the two teams went into the halftime break.

The dagger for New York didn’t come until the 70th minute. Sporting KC was knocking on the door for an equalizer, but Wright-Phillips had other ideas. He crossed up Collin in front of the north-end goal and finished down the middle.

“It’s obviously disappointing, we don’t want to give up goals,” Sporting KC defender Seth Sinovic said. “One play doesn’t necessarily win or lose you a game. There are a million plays in a game and we got to focus on every single roll of the ball.

“We had many mistakes tonight. (Wright-Phillips’ second goal) wasn’t the reason we lost the game.”

Wright-Phillips and New York celebrated the 2-0 victory with roughly 20 rowdy supporters nestled in the southeast corner of Sporting Park, while the home team walked off the pitch disappointed to have lost another match at home.

“To me it’s not a bad loss from the point of view that the guys fought and tried, they’re just tired — it’s easy to see,” Sporting KC manager Peter Vermes said. “One, you make tactical errors. The other is you make psychological errors when you’re tired, and the guys are.

“There’s really nothing you can do.”

Here are the match highlights: