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HARRISON, N.J. (AP) — Bradley Wright-Phillips scored his 22nd and 23rd goals of the season to break a tie for the Golden Boot lead and the New York Red Bulls beat the Columbus Crew 3-2 on Sunday.
New York (15-9-9) secured a bye in the knockout round after Toronto FC tied Montreal 2-2. Columbus (8-13-12) was eliminated from playoff contention Thursday.
New York broke it open with two goals in the first 13 minutes of the second half. Mike Grella scored on an open shot in the 53rd minute off a nice assist from Sacha Kljestan. Five minutes later, Wright-Phillips cut back his defender and rolled it through the legs of goalkeeper Brad Stuver from a difficult angle.
Wright-Phillips added another in the 70th minute. Aurelien Collin had a glancing header of Kljestan's corner kick and Wright-Phillips was uncovered at the back post for an easy tap in.
Adam Jahn put Columbus on the board with a breakaway goal in the 73rd minute and Harrison Afful added another goal 10 minutes later with a chip shot. In the first half, Stuver made up for taking down Alex Muyl inside the penalty area by saving Kljestan's poorly placed penalty kick.
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