As the MLS Golden Boot race reaches its final stretch, league legend and two-time winner Bradley Wright-Phillips gives his insight on the favorites to win. Each MLS season delivers a unique and thril...
As the MLS Golden Boot race reaches its final stretch, league legend and two-time winner Bradley Wright-Phillips gives his insight on the favorites to win.
Each MLS season delivers a unique and thrilling Golden Boot race, and 2025 is no different.
The field is wide open with just three weeks remaining in the season, and a mix of global icons, proven scorers, and rising stars are all vying for the league’s top individual scoring honor. With just a handful of matches left, and the pace of goals unlike anything we’ve seen since Carlos Vela’s record-breaking 34-goal season in 2019, this year’s Golden Boot race promises to be one of the most competitive and dramatic in MLS history.
The contenders? They’re as diverse as the league itself. The top three are currently separated by one goal apiece: Leading the way is Lionel Messi, arguably the greatest player of all time. He’s followed by 2023 winner Denis Bouanga of LAFC, and in third is Sam Surridge, who’s rising to the occasion with Nashville SC, showing why the club invested in him.
To get a deeper perspective on what it takes to win the coveted award, I sat down with Bradley Wright-Phillips, a two-time MLS Golden Boot winner and one of the most respected strikers in league history. Now an analyst on Apple TV’s MLS Season Pass, Wright-Phillips knows exactly what it means to chase goals, handle pressure, and deliver in big moments. He shared his insights on the top contenders vying for this season’s honor.
“It’s a different game now,” Wright-Phillips said. “I think you see more wide players scoring goals. It’s not necessarily all number nines, like Denis Bouanga.”
Bouanga could join the rare company of Wright-Phillips, Taylor Twellman, Chris Wondolowski, and Jeff Cunningham in the two-time MLS Golden Boot winner club, and his 23 goals are currently one shy of Messi’s league lead. The LAFC winger does have an advantage, as he has four games left to play compared to Messi’s three.
Bouanga, who has burst onto the scene as a bonafide MLS star, has already eclipsed his 20-goal mark that was good enough to win the award two seasons ago.
“Bouanga, for me, I think what makes him such a dangerous goal scorer is that he’s so positive man,” Wright-Phillips said. “Even when he’s not scoring. Imagine if he scored the kind of goals that I scored, or that Jozy [Altidore] scored — you wouldn’t be able to catch him.
“The big thing for me is that he creates a lot of his goals by himself. It’s after a great dribble, or a shot from distance, a great strike from far out. He’s just relentless. That’s a huge credit to his game.”
Bouanga is the first player in league history with three straight 20-goal seasons, and no one in MLS has scored more than he has since 2023, his first full season in the league. The only MLS player to have ever come close to Bouanga’s goal-scoring streak? Wright-Phillips, who scored 20-plus goals three times, albeit in alternating years between 2014, 2016, and 2018.
Yet still, Wright-Phillips thinks Bouanga is a bit underrated.
“I don’t think [Bouanga] gets the credit he deserves, especially for his fitness,” Wright-Phillips said. “I mean, imagine having that speed, that power, that finishing ability, and on top of that, the fitness to do it for 90-plus minutes. When back lines are tired, when they’ve had to concentrate and mark you for 80-plus minutes, and you still have the energy to be dangerous in the opposition’s box. That, to me, is one of his biggest tools. And it’s underrated.”
Another Golden Boot name to watch closely is Sam Surridge, who has surprised many with a breakout 2025 season. Under BJ Callaghan, and with the mentorship of former MVP and Golden Boot winner Hany Mukhtar as a teammate, Surridge has blossomed into a consistent scoring threat for Nashville SC. With 22 goals in 32 matches, he’s a legitimate contender to bring Nashville its second Golden Boot in club history.
Wright-Phillips lit up at the notion of Surrige, seeing something of himself in the English striker.
“Week in and week out, I often put myself in their shoes, especially Sam Surridge,” Wright-Phillips said. “At the beginning of the season, with all the talent in this league, you wouldn’t have expected Surridge in the Golden Boot race with just a few games to go. And now, I can just imagine him thinking about that, feeling the pressure build a little more each week.”
Then, of course, there’s Messi. Already an MLS MVP, and perhaps on his way to another, the one major individual accolade he hasn’t claimed in this league is the Golden Boot. Wright-Phillips knows better than most what Messi is capable of.
“He’s one of those players where it feels like, if he wants to, he can score two goals a game,” Wright-Phillips said. “And I mean, he’s definitely going to feel like he has a great chance of winning the Golden Boot now.”
Beneath the top three sit Dejan Jovelic (18), Evander (17), and Alonso Martinez (17), and while they’ve yet to hit the 20-goal mark yet with two games left for each player, this is MLS after all, a league where chaos is nothing more than ordinary. Even if they fall short of winning the Golden Boot, racking up goals in the final stretch could still strengthen their case for MVP consideration.
As the 2025 MLS regular season draws to a close, the Golden Boot race is reaching a boiling point. Bouanga continues to dazzle with game-changing hat tricks alongside new teammate Son Heung-min. Messi seems to score braces for fun. And Surridge is defying the odds with every goal he adds to his tally. With only a few matches left and multiple players within striking distance, this race could go down as one of the greatest in league history. If there’s one thing to take from Wright-Phillips’ insights, it’s that winning the Golden Boot isn’t just about talent — it’s about mentality, consistency, and timing. And for these elite scorers, the time is now.
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Category: General Sports
