Felipe powered the New York Red Bulls to their first win of the season on Saturday, scoring two fantastic goals to cap a come-from-behind 4-3 victory against the Houston Dynamo at Red Bull Arena.
Just in case the three points weren’t enough, the Brazilian midfielder earned some extra recognition on Tuesday when it was announced that he was voted Major League Soccer Player of the Week for Week 3 by the North American Soccer Reporters (NASR).
Felipe put the Red Bulls on his back on Saturday, scoring twice in the final 13 minutes to erase a 3-2 deficit and prevent New York from sliding to 0-3-0 to start the season.
Both of his strikes were fantastic. He scored his first in the 77th minute, picking up a pass from Sacha Kljestan just outside the area and curling a 20-yard strike inside the far post to pull the Red Bulls level. He bagged the game-winner six minutes later, smashing a stunning free kick over the wall and into the top corner to give his club victory.
Felipe, 25, is in his fifth year in MLS and second season with the Red Bulls. He started all 34 regular season matches to help New York to the 2015 Supporters’ Shield after arriving in an offseason trade with Montreal. He has 17 goals and 29 assists in 130 career MLS appearances,
He beat out Philadelphia Union forward C.J. Sapong by two votes to pick up the award. Kljestan, LA Galaxy forward Gyasi Zardes and Portland Timbers striker Fanendo Adi also received votes.
The MLS Player of the Week is selected each week of the regular season by a panel of journalists from NASR. The group consists of members of print, television, radio and online media. LA forward Mike Magee won the Week 1 award and Houston midfielder Andrew Wenger bagged the Week 2 honor.
