Sacha Kljestan and Bradley Wright-Phillips discuss MLS Rivalry Week, Hudson River Derby, and more

Major League Soccer is currently in the midst of another jam-packed Rivalry Week, giving fans multiple derby matches to salivate over. MLS Rivalry Week takes place over three match days, creating a week of highly anticipated matchups between heated opponents from all corners of the league.

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During the excitement, MLS legends Bradley Wright-Phillips, Sacha Kljestan, and Ignacio Piatti sat down to speak with GOAL to reflect on some of their own experiences playing in heated MLS derby matches and discuss the week in general alongside MLS Executive Producer Ignacio Garcia.

"You know how I look at derby's," asked Wright-Phillips. "The majority of professional football players and even teams. They don't always get to play in cup finals all the time; a lot of teams won't even play in those games. A lot of players won't go to the World Cup; they won't have a Champions League Final. But [derby's] are like the biggest game after anything like that.

"For a derby, I was so nervous. I didn't get nervous games like ever, but a derby match I was fearful to lose because it felt like my career was going to be a failure... And I just think they're the next biggest thing after winning the league or any kind of cup game."

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One rivalry matchup that became the center of discussion was the highly anticipated Hudson River Derby, which will take place between New York City FC and the New York Red Bulls on Saturday, May 18, at 7:30 p.m. ET.

"Well it's crazy I think this is the tenth year of that derby now, which is crazy," said Kljestan who spent three years playing for the Red Bulls. "I think the Hudson River Derby started with such a bang because NYFC came in with [Andrea] Pirlo, [Frank] Lampard and [David] Villa. And so instantly, no matter who else was on that team, that made Brad and I, and the rest of the New York Red Bulls, think that these were giants and we had to slay them.

"Honestly, the biggest game of the year was the first time we played the Hudson River Derby because it was like, these guys are all genuine superstars, World Cup winners, and we wanna kick their a**. So, I think the first four or five years of that rivalry was dominated by big names.

"I just went through a ranking for Saturday's show of the best games in the Hudson River Derby, and one of the best ones was actually where we lost because David Villa had a hat trick and Bradley had two goals... Now it's got a little bit of a different feel... younger rosters. So now's the moment who's going to step up on each team, what player on each team can step up and say, alright, I'm a New York legend."

Both New York-based teams have gotten off to a successful start to the season with their young rosters. NYFC currently sits in fourth place in the Eastern Conference with 20 points, while the Red Bulls sit one place above them in third with 23 points.

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Kljestan and Wright-Phillips then mentioned how the homegrown players coming through both teams' academies have grown up watching the rivalry, which now adds an entirely new dimension to the derby. Wright-Phillips would later go on to mention that one of his favorite moments from any derby came from one of the early Hudson River games.

"It was at Yankee Stadium, and we were down 1-0 at halftime, and Dax McCarty, he was going crazy in the changing room," Wright-Phillips said. "He's like somebody f'n make a play, make a play, and it was so dramatic.

"And I remember I was just head in hands, and just going out at halftime I think I got an assist from Sach to get back into the game, we end up going 3-1 up. But it's just a moment I always remember in a New York Derby because it was a time a game was in the balance; we had a lot of superstars, and we needed to turn up that day, and we did."

Kljestan, on the other hand, would mention El Trafico as the best rivalry he played in MLS, while Piatti noted his fondest memories came during the Canadian Classique. The Canadian Classique will also take place on Saturday, May 18, at 7:30 p.m. ET.

Other derby matches taking place on Saturday include the Texas Derby between FC Dallas and the Houston Dynamo, the Rocky Mountain Cup between Real Salt Lake and the Colorado Rapids, and the Cascadia Cup between the Vancouver Whitecaps and Seattle Sounders.

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