Wondolowski makes statistical MLS history?

Discussion in 'MLS: News & Analysis' started by Stan Collins, Jul 15, 2012.

  1. Stan Collins

    Stan Collins Member+

    Feb 26, 1999
    Silver Spring, MD
    My search hasn't been totally exhaustive, but I've hit most of the high scorers, and I believe that when Chris Wondolowski scored his 16th goal this year, he became the first player in league history to score at least 16 three seasons in a row. The only 3x15 I could find was Raul Diaz Arce in the first three seasons of the league.

    Here's a partial table of total goals scored through three seasons:
    RDA (1996-1998)-56
    Roy Lassiter (1996-1998)-55
    Wondolowski (2010-current)-51
    Carlos Ruiz (2002-2004)-50
    Taylor Twellman (2002-2004)-47
    Mamadou Diallo (2000-2002)-47
    Juan Pablo Angel (2007-2009)-45
    Stern John (1998-1999)-44 (only two seasons played)
    Twellman (2005-2007)-44
    Dwayne De Rosario (2009-2011)-42
    Jaime Moreno (1996-1998)-42

    So I've been trolling around, and I think he's the first guy to get to his number since the opening years of the league.

    Also, it's looking like he has a shot to get to 20 for this season. If he did that, he'd be, AFAIK, the only player other than Landon Donovan (2008) to do it while not in his first season in the league (lots of guys have come in, taken the league by storm, and then slowed down to one extent or another). If he got to 21, which is not looking like a bad bet, he'd be the first 'league veteran' ever to get there.
     
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  2. MLSFan123

    MLSFan123 Member+

    Mar 21, 2011
    Boston Area
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Moreno went 16 16 10 early in his career.

    I just ran through a ton of the top scorers historically and I think your stat is correct.
     
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  3. Sirk

    Sirk Member+

    Apr 25, 1999
    Cleveland, OH
    Wow. That's good stuff. Thanks for the research!
     
  4. Stan Collins

    Stan Collins Member+

    Feb 26, 1999
    Silver Spring, MD
    Added.

    Also, speaking of Moreno, Landon Donovan had his 100th league assist last night, making him the second member of the 100/100 club (122/100) after Moreno (133/102).
     
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  5. Paulie4star

    Paulie4star Member

    Feb 18, 2012
    Chesapeake, Virginia
    Club:
    NSC Minnesota Stars
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I double checked and was unable to find anything to disprove your stat. Thanks for this. :)

    Edit: looks like MLSFan123 beat me to the punch. It's what I get for not reading the entire thread.
     
  6. KCbus

    KCbus Moderator
    Staff Member

    United States
    Nov 26, 2000
    Reynoldsburg, OH
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Wondo's got 17 goals, and he's got 14 team games left.

    Sick.
     
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  7. Via_Chicago

    Via_Chicago Member

    Apr 1, 2004
    Bay Area, California
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    He scored those 17 goals in only 18 games played.
     
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  8. yellowbismark

    yellowbismark Member+

    Nov 7, 2000
    San Diego, CA
    Club:
    Club Tijuana
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Wondo is also on pace to become SJ's all-time goal scorer in league games before the season is over. Wondo has 54, Ronald Cerritos is #1 with 61.
     
  9. falvo

    falvo Member+

    Mar 27, 2005
    San Jose & Florence
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    Italy
    Not taking anything away from Dom Kinnear as a coach, but I'm willing to bet he wishes he could take the Wondo for Cam Weaver trade back. From recent memory or at least in the last 20 years, the last great US born Bay Area MLS goal scorer that comes close to Wondo was Paul Bravo. When you think about the trades involving both players, everything seemed to work out great for both players but the teams that traded each guy probably are still mad about the outcome. Interestingly, one guy Dom Kinnear was involved with both transactions. Coach Laurie Calloway traded Paul Bravo to the Colorado Rapids for Dom Kinnear (the player) in 1997 who hardly ever ended up playing all that much for San Jose after being traded. Bravo went on to be a top scorer in the early year of the Rapids. Although Dom later became a successful coach, he in turn, traded Wondo for Weaver. Both Wondo and Bravo proved to be invaluable to their clubs.
     
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  10. firefan2001

    firefan2001 Member+

    Dec 27, 2000
    Oswego, Illinois
    Club:
    Chicago Fire
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Chris Wondolowski needs 11 goals in the last 14 games to break the record (Roy Lassiter 27 in 1996).
     
  11. profiled

    profiled Moderator
    Staff Member

    Feb 7, 2000
    slightly north of a mile high
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Isn't this the single season goal scoring record not the all time scoring record?
     
  12. firefan2001

    firefan2001 Member+

    Dec 27, 2000
    Oswego, Illinois
    Club:
    Chicago Fire
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Yes, you're correct.....if a mod could change it, that would be great.
     
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  13. Stan Collins

    Stan Collins Member+

    Feb 26, 1999
    Silver Spring, MD
    I merged into a single thread to track Wondo's accomplishments. As we get closer, I'll edit the top post to look at his single-season scoring against the record.

    Right now, the way I remember it, it's this:
    Lassiter-27
    John, Diallo-26
    Ruiz-24
    Twellman-23
     
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  14. sportsfan-quakes

    Mar 19, 2005
    San Jose
    Based on the stats on the mlssoccer site, this is correct. The only addition is that Raul Diaz Arce also had a 23 goal season. After that, the next highest totals are Hurtado with 21 (1996), and then Donovan and Emilio with 20 each.
     
  15. firefan2001

    firefan2001 Member+

    Dec 27, 2000
    Oswego, Illinois
    Club:
    Chicago Fire
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    20+ single season goal scorers.
    27 Roy Lassiter 1996
    26 Stern John 1998
    26 Mamadou Diallo 2000
    24 Carlos Ruiz 2002
    23 Raul Diaz Arce 1996
    23 Taylor Twellman 2002
    21 Eduardo Hurtado 1996
    20 Luciano Emilio 2007
    20 Landon Donovan 2008
     
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  16. firefan2001

    firefan2001 Member+

    Dec 27, 2000
    Oswego, Illinois
    Club:
    Chicago Fire
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Ante Razov (1998-2000)-42
     
  17. crew2112

    crew2112 Member+

    Jan 25, 2008
    Dayton, OH
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    How about a goals per number of games in a season? We've changed total games played quite a few times. I'm talking total games in a season, not games played by the player.
     
  18. Howard the Drake

    Feb 27, 2010
    It would be ideal if he broke it at 12 though...don't want there to be an HBO movie called 28*.
     
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  19. Fanatical Monk

    Fanatical Monk Member+

    Jun 14, 2011
    Fantasyland
    Stern John's 44 is really impressive. Not as impressive as his name, but impressive nonetheless.
     
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  20. tab5g

    tab5g Member+

    May 17, 2002
    Not that it's all that relevant, but somebody needs to ask or note the "PK-contribution" to these goal-scoring numbers.

    (And certainly not to take anything away from Wondo, but his 2012 and recent-season numbers will have to note the reality that MLS now plays a 34-game season, and that hasn't always been the case -- as noted by crew2112.)
     
  21. newtex

    newtex Member+

    May 25, 2005
    Houston
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Maybe but Wondo didn't do much for Houston when he played with the first team. He played in 37 games, starting 11 of those, in 3.5 seasons here. He only scored 4 goals total. Back then he was known as the "King of the Reserves" because he would light up the scoreboard in those games like he does now in SJ but on the first team he just didn't do much for us.

    On the other hand, Cam Weaver hasn't done a lot but he has scored 10 goals.
     
  22. VioletCrown

    VioletCrown Member+

    FC Dallas
    United States
    Aug 30, 2000
    Austin, Texas
    Club:
    Austin Aztex
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    As cool as all this is (and I do find it cool), it's this part above that I find really awesome. Probably shouldn't talk about it too much as the season's just past half over, but those numbers are the sorts of numbers that you see from an elite, international-level goalscorer. I've occasionally looked at goalscorer charts in other leagues, and those are the sort of numbers that the best goalscorers in the world get.

    Granted, he's doing it in MLS and not the Premier League.

    But I do wonder why it is that he hasn't seen more time for the US. Especially considering the struggles the national team has had at forward. And, yes, I see that he's had 8 appearances for the nats and hasn't scored yet.
     
  23. LouisianaViking07/09

    Aug 15, 2009
    With those numbers, you just have to be wondering how he would be doing in the Eredivisie or Ligue 1
     
  24. Howard the Drake

    Feb 27, 2010
    In fairness, however, his minutes totaled to 917 in these 37 appearances. He scored four goals in those minutes. That's a goals/90 rate of .39. That isn't stellar but it's useful in a small sample size.
     
  25. quakesfollower

    Oct 10, 2009
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Wondo also played midfield quite a bit when he was subbed in by Kinnear late in games in Houston, as well as in San Jose in 2009 after he was first traded, so it's hard to really look at his scoring rate. The only year in Houston where he got any consistent time was early 2009 before he was traded. That year he played in 7 of the first 11 games (starting 3), playing 287 minutes. He scored 2 goals and had 1 assist, for a 0.63 g/90 rate (over an admittedly very small sample, but still....).

    Maybe Kinnear did him a favor by sitting him so long so he could play in the Reserves and learn the game, but it's not like there weren't at least some signs that he would be a useful striker in the league based on his limited minutes and reasonable scoring with Houston (and his very high scoring rate in the Reserve league). I think Kinnear just was biased by his preference for very athletic forwards (either very tall or very fast) and never really saw what Wondo could bring.

    I know it's a stretch, but these are the same reasons I'd really like to see Wondo get some consistent playing time with the USMNT. So far, his time has been very similar to what he got in Houstone - just small pieces of time here and there, nothing consistent. Maybe he would be able to translate his play to the International level just as he has in MLS if he is given 2 or 3 games with some consistent playing time. Regardless, even if he never does anything with the USMNT, it's been very enjoyable to see him perform in San Jose the past 3 years.
     
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