This is more or less what it is, I think. What he offers is basically duplicated by Dempsey and by Gomez. He's not going to beat Dempsey. And in his (limited) time with the national team, he has not beaten Gomez. It's a tough break, particularly since the bar for center backs is about to be a lot lower, but that's what it is. I hope he gets a chance to make an impression in January Camp and at the Gold Cup next year, but then if nothing further came of that, then that would basically be the end of the line. (And I doubt the Quakes would be happy to spare him for 3 weeks next summer, for that matter...)
wondo has boyd, aguedolo who are viewed more highly than wondo wondoin gold cup and excelling is his only chance to get in the mix
two star players from their biggest club Rapid Vienna, Salihi and Boskovic, have come over here in their prime in the last few years and often could not even get off the bench at DC United and were mere squad players in MLS. the average salary in austria is 100k, the league's uefa coefficient is lower than cyprus, they only have 10 clubs, half of whom play in 7-10k capacity stadiums.
Hard to believe. Austria is ranked above Denmark which is a pretty solid league and not exactly far off from Greek/Turkish leagues. where did u get the salary figure? Sounds more align with 3 Bundesliga
when he says "bundesliga" he is referring to the austrian bundesliga, not german bundesliga http://www.fifpro.org/news/print_news/1895
i'll take boyd any day of the week over wondo we might well see them paired togetehr in gold cup though they both do different things.. wondo season is over and boyd is still playing and has a better future jk seems to like boyd, and has wondo well down in epcking oder sj fans need to come to grip wiyh some reaity there
Wondo makes the roster for the January training camp: http://www.ussoccer.com/Teams/US-Men/Latest-Roster/130106-Jan-Training-Camp.aspx
Wondo wasn't drafted in the 4th round of the super draft, he was actually in the 4th round of the supplemental draft (8th round overall). If the roster size weren't expanded by 4 that year, he never would have had much of a shot of making an MLS roster. That 8th round of the draft in 2005 ended up having a surprising amount of talent as Dan Kennedy, Jeff Larentowicz, and Dan Gargan were also in that round. It just goes to show that there are a lot of players out there who could end up becoming descent MLSers if given a chance to develop, and MLS teams are very bad at recognizing who they are.
Apparently Twellman thinks he can make an impact, although I haven't read the whole article because I'm not an "insider" - http://insider.espn.go.com/sports/s...tional-team-chris-wondolowski-big-opportunity
Both have/had what it takes against CONCACAF foes in the Hex, which was/is our first priority. Twellman did have 30 caps, not zero.....and did score against CONCACAF foes like Panama and El Salvador. Like Twellman, Wondo will probably be one of the last cuts (and put on the alternate list) for the World Cup. Players like this (and Ravoz and others before him) sometimes play a crucial role in qualifiers. You need to build this kind of depth, because injuries/suspensions will inevitably hit.
In the Klinsmann era, the USMNT has scored 10 non-penalty goals, in significant games. Of those, Dempsey has scored 4, Bocanegra 2, Gomez 2 and Eddie Johnson 2. So the basic trend continues: most goals are NOT scored by strikers or central forwards (EJ scored while playing as left wing; Dempsey playing as AM in the hole). Playing with 2 strikers or 1 striker + 1 CF has made no difference. The goals come from midfield, or during set pieces thanks to Boca. Thus, the question is: can someone with Wondo's characteristics work in a team where most of the threat comes from behind the forward positions? I don't think he can. All the games he played, Wondo had the right idea, but was time and again late in arriving: he thinks like a net forward, expecting to be the focus of the attack. The USMNT doesn't do that. The move comes from midfield, and the striker is there _before_ the final move, either to catch a rebound, or to offer an open outlet when the midfielders/wingers run out of options on their side. Basically, to be successful in the US team, a forward cannot remain in place waiting for a pass, but must think ahead and place himself in the position where he will be useful as an afterthought to the wing/central play. Something Gomez can do a lot better than Wondo.
Sad that Wondo isn't considered a DP in MLS. Have to pay those old washed up guys instead. I don't think he's USMNT material but he deserves a nice raise for his league performances.
Chris Wondolowski just signed a new contract. If he wanted more money, he could have gone abroad. Wondo, by the way, started his career in 2005 at the league minimum. (barely enough money to pay rent) He signed a new contract in 2009, before his breakout, to a modest $48k per year. They gave him a new contract in 2011 that paid him $175k/year. Due to his success, San Jose then immediately locked him up in 2012 for $300k. That contract is thru 2016. This is usually what happens in MLS. If a player keeps proving himself, his salary can rise rapidly. In only three years Wondo increased his salary more than 6-fold. If foreign clubs come calling, San Jose may have to raise his salary even further in order to keep him happy. He is paid considerably more than most of his San Jose teammates. Other Camp cupcake players from San Jose like Morrow and Beitashour made $44k last year. I don't think it's sad in MLS that a guy like Wondo "only" makes 300k. It's sad that good players like Morrow and Beitashour only make $44k. But................San Jose's gonna need to give them a pay raise in order to keep them.
I'll respectfully disagree with your analysis. First the premise, then the conclusion. If it is true that most goals USMNT scored only 10 non-pk goals in "non significant games" (I assume this means qualifiers), why bother playing with a striker (or two) at all. Let's do a Barca/Spain and play with six midfielders. Since I don't think anyone is advocating that, the foundation of your argument is flawed. There needs to be at least one striker. I'd even argue for two, as we saw when Johnson and Gordon played together up top we got two goals in quick succession. Your conclusion is also flawed to the extent it suggests that Wondo simply sits in place waiting for a pass. If you think that then you don't know his game. His best skill is movement and anticipation, followed by finishing. I've been impressed with Gomez in this regard so I'm not necessarily saying Wondo rates higher than him here, but to suggest that Wondo is static, suggests that you don't know Wondo. Being in the right place "before the final move" is exactly what Wondo does. The better analysis I've seen discussed and I don't disagree with it is that Wondo and Dempsey probably don't mix well. Both move into the same spaces. And when they played together they very frequently were both doing that causing spacing (and finishing) problems.
Wondo is not static. He just places himself behind the opponent's defensive line, in open space, as any forward that expects a pass to finish the chance himself. Herc places himself close to the attacking midfielders and often even behind them, not as someone expecting to be part of the build-up, but as someone ready to catch the rebound, and close enough to offer and outlet once Dempsey, Donovan, Bradley, Johnson or Jones found themselves without any space. The one goal he scored during the run-of-play, he came from behind the attacking mids, matter of fact, during that game, he was _shadowing_ either Bradley or Donovan most of the time. See: The role of the striker is to score, for that he has to shoot. Nowhere in the job descriptions says he must be the most advanced player. Herc comes from behind for his best chances. That's how Donovan scored many of his goals, too, even when he was on paper playing forward: he came running from behind, because he was keeping an eye on how the rival's defense was opening up as a result of the midfield advance. Wondo, on the other hand, keeps himself away from the AMs/Wingers, like the handbook says: looking for open space, and on the line with the other team's defense. That works with Quakes, where Baca, Corrales and Cronin use him as their focus, and they are not taking the shots themselves. It doesn't work in a team where the scoring "stars" are in midfield. See: The commentator himself makes the point: the USA does better with two runners in the box, not so much because these forwards score, but because they open up space for the people who actually score, the attacking mids or side mids/wingers. Wondo, and Bunbury for that matter, keep themselves out of the scoresheet by following the handbook --even when JK included Evans and Larentowicz, two guys who offer no scoring threat, the play was kept to the sides with Shea and Zusi, rather than focusing centrally (although, by then, USA was with 10 men). Look at 2:13 of the second video: Wondo is on the line with the defenders, waiting for the through-pass. In the USA, the only guy who makes those passes time and again is Donovan. Without him, Wondo's position is hopeless: he'll be too late for the rebounds, he's too far for the attacking mids to quickly rely a short ball to him for the finish, he's in a too-advanced position to be of use once the build-up becomes scoring opportunity. Time and again, playing with the USA, Wondo has been half a second too late.
So look, I appreciate the thought and time you put into the response, but it's still not right. The premise is that it is better to have a forward that gets out of the way of the midfielders to let them score, and for the striker to clean up the scraps. That's not a great base on which to build a world cup team, at least if scoring goals is the object. If that was what was being practiced in the game where Gomez scored, by almost ruining and getting in the way of Bradley's chance, then it's not that clever. See how close he is to picking off Bradley's shot? Anyways Gomez did start the build up in that play and if he did not bungle his way into Bradley's rebound, Dempsey was "advanced" and there to deposit it in the net if not for Gomez. Which inures to others' point that Wondo and Dempsey often occupy the same space. The other problem is that it assumes that Wondo only leads the front line. Which BTW he did effectively in the Panama game clip you posted. He gets the flick header leading to Zusi's goal. Then he gets a rebound header attempt "leading the line" after the long range strike. (If Gomez were sitting back as you propose is better, there is no forward there for the rebound). If JK told him to drop back more, he would and could. He does it all the time for the Quakes - even playing - gasp - midfield from time to time and cleaning up the Bash Brothers' sloppy seconds.
I think Jared DuBois made a really good point on his podcast, as long as he keeps scoring goals at the rate he is in the MLS, he'll keep getting chances with the Nats.
Take this however you want. My bro played soccer at sf state and in the off season in the super y league where he played with some cal players now in the mls. A couple weeks ago he was talking with one an went to a indoor game with him where heir were a lot of former college players and some ex pros. However to his surprise Wondo showed up and played. He went head to head with him in a old games and he was able to take the ball from him and did a great job of marking him. I know wondo's game doesn't translate great to a small field and my bro said he was unbelievably quick and made excellent one touch passes but if Wondo isn't using his time off to go overseas and train and is going to events like this combine with his age I can't see him having a future with the national team.