I think he's been a bit unlucky in that the factors superdave has described applied to his MLS coaches seeing his potential when he was 22, 23. If he'd gotten a normal MLS career arc for a top player, he'd have been breaking through into being a staple of his team by 24 or so, and at some point he'd have gotten some nibbles from European clubs, in second-tier leagues at least. Then we'd have seen whether he could really adjust to the higher level. Comparatively, it's kind of hard to try to do that one a one-off. We've seen MLS players going abroad often taking several months to make that jump. I think he's probably a better player than the guy he most often gets compared to, Taylor Twellman. Taylor had the same ability to find half a step and turn that into a shot, and I think his reaction time was just a wee bit faster (there's a reason he was offered a minor league baseball contract out of high school), but I agree that Wondo seems to be able to get better shots off and from more awkward angles. I haven't looked it up, but I'd bet his SOG:G ratio is better than Taylor's. And he's certainly kept the goalscoring levels higher after he'd been in the league a season and opponents had a chance to scout him in depth than was Twellman.
Interesting idea. This is what I came up with for the top all-time league goalscorers. Looks like Wondo leads at 0.43, with Ching just behind him at 0.426. Significant dropoff after that to Donovan at 0.392, then another drop to Lassiter at 0.373. EDIT: Ok, went ahead and sorted it:
Because your cutoff was just a little higher than I was hoping I decided to add one more: Conor Casey 49 106 .462
I know that people have widely varying opinions as to how to count PK goals...but G/SOG seems to be one area where you REALLY need to discount PKs or else you're going to completely distort what you're trying to describe. I know that's a hell of alot more work, so we can just finesse it by discussing which of those guys scored alot of PK goals, without worrying about the misses. For one thing, I'll bet that accounts for Steve Ralston's high ranking. But that's a quibble about the list as a whole. When it comes to Wondo, Neuworld did a terrific job using stats to buttress a subjective point, namely, that while the main skill of Wondo's that pundits talk about is his ability to get space to get off a shot, his ability to get that shot off frame is his real main asset.
Casey needs to score more goals to make the first page if he wants to be included Seriously though, yeah, Casey's numbers are all very good. I could do that, but how? I'm thinking I could subtract their PK goals from their goals and PK attempts from SOG. Only problem with that is that it assumes all attempts are SOG.
Frank Stranzl @frankstranzl #WondoFact: @ChrisWondo is one game-winning goal away from tying the @MLS record. Could see history tonight. #clutch
Well he had 1 goal with 1 SOG tonight, so he's only one off the first page of the list and his ratio is now .467
Wondo screwed up on the 2nd pk last night. I just don't get the encroachment call on the pk. I mean there is always movement into the penalty box on every pk I've ever seen and even on the second one where Wondo missed so why wasn't that called or does the ref give them advantage to Dallas on that one? I mean I know its the rules of the game but every player approaches the box on each pk so why all of sudden is it called now? Don't get it. Quakes & Wondo were fortunate to get out of that one....
What are the chances that re-taken penalty kick ends up being the decider of him breaking the record...
This may sound ridiculous, but Wondo reminds me of Raul. He never looked the part either, but he was a poacher plain and simple. If he could latch on to a good mid table Italian or Spanish side that gets some possession, I think he could be a goal machine. He needs good through ball or head service because he's not going to go all Suarez or Messi anytime soon. He's got the movement off the ball though. He's really good at making that diagonal run through the defensive line unmarked, and then he scores with any part of his body.
Yeah, at this point, doesn't seem like it's going to happen, but historically he's gone into stretches where he's scored in bunches (hat tricks, braces, etc.). So we'll see - needs another one of those stretches.
Everyone jinxed him with all the talk. That said, 11 in 10 isn't unthinkable. One hat trick would bring it down to 8 in 9. A brace on top of that and it'd be 6 in 8. In 2010, when he ended up on 18, he only had 7 goals after the second week of August.
Just pointing out that he got 11 goals in the last 2 1/2 months to close out the 2010 season, so he's done it before. Last year he also got half his goals after the second week of August. He tends to score more at the end of the season.
I figure he's likely to end up with 22-23 goals which is still pretty damn good. No one has scored that many in several years. And it would definitely warrant a few more call-ups soon.
After his PK goal against Montreal on 8/19 he's down to needing 9 goals in 9 games to tie and 10 in 9 to break the record.
It's a small sample size, but in each of the last two seasons he ended the season very strongly. In 2010 he scored 10 goals in his last 9 games, and in 2011 he scored 8 goals in his last 9 games. I don't see it happening because defenses key so much more on him now (part of why Gordon and Lenhart are scoring so many goals), but it's not out of the question.
After not scoring again last night (8/25), Wondolowski remains at 18 goals. He still needs 10 goals with 8 games left to break the record.
Two matches against Chivas (who has really fallen off defensively), two against Portland, and one against Colorado could help him make things interesting.
I think calling Wondo a poacher who is good at deflecting the ball is selling him a little bit short. He does poach, but his overall ability to finish is probably the best in the league, I'd say that the only guy who's even come close in recent years has been JPA. Wondo is one of those rare players who seems equally comfortable scoring with his head or either foot, he can do it from distance or up close, he pulls the trigger so fast he hardly needs any space, and his technique is excellent (go through his highlights and look at some of the volleys he's hit over the years). He is also extremely athletic, it's just that his athletic abilities lie in the area of balance and agility instead of the more often recognized and lauded (or fawned over) speed and strength.