He's So Wondo! The continuing chronicle of Chris Wondolowski's career

Probably wanted to give him a chance and to give him some respect, rather than one day he's always called in, and then the Bruce is there and no more invites.

 

Sadly his international career is seemingly defined by one missed goal...

 

If only Theo Epstein were managing USMNT, things would have been different.

 

Would it not be bizarre if Landon took Wondo's spot? that would be an interesting counterpoint to Jurgen's machinations before the last World Cup...

 

Anybody who thinks Wondo took Donovan's spot for the WC should just stop, though. If it came down to it, Green took the spot Donovan would have had. Many times Donovan and Wondo have been on the field for the US together at the same time with very positive results. But that's all in the past now... let's see what the next generation brings (unless Wondo goes on a two year tear again starting with this upcoming season).

I'm really curious to see how Wondo does this season. I really hope for a bounce back year, but did he even play that bad last season? His game depends on service and the team around him was awful, he played a bit out of position often, but still accounted for over 1/3 of the team's goals and tacked on 3 assists while missing 4 games on USMNT duty. Personally for my "eye test" I did think his play wasn't his very best, but he should be far from done.

Hercules Gomez just spoke very highly of him on ESPN, calling him a generational talent.

A lot of us have said this before, his game isn't really built on speed, despite his age he could still have a few more big seasons for the Quakes.

 

Total rolling eyeballs here. I'm excited about the new GM but Fioranelli completely took Gomez' statement out of context. Hercules isn't saying Wondo is being wasted because he's not being used.

He is either saying Wondo is being wasted because the crap around him isn't good enough to get the ball to him, OR he's saying if you have one of the best forwards the league has ever seen over a 7 year stretch, you should have made the playoffs more than once, which then circles back the fact that the crap around him isn't good enough and/or the coaching stinks.

 

Herc and Jesse are talking about different things.

 

Not sure how it can be interpreted in any other way...

 

Meh, I don't think Jesse is necessarily missing the point. I think he is emphasizing that it is a team game, and we should not be emphasizing a single player's stats so much. We tend to emphasize Wondo's goal scoring but he influences his team in many other ways as well, with his passion, his mentoring of younger players, etc. And frankly he needs to own his part of the team's recent failures. I think he would be the first to admit that his finishing was not very good last year.

Also, Jesse made the point that you don't want to rely on one player to score all of your goals. It makes you too one dimensional and easier to defend. And again, frankly, Wondo is part of that problem as well. He combines pretty well with teammates and has a good soccer brain, but he is very slow and can't really beat anyone on the dribble. That makes it difficult from him to help other players score a lot of goals. He typically gets just a couple assists per year.

Wondo's game is such that it limits how you can build your team. He is too slow to play in midfield and does not do well at all as a target, so you need to pair him up with a forward who is both a good target and has some decent speed to keep the back line honest. Those players tend to be hard to find. Hope Hoesen can be something close to that, 'cause Ureña is not, and Olmes is probably not either. And now you are also limited to 2 in the front, and cannot play a 5-man midfield like a lot of MLS teams play unless you go 3 in the back (which Kinnear is reluctant to do). That often leads to your center mids playing more defensively to deal with a 5-man opponent's midfield, etc. And thus we have the "empty bucket" or "double pivot".

To be clear, I am a Wondo fan, and believe that he should still be a regular starter. But he limits the team tactically. It is harder to build a team with him in the lineup.

So to me Gomez's argument boils down to "the Quakes should be a better team!", which is kind of a "duh". Every team should be a better team.

And FTR I disagree even more with Herc's "solution", which is to sign and deploy more domestic MLS veterans in lieu of international signings. Rather than domestic MLS veterans, I think at this point, with presumably a better conduit to international players via Jesse, we should be emphasizing a mixture of difference-making international players along with developing young talent, domestic or otherwise, and there are a number of promising young players on the team today.

 

how long until he becomes MLS top scorer?

 

Really glad to see the success he has achieved though with all MLS stars I do wonder how he might have done in Europe. Though considering his age when he started scoring (26/27) and with no NT caps, he probably would have had few interest worth moving for.

 

If he scores 24 more goals, he will have surpassed LAndy....

 

Wondo you home grown player you!

Chris Wondolowski added to US roster for World Cup qualifiers

 

he will last forever

 

Kind of saw this coming with the Wood injury and one game at Avaya. Go Wondo!

 

With his second goal in five games in 2017, Wondo remains on pace to move into second place among all-time MLS goal scorers this year. And if he can keep the same pace next season, he would eclipse Landon Donovan to emerge the top goal scorer of all-time by the end of 2018.

 

Oh Wondo. #NEvSJ pic.twitter.com/0adx6H8Y9Z

— Ben Baer (@BenBaer89) April 20, 2017

 

Too bad he whiffed. If he was actually trying to pass and not shoot Hyka was wide open in front of the net.

 

It's bringing back some of the same old jokes and memories elsewhere. Poor Wondo.

 

i think wondo focused on the goalie's positioning to prepare for the shot and misjudged the fast moving cross on the faster field turf surface. just a lack of concentration on his part, like when someone drops a dink pass in the other football. could have happened to anyone, but it happened to wondo. that sucks.

 

Not like Kei Kamara hasn't fallen on his ass trying to score from literally an inch away from goal. And, as we learned on the telecast last night, he and Wondo have actually buried more goals than any current MLS players.

 

I just think he was trying to shoot when he had a bad angle and a man wide open in the box. If the players were reversed Wondo would be screaming about not looking for the pass.

 

It was wet on plastic... those things happen in those kinds of conditions.