If we're talking pure POACHING, the answer has to be Wondolowski. Dempsey was a far better all-around player, and arguably the best US goalscorer for club and country, but he was far more than a poacher. He was a skillful midfielder with a cannon shot (see goal vs. Stoke) and skill (see chip vs Juventus, or turn vs. Turkey). Most of his career wasn't as a forward, poaching goals. That was simply the last stage of his career. Wondo was an average athlete in his prime, a late-bloomer, and someone who never developed the shooting ability nor skills that could turn him into a striker that could even approach someone like Dempsey's level. But what he does is get on the end of balls in the 6-yard box for no good reason (he's not out-jumping or out-muscling anyone) with a consistency that's incredible. That's why he was praised by Lampard after the MLS All-Star game, and why he was on hand to miss that JJ knockdown vs. Belgium. Nowadays, as he's gotten older, he's had to rely even more on simply being in the right place at the right time. His endurance and athleticism has declined, and yet he still posts 10+ goal seasons on decent and poor Quakes teams, including being the top US Goalscorer in MLS at the ripe old age of 36. The way I look at it, Wondo shouldn't have been successful at all, yet had success for a decade ONLY because of poaching. Dempsey's goals weren't usually poachers goals, and he was a far better, multi-talented player.
O/T but I kinda wonder how Wondo might have done in Europe considering his sustained success over the past decade. Could he have done well in the Championship or in Belgium?
Sure, but I'd argue his output was greater than his skill, at the end of the day. His physicality and his bull-headed attack elevated very decent skill to star levels.
Dempsey was quite capable of creating his own chances. A typical poacher needs someone else to create chances for him. Because of the typical style the USA plays, where team comes before individual, we've seldom have poachers last long with the NT. Twellman is probably the best poacher we've had, which is not to say much.
Agree 100%. It's why Demps, even though a very good poacher, had to play in the midfield/withdrawn/playmaking role - he had too many other skills. Now, if we had a stacked midfield, full of guys better than Demps, would he have ended up as a "pure" striker? - when we get a parallel universe, I'm gonna pitch we get that one!
Dempsey created his own chances at times, but was still our best poacher. Aggressive, great instincts, and strong in the air.
155 goals in 320 games for the Quakes, for a guy who couldn't really pass, never dribbled or shot from distance, didn't have much in the way of hold-up play, etc. That's a poacher all over. Like Inzaghi, he can't really play football, he's just always in the right place. And he's every bit as productive as he was when he joined the Quakes 10 years ago (those stats include 15 goals in 32 games last season), in a league that's a damn sight better than it was in 2009.
Wondo at the NT level scored 11 goals. Of those: 3 against Cuba 3 against Belize 2 against Guatemala 2 against South Korea's B team in a Camp Cupcake 1 against Mexico So he only scored one goal against a strong rival. Dempsey also played that game and, as usual against Mexico, everything he tried failed to go. That moment, Beltran to Bradley to Wondo, when he swept the ball into the net in typical poacher fashion, was Chris's zenith. But I don't think it's enough to call him a poacher for the NT.
Wondo, oh Wondo, You poacher extraordinaire-o, But in the battle of battles, With Timmy’s posts rattled, A sitter you launched into the strato
The Sargent thread is talking about Dempsey & Wondo; the Soto thread is discussing Haji and Agudelo; and the Dest thread is about to descend into a debate on the geopolitics of the Middle East. Must be January at BS.
So sad that it happened like that, too. I felt like I was the only person in the bar where I was watching that was excited when Wondo came in, and when that ball was falling to him I just knew he would send it home. Alas, it was the team that got sent home.
Sargent starts today according to Werder's live ticker. Assuming Steffen will, too. Morales? https://www.werder.de/matchcenter/startcenter/