BY ADAM SERRANO
Chris Wondolowski continued his MVP-caliber season on Wednesday with a hat trick in the San Jose Earthquakes, 3-0 victory over Chivas USA.
Wondolowski began the match on the bench and came on as a sub late in the first half after Cornell Glen left with an injured hamstring. In his 50 minutes on the field, Wondolowski scored three goals, in the 55th, 59th and 72nd minute respectively. The three goals brought Wondolowski's season total to 17 goals and allowed him to pull even with Los Angeles Galaxy forward Edson Buddle for the MLS Golden Boot.
In the process, the forward broke the Earthquakes single season record of 15, which was set by Ronald Cerritos in 1999. Wondolowski has the Earthquakes last nine goals and has been responsible for more than more than half of the club's goals this season (17 of 33 goals). The last time an Earthquake not named Wondolowski scored was September 5th.
The Earthquakes took the lead in the 55th minute when, Chivas USA defender Michael Umana brought down Wondolowski in the box forcing a penalty kick. Wondolowski easily slotted his effort past Chivas USA goalkeeper Kevin Guppy, who made his MLS debut filling in for starter Zach Thornton. Four minutes later, Wondolowski would score again slotting a low shot past the hapless Guppy.
Wondolowski completed his second hat trick of the season by finishing a Ryan Johnson cross on a volley from eight yards out. By earning the shut out, the Earthquakes set a team record for shut outs in a season with 13. San Jose's final match before the playoffs is Saturday on the road against the Kansas City Wizards. Following the match, Earthquakes head coach Frank Yallop stated that Wondolowski will likely not start against the Wizards, but will play some role in the match.
Chivas USA finish their dismal 2010 campaign on Saturday at home against the equally disappointing Chicago Fire.
Here are the highlights:
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Should Wondolowski be considered for league MVP? Can the Quakes jump ahead of the Sounders for the 4th spot in the West?
Share your thoughts below.
Please, Beckham has played in how many games? Like 6, and only 4 of those were starts? He only has 1 Goal and 1 Assist this season. Not significant enough to take anything away from Donovan or Buddle.
I agree that Donovan will hurt Buddle’s chances.
This is MLS MVP, not just team MVP. I’m not arguing that Le Toux isn’t far and away the MVP of the Union this season, but his numbers (13 G, 11 A) aren’t so far and a way that much better than anyone else that he runs away with it. His numbers are very comparable to Ferreira (8 G, 13 A) and Donovan (7 G, 15 A), and Montero (10 G, 10 A) and they all play on better teams. Face it, the fact that Le Toux plays on a 7th Place, 8-14-7 team, severely hurts his chances.
Also, the fact that Donovan and Buddle play on the same team, hurts each of their chances too. I think Wondo will end up with it. The ‘Quakes wouldn’t be anywhere near the playoffs without him, whereas the Union would still not be in the playoffs and would just be even sh*ttier without Le Toux
I guess you must have done poorly on the SAT’s in high school. I wrote that Bradley said he’ll give some players a rest (meaning NOT call them up) for the November friendly against South Africa. Then I wrote that those players will probably be Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan. Of course Bradley will not call up Donovan for a friendly if the galaxy are still in the playoffs. That goes without saying, for any MLS player for that matter. I’m just saying that even if the Galaxy are done (which as Galaxy fan, I hope they won’t be) that Donovan should be given a rest.
Our forward solution probably won’t come out of MLS, but we won’t know until Wondo gets some caps and gets to show what he can do.
He’s earned a look and I hope he makes the most of it. I’m just not holding my breath.
You just compared him to David Villa…need I say more..wow
great US striker = EJ? that phrase and name should never be used in the same sentence.
He said give him a rest no matter what..read
Shoot me.
Spain does NOT have an abundance of talk strikers, i see what you are trying to say, but not all countries have tall strikers.
You are right about not getting the type of service that Buddle gets. What he gets is service via Giovanni and Convey as well as Alvarez…those three players are above average type players in the MLS. In addition to that, he scored a hat trick once in a game that he didn’t start against a piss-poor chivas team that gave up half-way through the first half….OF THE SEASON…I think he is good striker, makes good decisions, has a nose for goal and most importantly, he scores goals. It is what you want in a striker. And I think he should get a look for the USA soon.
However, by the glittering generalities that you use to describe his accomplishments this year is a bit much.
I guess you could add Jozy… but we’ve failed more than succeeded with MLS strikers
Robbie Findlay- talentless and crap
Herc Gomez – straight crap
Buddle- classless and crap
Jeff Cunnigham – old crap
Chris Wondolowski- david villa like finishing instincts, the answer to usa scoring woes, straight class on/off the field.
absolutely wondo-ful!
i was a big wondo fan here in houston (one of the few back in his reserve days for houston). it must be remembered that he was on the back to back mls cup winnering dynamo. and obviously couldnt break into the squad with ching, d-ro, ale moreno, jaqua and ngwenya in great form. it isnt surprising to me that he is up for the golden boot and mvp though. he led the mls/dynamo reserves in scoring for a few years in a row. just needed a chance to show his talent. i was very distraught to see him go but glad he finally got an opportunity to show his class. Dale Wondo! Miss you in houston. congrats on the MVP (buddle is classless, and crap). cant wait to buy a wondo national team jersey
Get this kid into camp. If Jozy could finish like this we would have beaten England and Poland. Yeah, I know its a different level, but he is certainly worth taking an extended look at. Get him into the Jan camp, at the latest. Why not Nov in S. Africa?
I don’t see how he doesn’t get a call-up in January. I don’t see him making the 24 hour trip to South Africa.
As for the MVP talk, it has come down to Buddle and Wondo. It isn’t about who scores the most goals, it is about how valuable they are to their team. Look at both players, the goals they’ve contributed (goals and assists), and the points earned from their play. I could see Wondo getting it just because he has been on fire lately and is the hot topic. But they are both deserving of the award.
Sure, but what we need right now is a forward who can finish. We’ll get into protoypes later, but we need some goals.
Cheers to to the Goats for laying down and letting Wondolowski close the gap on Buddle.
Goats=Clippers of the MLS.
What we need is a 6’3 target striker.
Every nation in the world has several if not an abundance of 6’1-6’4 strikers. We have just Jozy whose 6’1. we don’t need more 5’10 guys.
don’t forget Kenny Cooper.
Only great US strikers to come out of MLS were EJ and Brian McBride and Donovan.
I don’t see how anyone could say Buddle is the MVP when playing with Donovan, Beckham and Ricketts. Ricketts is what leads the defense, Donovan is who sets the plate for Buddle, and Beckham when playing is an opposing team focus. Buddle is a nice player, and perhaps Golden Boot winner, but has way too many parts around him that make his job easier, to be an MVP. Wondo doesn’t have those, and is making a strong push late. I think it’s between him and Ferrira in Dallas, with Le Toux in 3rd and Donovan in 4th.
Woah, Deja vu. The wording in this post is eerily similar to Steve Goff’s article on the same topic from Soccer Insider; not trying to insinuate anything. I just found it very strange. Although, it almost seems as if some of the sentences were just copied and pasted and a few key words were changed.
Good post. MLS forwards not named Donovan have not been all that great for us at the NT level. But as you said credit where credit is due.
but credit is due where credit is due….
man is on FIIIIREEEE
seen this before….mls player gets hot, gets USMNT call up.. not getting my hopes up
Robbie Findlay
Herc Gomez
Buddle
Jeff Cunningham
….I don’t think our fwd resolution is going to come out of the MLS.
And he’s got the perfect last name for a good nickname.
Who you mad at, about what?
Man, that trade is looking terrible by the Dynamo. Where was this type of production when Wondo was in Houston?
As long as San Jose and LA meet in the first round of the playoffs I’ll be happy.
yup, the man knows how to finish.
Danville
you’re also prejudiced by the timing of their hottest streaks. buddle’s hottest streak was at the beginning of the season, when the galaxy stormed out to a huge lead.
wondolowski’s has been hotted toward the end of the season, which obviously is fresher in everyone’s memory.
+1 Amen
bradley will not call donovan up for a friendly if the galaxy is in the playoffs. that’s ridiculous.
Call him up!
The difference between Wondo and Buddle is the QUALITY of the goals and the quality of service….Wondo can shoot with both legs, with accuracy, one-timing touches and at difficult angles. If he had the quality service of Donovan and Becham, he’d have a lot more goals
Please Le Toux ,did it on a team that was a true expansion team. Buddle had a break out year but it was not that unexpected. Wondo is on a team that he is carrying but I think you have to give strong consideration to David Ferreira in Dallas. They might have had the most surprising year of anybody in MLS. To me if you take a player away from a team, how would that team do is the real question. To me, Le Toux should have strong consideration for that alone and the man never stops. He plays D and can pass the ball as well, as you can see by his assist total. Two me, this is a three horse race that comes down to the last game.
Ferreira would probably be 3rd or 4th along with Fredy Montero. While Le Toux has been great, frankly I don’t think he deserves it because his team is so sh*tty. You aren’t THAT good if your team can’t even make the playoffs
As much as I hate San jose I have to give props to wondolowski for coming out of no where and scoring all these goals
True
On the other hand Wondolowski has played more minutes than Buddle (2218 vs. 2020 according to the MLS website) and 3 of Wondolowski’s 17 goals have been penalty kicks, whereas none of Buddle’s have.
I agree with some other posts however, that Wondolowski is probably much more valuable to San Jose than Buddle is to Los Angeles.
Oh, and is that Christian Miles doing the play-by-play? How bad is he? He actually hurts my ears.
Wondolowski’s stats are about the same as Buddle’s, dude. If either won the MVP award, I wouldn’t have a problem with it, but as good as Buddle has been, Wondolowski’s season was about as good, if not better because he was almost an unknown before the season.
Buddle deserves to be MVP he has 17 goals, 7 game winning goals and 4 multi goal games and he missed games 5 games because of the world cup
Man, where did this guy come from? If someone would have told me before the start of the season that Chris Wondolowski would score 17 goals I would have said, “Chris who?” I’m glad he’s finally found a team he fits in with, because this dude is on fire.
On a related note, Chivas USA are a garbage team.
isn’t that what golden boot is for?
I’d be happy for Wondo to have it, but David in Dallas and even Le Toux are also worthy contenders. Pretty magical run for the local boy though, what a year.
Wondo better get the MVP over Buddle even if Buddle wins the golden boot. Imagine the Galaxy w/o Buddle….now imagine the quakes w/o Wondo. Buddle has a much better supporting cast than Wondo. Buddle’s got Beckham, Donovan and Juninho while Wondo has Geovanni, Convey and Johnson….
But the main reason Wondo should win it over Buddle: WOndo has (so far) NINE GAME WINNING GOALS! NINE! Thats a whopping 27 points thanks to Wondo (and that does not include his game tying goals)
MVP is either Wondo or Buddle. Whoever finishes with the most goals should get it.
Camp Cupcake January Friendlies for sure. As for the November friendly in South Africa, first of all it depends if San Jose are still in the playoffs, if they are done then yeah I see it as a possibility, especially since Bob has already said that he’ll give some players a rest (probably Dempsey, Donovan too, no matter if the Galaxy are still alive or not).
It’s not an MVP “type” season, it IS an MVP season. He’s leading the league in goals scored and he hasn’t even been playing forward all season like Buddle (he’s played a lot of midfield), he gets hat tricks when he doesn’t start and only plays 50 minutes, and he doesn’t get the same service that Buddle gets from Landon Donovan.
Query: USMNT consideration for Wondolowski? Discuss amongst yourselves…