Photo by Robert Stanton/USA Today Sports
By DAN KARELL
When Chris Wondolowski calmly slotted home a penalty kick last Sunday at Levi’s Stadium, it was more than just the game-tying goal for the San Jose Earthquakes.
Wondolowski’s goal was his 100th regular season goal, capping a run that began on Aug. 30, 2006 when he scored his first MLS goal on a tap-in for the Houston Dynamo against the Chicago Fire. The goal also moved the 32-year-old forward into a tie for ninth place in the all-time scoring charts in MLS history, now tied with LA Galaxy forward Edson Buddle.
“I appreciate everyone that helped me along the way, starting from youth, high school, college, and all the way up the ranks,” Wondolowski said following Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Orlando City. “I appreciate all my teammates, because I couldn’t do it without them.”
Wondolowski is now only one goal behind former New England Revolution forward Taylor Twellman, four goals behind recently retired Dwayne De Rosario, and 44 goals behind all-time goals leader Landon Donovan.
Here’s a video from MLS of all of Wondolowski’s 100 goals:
I wonder if you took the average distance to goal of all of Wondo’s 100 goals, what the distance would be…. couldn’t be much more than 8 yards.
Not that that makes him a bad player…. the same remark was often made about Ruud van Nistelrooy, perhaps the most effective poacher of the last decade.
Yeah and how many players like that are around today? They’re from a past era. Nowadays, the game is so fast and so competitive that you have to be able to do more than finish. The “poachers” of today’s game are also usually incredibly athletic and skilled (Kun Aguero, for example). I’m not sure if players like van Nistelrooj, Raul, and Inzaghi would play at top teams if they were playing today.
Not to be a hater or anything but this is about as boring of a highlight reel as you can get. Where are the goals scored from farther than ten yards away? He’s a nice MLS player but nothing more than our generation’s Twellman. I hope in ten years players like him don’t see the field in our World Cup matches.
+too many to quantify…
Below average player
What a talented striker, discovered by Klinsmann. Thank you Wondo, for all those fantastic goals.
Tally Hall, his friend, knew exactly which way Wondo was going and dove the other way on purpose. That’s the only explanation for that Century Mark goal. All of Wondo’s PKs except ONE went to the same spot, and Hall, who would have taken a ton of PKs vs Wondo in practice knew what was going on.
Not cynical, just saying.
Someone took the time to find all 100 of his goals. That’s more of an accomplishment in my mind
This video just shows that in reality there was no one more ideal to be in the position to score the goal he missed against Belgium. So many of his goals were close range/right place right time goals. If Klinnsman could have hand picked one person to be in that position he very well may have chosen Wondo. Sad he missed it, but we didn’t deserve to win that game.
I am not one of those people clamoring for wondo on the MNT, but at the same time the sheer vitriol he got for that miss was sad. Give me 5 minutes and i’ll find you a clip of Messi or Ronaldo whiffing an easy tap in. The difference beyond the vast skill gap between those players and Wondo is that, Ronaldo will get so many opportunities to score that most people will not remember when he misses a sitter. Wondo, got one shot and missed it, it cost us big( not like we actually deserved to win that game), but that does not mean he sucks or should be remembered for that.
“Give me 5 minutes and i’ll find you a clip of Messi or Ronaldo whiffing an easy tap in.”
this is the internet, you have all the time in the world; have you found the clip(s) yet?
“Wondo, got one shot and missed it,”
False, wondo took many shots, he scored a few and missed a ton–not just that one vs Belgium. The reason why he gets hated on is because of 2 things: The stage/platform of that game/moment; and because, quite frankly, he had a better option–take a touch (to lure the GK in) and pass to the wide open Clint Demspey to his left for an easy shwetty.
Is Wondo a bad person? nope.
great MLS player? pretty much.
USMNT worthy? not a chance.
A modern day Billy Buckner? not quite.
Deserving of a little flack? yes-such is sport (i.e. it’s no less wrong to cheer for a great moment than it is to scorn for a bad moment, albeit both should be held in the context of sport, not personal attacks)