With the San Jose Earthquakes’ season officially at its midpoint – 17 games down, 17 games to go – forward Chris Wondolowski also finds himself half way to the record.
Wondolowski entered the 2018 season needing 12 goals to surpass Landon Donovan’s MLS goal-scoring record of 145. After all, he reached that mark in each of the past eight seasons, save for his 11-goal campaign in 2013.
However, 13 games into the season, he had scored just twice, burying a left-footed shot against Sporting Kansas City and a penalty kick in Minnesota.
But in true Wondolowski form, he has risen to the occasion over the past few weeks and scored four goals in the last four matches, including a pair in Saturday’s California Clasico at Stanford Stadium. The other two came in the team’s match against LAFC on June 9, proving his disdain for everything SoCal.
“He’s an excellent penalty-taker, he does it in training all the time,” explained forward Danny Hoesen after the match. “He’s the penalty-taker of this team, so there’s no question who should take it. Wondo’s always in the box and always on the move. It was a bouncy rebound and he stayed calm. With the second one, you saw how badly he wanted it. He put it away with a lot of power.”
German midfielder Florian Jungwirth, who serves as captain when Wondolowski isn’t on the field, also chimed in about his pursuit.
“We all know it’s important that he makes the records, but that’s the good thing. He’s so humble that he really doesn’t care about his records,” said Jungwirth to a media scrum in the locker room. “He wants to win the games. You saw that in his celebration. He’s suffering a lot right now, so you can believe he’s not thinking about his record.”
The Quakes return to action on Saturday, July 7 when they take on the Portland Timbers at Providence Park. Kickoff is set for 8 p.m. and it will be broadcast live on NBC Sports California, KNBR 1050 and 1370 KZSF.
