Chris Wondolowski

 

Date Of Birth: January 28, 1983 (29)



Place Of Birth: California, United States Of America



Height: 6"1'



Position: Striker, (CF)



How the MLS works...



In the MLS there are not many academies you can graduate out of when you are "good" enough. This makes it hard to spot homegrown talent as easy. The way they try and counter that is drafting players through Universities.



Draft history...



Chris Wondolowski was no different from that of any other MLS player at that time. He was drafted 41st overall into the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) to the Chico Rooks. The Rooks were a 4th tier team in the USA. In 2007 the Club went into debt and the Universities club was shut down.



College History...



He went to De La Salle High School and although he had not lead his team to any State victories or major trophies, he won a couple of domestic titles for his individual efforts. He was twice nominated by the local media as "Player Of The Year" in his hometown.



He went to college at Chico State University and lead the club (Chico Rooks) with goals. scoring seventeen goals in sixteen appearances in his first year.



Reserve Career...



Chris was an great talent for the Reserves in the United States. He just kept scoring. In his first reserve season he had scored eight goals in eleven appearances.



When he got traded from San Jose to Houston Dynamo his tally got much much better. He scored a total thirteen goals in eleven appearances. this earned him some first team action.



Career...



Chris (22 y/o) moved on from the Rooks the following year to San Jose Earthquakes. When moving on from the Rooks he had large things expected of him. But when the time came he only played a total of two whole games that season for San Jose. They had decided Chris was not good enough to be a the club and when they got the chance traded him.



Once traded he went to Houston Dynamo and over three years he played thirty-seven first team games scoring just four goals. As any most people could tell he was not adapting from life of University Football very well which in the end got him traded again. (2006 - 2009)



Oddly, the team that first drafted him decided to go out and buy him. San Jose Earthquakes came in and traded Cam Weaver for Chris Wondolowski. However something had changed in Chris. All of a sudden he could score goals. And not just a few here and there but quite regularly. His career finally had blossomed into what his hype was. He scored a staggering fifty-four goals in ninety-three appearances. To this day he is still playing for San Jose and scoring goals. (2009 - Present)



International Career...



He has been called upon eight times but managed to score in none of them. In his defense he did feature as a sub most of the time.



Indvidual Honours...



He played in the MLS all star team that faced Chelsea in July 2012 scoring the first goal off of a John Terry mistake. (ended MLS 3 - 2 Chelsea)



MLS cup: 2006 and 2007 with Houston Dynamo (equivalent to FA cup)



MLS Golden Boot: 2010 and tied for it in 2011 (did not get it because of minutes to goals being slightly larger)



MLS Best Eleven: 2010 and 2011





Would He Make It In The Premier League...



In my opinion. No. No he wouldn't because it was too late in his career to be found. However if he had started well from the start of his career i think he would have been bought. His Physical attributes and Mental Attributes would have been enough for a smaller team. Say West Ham? maybe Southampton aswell.



Strengths: He is Physical, Does well under pressure, positional awareness

Weaknesses: His Late Career, doesn't provide much defensive cover.



Opinion...



He is a great player and all around role model for MLS and American Soccer (Football). However, if you do not play to his strengths then its almost as if your playing a man down all game. In the new world of football you defend from the front and I feel he would not grasp that if they played Tiki Taka in the United States. Going forward he is probably one of the top three in the MLS behind Thierry Henry and Brek Shea. He is confident in his scoring abilities and picks corners. His running however is not their he isn't very fast but he tries his best and is smart on "Break aways" he doesn't just kick the ball forward and tries to run onto it. He knows his speed and if he cannot make it to the net he holds the ball up. Now if I was to reference him to any player it would be Salomon Kalou. Kalou is a player who does virtually nothing all game, but still manages to find the net. Despite being twenty-nine I could see him being one of the pinnacles of MLS soccer for a few more years to come



(guys if you would like to give me names for another MLS profile please post in the player transfer talk box not on here.)



JLFC