by SAN JOSE, Calif. — For years, Chris Wondolowski’s (Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma) appetite for activity has been legendary. The San Jose Earthquakes captain delights in turning regen sessions into full practices, and even after 102 career goals in regular-season MLS play, he rarely spurns a chance for extra finishing drills.
So it came as no surprise that the 32-year-old wanted to start against the Vancouver Whitecaps last Sunday at BC Place, despite playing a full hour for the United States in their third-place Gold Cup match against Panama on the other side of the continent just one day earlier.
The downside for San Jose, though, was that Wondolowski’s early return didn’t pay any immediate dividends. He didn’t manage a shot in 70 minutes as the Quakes struggled to find traction offensively until going down 3-0 in the second half.
“I was a little bit [tired], but it’s one of those things where I just wanted to play through it and knew I was going to be alright out there,” Wondolowski told MLSsoccer.com this week. “People have different bodies, and I felt – I talked to Dom[inic Kinnear, San Jose’s coach] the next day, and told him that I felt good. The worst part was getting up early for flights and all the traveling. I was in four different cities, three different states and a [Canadian] province, and two different countries in 24 hours. That was probably the part I was worried most about.”
When Wondolowski left, the Quakes were on a 4-1-4 run, capped by a 3-1 victory against the LA Galaxy before more than 50,000 at Stanford Stadium on June 27. Without their all-time leading scorer, San Jose dropped four straight league matches and seven overall in the month of July — all while Wondolowski was getting limited run for the Americans. He appeared in three matches for a total of 137 minutes, including the 60-minute stint after the U.S. had been knocked out of title contention.
“You want the Quakes to do well, but your whole mind and body and soul is in with the US team,” Wondolowski said of watching his club’s travails from afar. “You’re trying to do everything you can; there’s a lot of different things that make it go, different cogs. I knew my role down there, and I felt that I got a decent amount of games, but it is what it is.”
Barring injury, Wondolowski should be counted on to play pretty much every minute the rest of the way as the Quakes (7-9-4) try to claw themselves back up the Western Conference standings, starting with their match against visiting Portland on Sunday.
One positive as San Jose look to jump-start their attack: Quincy Amarikwa has three goals in as many appearances since re-joining the Quakes after being dealt away in 2010. The more attention Timbers defenders have to pay to Amarikwa, obviously, the less bandwidth they will have to watch over the perpetually moving Wondolowski.
“It’s pretty nice to have Quincy,” Wondolowski said. “He’s a great player. I’ve always been a big fan of his, and I got to play with him earlier with the Quakes. I think he’s grown as a player as well since those years. It’s great to see. Tremendous work rate and battles out there. I think that he fits well into our mentality.”
