A Hometown Hopeful

Booming drums and roaring voices echo around stadiums packed with diehard supporters.  World-famous superstars show off their skill and brilliance while underdogs fight tooth and nail to stay alive for one more match.  Entire nations and billions of people watch every slick pass, every heart-breaking slip, every spectacular finish, every moment of unbridled ecstasy. This is the planet’s greatest sporting stage, the FIFA World Cup, and this summer it returns to Brazil for the first time since the host nation’s infamous defeat at the hands of Uruguay in the 1950 final.  With all the anticipation and excitement, it is easy for anyone to get caught up in the moment, to feel above and beyond the mortal world.  Not so for one local member of the United States Men’s National Team (USMNT), Chris Wondolowski.

Wondolowski, or “Wondo” as he is known in Major League Soccer (MLS), was an unknown quantity for most of his early professional career.  Drafted 41st overall from Chico State University by the San Jose Earthquakes prior to the 2005 season, Wondolowski made only two appearances for the side in his rookie season, though he did lead the reserve league in scoring.  He moved with the rest of the organization when the team rebranded and became the Houston Dynamo, and once again led the MLS reserve league in scoring in 2006.  Despite this, Wondolowski never found consistent playing time for the Dynamo’s full team.  Early in 2009, Houston traded Wondolowski to the reincarnated San Jose Earthquakes, sending the Bay Area native back to his hometown team.  At the time, longtime Dynamo head coach Dom Kinnear described the trade as a difficult decision to make. “Wondo and I have a great history together, and I think the world of him,” Kinnear indicated to the Houston Chronicle. “It’s a move we felt would help us out, and in the end, I think it helps out Wondo, too.”  Little did Kinnear, or anyone else in MLS for that matter, know how true the last statement would prove to be.

Opening the 2010 season, the San Jose Earthquakes were desperate for a source of inspiration.  Post-rebirth in 2008, the ‘Quakes had finished two consecutive seasons at the bottom of the Western Conference standings and scoring tables.  In desperate need of consistent goalscoring, they unexpectedly found it in Wondolowski’s consecutive golden boot-winning or –tying seasons.  But Wondolowski’s greatest moments came in the Earthquakes’ 2012 season, when his league-record 27 goals blew away the competition for the golden boot en route to an MVP award and the Supporter’s Shield trophy, awarded to the team with the best regular season record.  Wondolowski also represented the league in the annual MLS All-Star game played against then-European champions Chelsea, scoring the opening goal in a 3-2 win and drawing the personal praise of Chelsea and English national team captain John Terry.

Despite his unequaled three consecutive seasons atop domestic scoring charts, Wondolowski found it difficult to parlay his fine club form into regular national team minutes.  An agonizing miss from mere yards away in a Gold Cup matchup against Panama cemented his position in many fans’ minds as nothing more than a club-level star, destined for failure at the international level.  In the past year, however, Wondolowski has experienced a revival under new head coach Jürgen Klinsmann, opening his international account against Guatemala before scoring another eight goals in his last nine USMNT matches, including the US’ second in a 2-2 draw against archrivals Mexico this April.  His recent international form, coupled with a strong start to the MLS season, has propelled Wondolowski into the USMNT 30-man preliminary roster for the World Cup.  Though he faces stiff competition, Wondolowski hopes that Klinsmann sees his knack for opportunistic scoring as a resource valuable enough for one of the twenty-three coveted final roster spots.

Wondolowski does have one other advantage over some of his competition, though it is not one that can be measured in statistics or fitness tests.  In soccer, strikers are often known for being among the most dramatic and at times narcissistic players on the field; this is often held as being a natural, if sometimes unfortunate, byproduct of the necessity of being selfish with the ball as the player typically in the best position to score.  Wondolowski, on the other hand, is the epitome of the “team player”.  Praised by club and international coaches alike for his dogged work ethic and team-first approach to winning, Wondolowski said following a 3-2 Earthquakes loss in Vancouver in which he scored both ‘Quakes goals, “… I would have rather won the game and not scored…[Klinsmann] takes everything into account, and I know for sure he wants winners.”–this coming from a striker who depends on goals to make a strong case for a World Cup spot.  After the same match, Earthquakes head coach Mark Watson commented, “Wondo kept plugging away. Wondo will always compete and give you everything he has.”

Wondolowski brings the same team-centered focus to his personal and charitable activities.  He volunteers with and donates to the San Francisco branch of Street Soccer USA, an organization that helps homeless people build values and make personal and professional connections through soccer.  During his down years prior to his trade back to San Jose, he considered studying to become a special needs teacher, and still considers that a potential future career path after he hangs up his cleats.

“It’s the ultimate dream and the goal,” Wondolowski said of making the final roster and playing in the World Cup. “It would be the top of my career.”  Whatever comes of the preliminary World Cup camp, Wondolowski will have thousands of eager fans behind him, but if his dream indeed comes true, he may yet have much more. He, and his USMNT teammates, will carry the hopes of a nation.

Note: Since the writing of this article, Wondolowski has been named to the final 23-man roster for the 2014 World Cup.  He will participate in three friendlies with the USMNT before departing for Brazil.  The USMNT’s first group stage match will take place on June 16th against Ghana.