If Chris Wondolowski breaks the Major League Soccer all-time scoring record this season, even as the San Jose Earthquakes suffer a historically bad season, it will represent yet another testament to the captain’s standout role for the franchise this decade. Tonight, Wondo drew within just four goals of Landon Donovan’s MLS record with his game-tying goal against Toronto FC, despite having had to battle for each playing opportunity this season while San Jose lie rock bottom of the MLS table.
Wondo has recently been relegated to the bench as coach Mikael Stahre searches for a winning starting formula, yet the captain scored again as a late substitute to help salvage a point for the Quakes.
“It doesn’t matter when or how you play,” Wondo told reporters after the match. “If you play one minute or 90 minutes, you try to make an impact and try to help the team win. Bummed we couldn’t get a win, but it was a good comeback I guess.”
The Quakes saw early success playing out of the back, bypassing Toronto’s pressure to pick out Vako in dangerous areas and launch Danny Hoesen in behind. Although Vako has recently been a lightning rod for frustration due to his perceived selfishness and poor body language, the Georgian midfielder responded to his critics with a compelling performance.
Playing in a central role up top, Vako was able to find the small pockets of space in and around the box in which his ingenuity is best served. He nearly found the opener early on, darting through a group of defenders in the box and testing Toronto goalkeeper Alex Bono with a low effort across goal.
Vako was again the chief instigator as Bono denied Magnus Eriksson’s low effort in the twenty-fourth minute, setting up Joel Qwiberg’s low cross for Eriksson with a neat back-heel. Qwiberg, in for the suspended Shea Salinas, also pushed the tempo down the left and combined well with Jahmir Hyka.
The Quakes should have taken the lead through Eriksson shortly thereafter, when a save from Bono fell kindly for the Swede in the middle of the box, but Toronto defender Jason Hernandez heroically threw in a leg to block the open goal. Another chance fell for the Quakes as Vako fired over from a tight area in the thirty-ninth minute and defender Guram Kashia, speaking on the television broadcast at halftime, was disappointed not to have taken a goal or two from a dominant first-half performance.
Stahre, speaking to reporters after the match, concurred. “I think our first half, in my perspective, was the best forty-five minutes this season. We faced a really good team, an organized team with good players as well. Even if they rested some players they still had a really good lineup. I thought we created five really good chances in the first half and if we scored in the first half we would have won the game.”
Vako continued to pressure on the other side of the break, crossing for Hoesen to volley over, but Toronto flipped the match on its head with the introduction of Gregory van der Wiel and Sebastian Giovinco in the fifty-eighth minute. The pair made an immediate impact, combining down the right to set up Lucas Janson’s go-ahead goal.
Van der Wiel overwhelmed Qwiberg down the right and Giovinco wreaked havoc in San Jose’s midfield, and Toronto could well have buried the match within minutes of their first as Jonathan Osorio hit the inside of the post from Giovinco’s cut-back.
The Quakes have developed a skill at discovering new heart-wrenching ways to lose, and it appeared as if they were destined for another narrow defeat on this occasion. However, Wondolowski inspired an equalizer with his perseverance and work ethic, breaking in down the right, shooting at Bono, and converting the rebound.
