Nevermind that the San Jose Earthquakes lost 3-1 to the New York Red Bulls, the home fans at Avaya Stadium ultimately got what they paid for as Chris Wondolowski scored his 144th MLS goal. The strike takes the forward within one goal of Landon Donovan’s all-time MLS goalscoring record and also marks the ninth consecutive season in which he has achieved a double-digit goalscoring record.
The record appeared at risk as San Jose coach Steve Ralston demoted Wondolowski to the bench, but the forward was introduced after the second-placed Red Bulls took a convincing first-half lead.
As a contest, the match was never really in doubt. The Red Bulls three goals could have had three goals within five minutes as Derrick Etienne curled onto the crossbar, Wright-Phillips volleyed at JT Marcinkowski, and Muyl whipped a shot towards the top corner. All three chances came from the right wing as full-back Michael Murillo bombed forward on the overlap to capitalize on Vako’s poor tracking. Left-back Florian Jungwirth, playing out of position, was hopelessly outmatched.
There appeared to be mutual frustration between Jungwirth and Vako as Jungwirth misplayed a pass and Vako refused to cover, the pair exchanging animated gestures. Their lack of coordination cost the Quakes in the twenty-eighth minute when Murillo escaped Vako and fired at Marcinkowski, who could only parry the ball into Muyl’s path to finish.
Almost immediately, Wright-Phillips doubled the New York’s lead from a set-piece. The forward headed Marc Rzatkowski onto the inside of the post and, as he was wheeling away to celebrate, tapped home the rebound.
Magnus Eriksson shot at Luis Robles from the top of the box, but San Jose had no response and no real chances at goal. If there were any hope of a turnaround after halftime, the Red Bulls squashed it within five minutes as Aaron Long headed Tim Parker’s flick-on in off the crossbar from a corner.
Steve Ralston, reading the increasingly frustrated mood at Avaya Stadium, introduced Wondolowski shortly thereafter. At the fifty-fourth minute mark, it was San Jose’s earliest tactical substitution since the Fatai Alashe-Mikael Stahre debacle in July – in other words, a no-brainer. Unsurprisingly, Ralston pulled Vako for Wondo. In addition to a poor first half, the midfielder would be least helpful in the quest for Wondo’s record given his selfish play.
Wondolowski injected energy and purpose into San Jose’s offense and the team almost immediately began pumping the ball forward to him. The captain nearly got his goal in the sixty-second minute, ghosting between the center-backs to have a wide-open header from Magnus Eriksson’s cross. Unfortunately, he didn’t get behind the ball enough and flicked it harmlessly wide.
Wondo had another chance eight minutes later when Jackson Yueill broke in behind and poked the ball past Robles, but the forward could not find the open net under pressure from a Kemar Lawrence.
Finally, Wondo converted in the eighty-third minute, rising at the near post to head Florian Jungwirth’s free-kick into the top corner. With two games left in the regular season, the record is finally within Wondo’s grasp.
