Wondolowski continues record-setting pace; wins another Player of the Week honour

Chris Wondolowski PHOTO: LYNDSAY RADNEDGE

With a hat trick against Real Salt Lake ovee the weekend, San Jose striker Chris Wondolowski earned the MLS Player of the Week honour for the second time this season. He’s also the reigning Player of the Month.

So, this is the question: Will Wondolowski break the record of 27 goals in a single MLS season, set by Tampa Bay’s Roy Lassiter back in 1996? Wondolowski has scored 17 in San Jose’s first 20 games, an average of 0.85 goals per game. That puts him on pace for 29 goals. To put that in perspective, Dwayne De Rosario won the Golden Boot last season… with 16 goals. Wondo has already surpassed that total. In July.

Wondolowski has 14 games left to get the goals he needs to reel in Lassiter’s record. But, you have to assume there will be call-ups to the U.S. national team for World Cup qualifiers, so, even if healthy, you have to assume that Wondo won’t get into all of the Earthquakes remaining games

So, based on Wondo’s current pace, it’s going to be awfully close.

But what might not be close is the voting for MVP this season. Unless Wondolowski falls off the face of the planet Earth and someone else in the league does something ridiculous over these final few months, that award is earmarked the Earthquakes’ star striker. With the team making a major statement by beating RSL this past weekend and extending its lead atop the Western Conference, the Earthquakes are proof of how quick you can become a legitimate MLS Cup threat in this league. This is a team that missed the playoffs last year. The Quakes won just eight games in 2011.

How The 11 voted: Wondo. We were part of the landslide majority this week, as 19 of the 23 voters on the North American Soccer Reporters’ panel went with the hat-trick hero. If a league MVP vote was held today, it would likely be just as decisive.