Wondolowski's Pro Soccer Career Continues to Flourish

In East Bay soccer circles, Chris Wondolowski has been a well-known name for over a decade. 

The Danville native led to the North Coast Section Division-I soccer title in 2001, for which he was the Contra Costa Times' Player of the Year.

Only more recently — thanks to a breakout 2010 season with the San Jose Earthquakes — has the rest of the country taken notice.

It was last year when "Wondo," due to injuries, became a fixture in the Quakes' starting lineup and went on to capture Major League Soccer's Golden Boot award for leading the league with 18 goals. 

"It was a whirl wild," Wondolowski said. "Everything was going right and all the shots were going in. I'm still not sure it's even sunk it yet."

It definitely hadn't sunk when he was invited to join the United States Men's National Team's 24-man winter training camp.

"It was coach (Bob) Bradley at the time and he studies all US soccer players both abroad and here," Wondolowski said. "He thought I was playing well and called me in to camp."

His first cap, and start, with the National Team came in a friendly game against Chile on Jan. 22 and he was later named to the team's roster for the CONCACAF Gold Cup.

Wondolowski made three appearances in the Gold Cup, including a start in the USA's 1-0 win against Guadeloupe. 

"Chile was a great experience, but then I played in the Gold Cup," Wondolowski said. "That was really amazing."

With the MLS season winding down, Wondolowski is, once again, within striking distance of the Golden Boot. With 10 goals and six games left, he sits two back of league leaders — and established international stars — Thierry Henry of New York and Los Angeles' Landon Donovan. 

With 31 career goals for San Jose, he trails Donovan by one for No. 2 on team's all-time goals list. 

Wondolowski's path from U-6 soccer in the to MLS stardom and international success wasn't as smooth as one would expect.

Coming out of De La Salle, there were no Division-I soccer scholarships waiting for him. The bigger schools — UCLA being one — wanted him for track, where he was outstanding in the 800 and 1,600. 

But his heart was in soccer and he eventually landed at Division-II Chico State, where he put together a dominant four-year career. 

San Jose General Manager John Doyle, who also has strong ties to Mustang Soccer, recalls hearing about Wondolowski before actually seeing him play.

"I knew he was from Danville and had a pretty good reputation as a goal scorer," Doyle said.

So when Wondolowski's Chico career was over, Doyle invited him to an open tryout for the Earthquakes. 

"He played really well there," Doyle said. "It was like 'Oh, he just scored,' 'Oh, another goal,' 'Wow, he scored again.'" 

He joined the Earthquakes reserves in 2005 and stayed with the club when it relocated to Houston and became the Dynamo in 2006. After three-plus years of infrequent playing time, Doyle brought Wondolowski back to San Jose in a trade with Houston. He started eight of the final 14 games in 2009 before breaking through the following year.

"I'm really proud of everything he's accomplished, especially the call up to the National Team," Doyle said. "He's one of the best goal scorers in all of MLS and it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy."

Those sentiments are echoed loudly by boys soccer coach Don Busboom, whose watched Wondolowski play nearly his entire life. His father, John, has been a longtime assistant coach to Busboom at San Ramon and the families are very close.

Busboom, who is an assistant pastor at San Ramon Presbyterian Church, even married Wondolowski and his wife, Lindsay, prior to the 2009 season.

"Chris has a love for playing the game and kindness for people," Busboom said. "It's been neat to watch that he hasn't changed over the years. He's the same down-to-earth guy he's always been."

This past year, Wondolowski assisted his younger brother, Stephen, in coaching the San Ramon Valley freshman team. 

"He's been coaching in our camps since he was in eighth grade, but this was the first time where it worked out for him to be a coach of a team," Busboom said. "It was really great having him around. You feel honored that Chris and Stephen want to help coach in the (SRV) program."

Stephen saw time with the Dynamo's reserve squad and now coaches in the Earthquakes academy program. 

Wondolowski and the Earthquakes will be in action Wednesday, Sept. 21, at 7:30 p.m., when they take on the Portland Timbers in a game that can be viewed on CSN Plus.

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