Knee injury ends Wondolowski’s season
By Jeff Carlisle · October 13, 2009
The number of injured San Jose players continues to grow with news that forward Chris Wondolowski suffered an injury to the posterior cruciate ligament in his right knee and will miss the rest of the season.
According to manager Frank Yallop, the injury occured on what looked to be an innocuous play. Just a few minutes prior to Cornell Glen’s equalizer two minutes into stoppage time, Wondolowski was preparing to shoot when he collided with teammate Ryan Johnson, who was also attempting to get a shot off. The collision saw Wondolowski fan on the ball and kick Johnson instead, with the abbreviated kicking motion resulting in the injury.
Given that Arturo Alvarez is back from international duty, the injury should be one that the Quakes are able to absorb. Yet it marks a disappointing end to Wondolowski’s season, one that saw him pop up for a stoppage time match-winner of his own against Kansas City back on Aug. 22.
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Jay, Jeff and the rest of the CLS gang-
Thank you for another great season of Quakes coverage and insight, and another round of thanks for answering my Brad Ring and Jamil Roberst questions as promptly as you did. Now I have another question, this time for Frank.
I would love to know why we opt to play on a field as small as we do. I realize that we are somewhat constricted by the stadium infrastructure, but it is my understanding that we can certainly lay the field wider than we choose to. Is this because Frank feels that when we field players like Simon Elliott and Ramiro Corrales in the center midfield that we lack the fitness and range to effectively cover that much ground? I would think that more space on the field would allow us to play a more attractive brand of soccer. I realize that, more than anything, Quakes fans would like to see the team win more games and get into the playoffs. However, there are many clubs where it isn’t enough to just win. There exists a need to win while playing attractive, attacking soccer. Is Frank not a proponent of that free-flowing style, preferring to tighten the quartes and grind out victories, or is not so much a matter of preference as it is a necessity, given our personnel? It may be that my understanding of the playing style/field space/personnel requirements relationship is completely wrong. If so, I look forward to an answer, in layman’s terms, that helps me with that.