Monday Kickback: Week 12

Cristian Espinoza returned from his red card suspension, and the San Jose Earthquakes had another dominating win at home but the day belonged to one man. Team legend Chris Wondolowski exploded for four goals to surpass Landon Donovan for most goals in MLS history.

Home Sweet Home

The Chicago Fire came into Avaya Stadium as one of the hottest and stingiest teams in MLS having given up only four goals in their last seven matches. Chris Wondolowski equaled that total in 76 minutes on the way to becoming the all-time leading goal scorer in MLS history. Cristian Espinoza showed how valuable he is to this team by getting an assist on one of Wondo’s goals and getting a couple of shots on target. Jackson Yueill is another one of the Quakes young midfielders who had a good game and is making a name for himself in this league. The 22-year-old had an assist to add to already impressive season.

With the win, the Quakes now have a winning record at home and have now equaled their win total for all of last season. With the distraction of trying to win more games than last season and Wondo chasing the all-time goal title out of the way now the team can focus on the long summer they have ahead.

Tough Test in Toronto

Toronto FC has fallen off from their strong start and has had a rough month of May with the absence of Jozy Altidore. Before playing 45 minutes, last Saturday against Real Salt Lake on Saturday Altidore had only played 18 minutes in May with Toronto going 1-3-1 in that time frame. When Toronto is able to field both Jozy Altidore and Alejandro Pozuelo they can keep up with any team in the league luckily, the Quakes won’t have to deal with that duo this coming up Sunday. Pozuelo will not be available to Greg Vanney after receiving his first red card of the season in a 3-0 loss to RSL.

The Quakes have yet to win on the road, so a win in Canada would not only keep their momentum going it would show the rest of the league that this team can take their style and win anywhere.

Jackson Yueill Getting National Love

As I mentioned above, one of the players that have flourished under Matias Almeyda is Jackson Yueill, and it looks like that is attracting attention around the league. In this article in MLSsoccer.com Matias Almeyda himself thinks he is destined for bigger things stating “I like his personality a lot. In terms of soccer, he is very complete, and I see a big European future for him.” Those are huge words coming from a manager that has seen and played a lot of soccer in his lifetime. One of the hardest working journalists covering the Quakes beat, Robert Jonas, also has a great breakdown of Yueill and what he means to the Quakes over at Pro Soccer USA.

Wondo Watch

With his amazing four-goal performance against Chicago on Saturday, Chris Wondolowski is now the leading goal scorer in MLS history. You can read some of my thoughts about that historic day here.