Monday Kickback: Week 13

The San Jose Earthquakes were on the road last week, and they took care of business in Canada by earning their first road win of the season against Toronto FC. Chris Wondolowski continued his hot streak by adding two more goals to his all-time total.

Oh Canada

After a shaky 30-minutes, the Quakes found their rhythm and took advantage of a Toronto squad that was missing Michael Bradley and Alejandro Pozuelo with Wondo once again providing all the offense. Cristian Espinoza once again showed that he is the team MVP so far by looking defenders look foolish and finding open players in the box for easy scores. With his two assists on Sunday Espinoza now leads the team with six assists, to find a player that had at least that many assists in a season not named Wondolowski you would have to go back to the 2015 season when Matias Perez Garcia lead the team with seven assists.

The Quakes stay on the road and head over for a tough challenge in the nation’s capital when they take on Eastern Conference-leading D.C. United.

On The Road Again

It is no secret that the Quakes don’t have a deep roster and the aggressive nature of the Quakes playing style is going to push Matias Almeyda to get creative with his limited resources next week against D.C United. Both Cristian Espinoza and Tommy Thompson will sit out the match after they received their fifth yellow card of the season against Toronto. The Quakes are now tied for the league lead with 31 yellow cards, and while they have been able to overcome being short-handed the last month, it is something that will be harder to keep going as the summer wears on.

United come into this match winless in their last three and looking to find their early season form. They also have a midweek matchup against Chicago Fire who had themselves a pretty good May so far going 2-1-2 in their matches this month. They Quakes may be, but they can take advantage of a tired squad that has lost some of its early season chemistry.

Watch Wondo

After Chris Wondolowski broke the all-time MLS goal scoring record, everybody thought that was the end of “Wondo Watch,” but the legend still had more to give. Wondo now has 150 career goals, and the way he is playing right now makes you want to sit back and see how many more he can put in before that magical foot cools off. The old soldier still has a lot of fight left in him, and I would dread to be an opposing goalkeeper the way he is playing. Maybe the absence of Espinoza will give defenders a chance to catch their breath and find a way to mark Wondo. In the meantime, I think everyone should just click on a Quakes game and watch Wondo.