Wondolowski ties Donovan’s MLS goals record
San Jose Earthquakes forward Chris Wondolowski tied Landon Donovan’s all-time Major League Soccer goals record Saturday, scoring in the 21st minute against the Chicago Fire
Wondolowski, 36, is now level on 145 goals in 338 MLS appearances, while Donovan took 340 games to reach the same mark.
The goal came when Cristian Espinoza delivered a long, cross-field pass to Shea Salinas on the left wing, and Salinas’ low, driven cross was stabbed home by Wondolowski at the far post.
Wondolowski started his career with the Earthquakes in 2005, but scored his first four goals for the Houston Dynamo, where he played from 2006-2009 after the franchise relocated.
MLS returned to San Jose in the 2009 season — and so did Wondolowski, who had his breakout year in 2010, scoring 18 times in 28 appearances.
He had a record-tying year in 2012 when he scored 27 times to match Roy Lassiter’s 1996 mark for most goals in a season. That mark was equaled by the New York Red Bulls’ Bradley-Wright Phillips in 2014 before Atlanta’s Josef Martinez surpassed the trio’s mark in 2018.
Wondolowski also has 11 goals and 35 caps for the United States and was part of the squad that went to Brazil for the 2014 World Cup.
Rounding out the top five leading scorers in MLS history after Wondolowski and Donovan are Jeff Cunningham with 134 goals, Jaime Moreno (133) and Ante Razov (114).