CARSON, Calif. -- Count Landon Donovan among those impressed by the San Jose Earthquakes forward trio of Alan Gordon, Steven Lenhart, and Chris Wondolowski.
The Galaxy defense will have their hands full attempting to stop the trio, who accounted for 50 goals of the 72 that the Earthquakes scored this season. To put that in perspective, it is more than five of the teams that qualified for MLS Cup Playoffs, and would be in the sixth highest team output this season.
The most divisive of the trio is Lenhart, whose physical playing style has drawn the ire of many of his opponents this season, but has also seen him tally a total of 10 goals and two assists this season. Such an output led one reporter on Saturday to question whether Lenhart was U.S. National team material and while Donovan admitted that he'd leave the decision to U.S. National Team head coach Jurgen Klinsmann, Lenhart could be counted among the many that could help the USMNT.
"That’s not my decision to make, but I think that he’s had a great year. I think him and Gordon have a great partnership; him and Wondolowski have a great partnership. He’s a big part of their team and a player that we have to contain,” said Donovan. “There’s a lot of guys that could help the national team. I assume that anybody playing against him wouldn’t be too happy if they saw him lining up on the other side of the field from the U.S. team so you never know.”
But Donovan saved his chief praise for Wondolowski, who tied Roy Lassiter's record for most goals in a single season with 27 this year.
"I’ve talked to Frank [Yallop] about him actually and he says that he spends a lot of time in front of the goal everyday doing finishing. He plays on a team where he’s not asked to do a lot more than just get in front of the goal, and be dangerous. His runs are excellent, his timing is as good as anyone in this league, and his pure finishing ability is as good as anyone in this league right now," said Donovan. "When he gets a chance then he buries it. That’s a credit to how hard he works. I think people assume that he just all of a sudden became this great goal scorer. I think in talking to Frank and seeing him during the All-Star Game or with the national team, you see how much time that he spends doing it. I always like to say, success is no accident and it’s certainly not with him.”
