Chris Wondolowski.Photo: Courtesy of San José Earthquakes
On Christmas Day 2020, fans of the San José Earthquakes received the best gift: the team announced that its legendary forward Chris “Wondo” Wondolowski would be returning on a one-year contract, after what seemed to be his last season wearing Quakes blue.
For the 38-year-old, returning was a decision he didn’t make without extensive consideration. The pandemic had made him take a pause to spend more time with his wife Lindsey and daughters Emersyn, 7, and Brynlee, 5, and it gave Wondolowski and his family a taste of what retired life might look like.
But, “They’re all about it. They want me to keep playing,” he tells PEOPLE, referring to his daughters and wife. “I feel good physically. I’m having fun with it. Every bit is just enjoyable right now and I think that translates into my play.”
He’s honest though: “I know it’s coming to an end at some point.” However, “I still love it. I still enjoy it. And that’s my mentality right now. I definitely thought my expiration date was well passed. I thought last year was going to be it. I think that I put that out there just to make sure I was okay with it with myself. And then, I thought that I could still play.”
Courtesy of San José Earthquakes
“I love being a girl dad,” says Wondolowski as his eyes light up while talking about his daughters. “I love driving them around, we’re going from swim to soccer to softball. It brings back to my days. It’s fun just to be a dad and read them night stories and just to see how much love they have.”
“It’s pretty special and they definitely know how to melt my heart though,” he adds. “And I feel that they have me wrapped around their pinky, but I need to be a little bit stricter with them, I think. But I sure love it.”
Wondolowski says his oldest, Emersyn, is most like him in “the way she goes about things and what frustrates her” while his youngest, Brynlee, is “definitely more athletically inclined” but is “very independent.”
“If she’s into it, she is into it. If she’s not into it, she is not into it,” he adds about Brynlee. “She’s going to be something interesting in a few years. I’m a little nervous for her.”
The soccer player is used to switching hats. When he gets home, he “unplugs” and becomes daddy. On the pitch, he’s captain.
“People a lot of times see just me in the game and yelling my head off, especially maybe at a referee or screaming or swearing,” says Wondolowski. “I’m actually really lowkey and I’m really lazy off the field. My wife will tell you I’m one of the laziest people there are.”
It’s been a tumultuous season for the Quakes so far as they’ve only racked up three wins and rank 11th in the western conference. (The team also recently parted ways with their general manager, Jesse Fioranelli.) But regardless of the ups and down, Wondolowski says he’s confident in the leadership of the team’s coach Matías Almeyda. (“He has a strong character and it helps build the team,” he says.)
His advice to Cowell? “I’m telling him to just enjoy it, because he’s so talented and so amazing. And he’s got so much information coming at him. I try to give him little tidbits here and there, but I try to pump him up because he is something amazing,” he says. “I’m just his biggest cheerleader. He’s going to do very big things.”
Among those “tidbits” that Wondolowski will likely pass down to Cowell is his humility. (When asked if he’d want the Quakes to retire his legendary No. 8 jersey, he says, “Oh no. I would want someone to wear it and do great things in it.")
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Despite holding the all-time record for most goals scored in MLS history with 168 and being named one of the 25 best players in MLS history — “It’s still surreal. It still really hasn’t sunken in because the names that are on there are just mind-boggling to me,” he says — Wondolowski is known for his down-to-earth demeanor and team player attitude on the pitch.
And after games at PayPal Park, Wondolowski is typically the last player to leave the stadium as he signs autographs and takes photos with young fans for hours at a time.
“I remember being on the railing, hoping for an autograph and finally getting one and just feeling that rush, how much it meant to me,” he says of growing up going to San José Clash games as a kid. “And so I feel it’s such a small part of my day that I can try to make some kid smile.”
With the end of his playing career on the horizon, Wondolowski makes it clear that it’s those younger kids excited for soccer that’ll motivate him after he hangs his boots.
“I feel that scouting and mentorship is something that I would want to do,” he says. “A lot of them get fast-tracked in and don’t know or understand some of the little nuances. I want to help them along those lines.”
And what he’s excited for outside of the game? “Being a dad,” he says. “That’s definitely going to be number one. That’s the plan.”
source: people.com
