Why Chris Wondolowski Should Be Axed for USMNT Following Loss to Ireland

Match sheets are usually too limited by their silence to tell the whole story of a moment, but Tuesday night's recitation of Republic of Ireland 4-1 United States contained one fairly telling piece of information.

Bobby Wood came on for Chris Wondolowski after 45 minutes, even after Wondolowski had assisted on Mix Diskerud's goal in the 39th minute. It may not have been Wondolowski's last action as a USMNT player, but if it was, he could have done worse.

Granted, Wondolowski was removed from the match because, like Diskerud, he had done precious little in the first 38 minutes of the match. Wondolowski was losing possession in the midfield too cheaply. The greater sin for Wondolowski was going 45 minutes without taking a shot, much less putting one on goal.

So Wondolowski, 31, came off for Wood, 22. The next World Cup for Jurgen Klinsmann's side is still almost four full years away. The mathematics and the realities of age and time compelled this substitution, on Tuesday against Ireland and on a going-forward basis, too.

Somewhat ironically, it was numbers and timing that put Wondolowski on the Americans' 2014 World Cup side in the first place.

Numbers, because without his 2012 27-goal outburst for San Jose in Major League Soccer, his international profile would almost certainly have remained nearly non-existent.

Timing, because without Landon Donovan's inexplicable refusal to try seriously for a place on the Americans' World Cup team this past summer, Wondolowski may not have ever made it to Brazil.

"In (Donovan's) place are young playmaker Aron Johannsson, 23, and MLS veteran Chris Wondolowski, 31," trumpeted ESPN.com when Klinsmann's 23-man roster was announced. "Wondolowski was a hero of the U.S. triumph in last summer's Gold Cup, with five goals in the first two games." 

Being the man who replaced Donovan on the 2014 American World Cup squad might have made Wondolowski little more than a bar trivia question but for two really unfortunate occurrences that followed.

Klinsmann will never say this (it would be cruel to), but having Wondolowski play meaningful minutes in the 2014 World Cup was probably not on his mind when he picked that 23-man side.

Jozy Altidore was supposed to play the significant majority of the minutes allocated to attacking players, with Clint Dempsey lurking behind him. When Altidore lasted less than half an hour against Ghana and had to miss the rest of the tournament, Donovan's absence became glaring and Klinsmann's plans kaput.

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It would have been a Hollywood story for Wondolowski had he converted that chance against Belgium. It is still a Hollywood ending now, except it's more Million Dollar Baby than it is Rocky. Especially since few could resist wondering how Donovan might have done in the same circumstance.

Wondolowski was never going to get redemption from that miss. It should be said, though, that he started against the Republic of Ireland not for sentimental reasons, but totally on merit.

Klinsmann was sincerely trying to get a result against the Irish, in contrast to some of the other recent friendlies, where the emphasis was on lauding Donovan or blooding the kids.

The XI Klinsmann picked to play the Irish was a veteran side, with Wondolowski and Altidore together up front, Kyle Beckerman and Diskerud in the midfield and Matt Besler along with Geoff Cameron and Fabian Johnson at the back. This may not have been Klinsmann's best XI, but it came close.

And they almost did get that result against the Republic of Ireland. The 4-1 final score was misleading. Altidore hit the bar and Johnson hit the post in the first half, and so instead of taking the lead to the changing room, the Americans were level.

The roof fell in after that, but there is no knowing what the Americans would have done had they been ahead after 45 minutes.

They weren't, though, and Wondolowski left the pitch for a player nearly a decade younger, a player who bears none of the scars of the past.

So Klinsmann's attention needs to turn now to Wood, and Rubio Rubin, and Jordan Morris, and a handful of other promising young talents who may begin to prove that decades of youth soccer in the United States will in fact translate to great American players. Preferably attackers.

But spare a moment for Wondolowski, who created his place in USMNT lore by hard work and persistence. If Klinsmann does turn away from Wondolowski now, it would be a harsh outcome, but it would be a fair one.

Too often, things do not end the way you hoped they would.