It’s Not About When You Start But How Prepared You Are When You Do

MLS has recently been talking about Chris Wondolowski and his quest to break the goalscoring record. Now if you are fan of American soccer you probably know his story by now.

I still think it’s so crazy how he didn’t play his first four years in the league. Now he’s on course to break the goal scoring record. God’s timing is the best. We all hear these stories of different athletes facing adversity before they finally get their breakthrough. Four years of not playing is a whole different realm of adversity. My buddy Warshaw wrote a great piece analyzing Wondolowski’s story. Wondolowski is a great example of when opportunity meets preparation for young soccer players coming up or just starting their careers.

With that being said, I wanted to point out some other soccer players that I felt stayed mentally strong and ended up seeing their hard work come to fruition. I’d like to point out I’m only referencing MLS soccer players that dealt with adversity upon first entering their professional careers similar to Chris Wondolowski. These are not players that bounced back from injury or rediscovered their form after a down year or anything like that. As a young player especially, wanting and feeling like you deserve to play but not can be frustrating and draining. It’s tough when you don’t get minutes for whatever reason that may be so here are some players along with Wondolowski you can refer too and use as inspiration

Brian Carroll

If you look at Brian Carroll’s place on the all time appearance lists it’s hard to fathom he didn’t touch the field his whole rookie year. Imagine leaving school early to play professional soccer but instead of actually playing you are basically taking a red shirt year because of your place on the team. Carroll ended up playing quite a few games and winning a good amount of hardware throughout the rest of his career.

Jordan Harvey

What if I told you Vancouver Whitecaps’ current all time leader in appearances didn’t play his first two years in the league. I can understand not playing your rookie year, you can deal with as a player..chalk it up to learning the ropes BUT then going your whole second year and not playing, imagine that. Harvey was able to stay mentally ready and take advantage of his opportunity when the time came calling and eventually transformed into one of the most solid left backs in the league still to this day.

Tim Melia

Tim Melia’s story may be a little different as a keeper but he overcame just as much adversity not playing. In fact, he got a total of 6 MLS appearances his first 5 years in the league. If you dive deeper into his story, you will find out he was a pool goalkeeper because his team, Chivas USA, at the time folded. Melia was able to overcome all of this and find his way at Sporting KC. He’s been their undisputed starter for the past three years and ended up taking Goalkeeper of the Year honors last year.