Chris Wingert is a native of Babylon, NY and played his LIJSL travel soccer as a member of the Commack Soccer Club. He went on to star at St. John the Baptist HS, and then at St. John's University where he won the 2003 Hermann Trophy as the best collegiate soccer player in the nation. He was the 12th player selected in the 2004 MLS draft, and is now in his 7th season in the league, winning the MLS Cup as a member of Real Salt Lake in 2009.
Chris will be checking in weekly with LIJSoccer.com to update us on his MLS season and RSL’s play in Champions League games.
What a difference a week makes.
Long Island native Chris Wingert and his Real Salt Lake teammates were riding high after making their way to the finals of the CONCACAF Champions Cup. But despite a strong showing on the road against Monterrey that gave them a chance to win the Cup on home soil, RSL simply couldn’t score.
“We scored a couple of good goals on the first leg,” said Wingert. “But we lost our captain to a yellow card in the first leg and just couldn’t score on the second leg. We played a good game, but we couldn’t put it in the net”
Monterrey scored six seconds into first half injury time and RSL was scambling to make something happen the rest of the way.
“We had a breakdown in the back and they made us pay for it,” Wingert explained. “After that we had our chances.
“We bummed with the result, obviously,” said Wingert. “The crowd was unbelievable (over 20,000 in the sold out crowd), it was a great environment. What a letdown to lose that game. But now we have to put our focus back on the regular MLS season.”
The challenge now is for Wingert and his teammates to avoid allowing that letdown to carry into the MLS competition. The team traveled to Portland this weekend to face a Timbers team that has been very good at home.
“A regular season loss won’t have the same magnitude of this one. The next chance at a championship is months off, not now,” he said. But part of being a professional is being able to move on.
“The good news is that we get to go right back out there and get this bad taste out of our mouths,” he added. “Normally, when you lose a championship game, you have to sit around and deal with it for months. That’s not the case now. We have no choice but to get back to work. We have to figure out how to get re-focused as a team.
Questions for Chris
Each week, Chris will answer randomly selected questions from our readers. To submit a question for Chris, e-mail the LIJSoccer.com staff at kenlijsl@ix.netcom.com.
To see previous entries by Chris Wingert go to:
http://www.lijsoccer.com/lijs-news/Weighing-In-With-Wingert-Conquering-the-Galaxy-.html
http://blog.lijsoccer.com/WEIGHINGINWITHWINGERT.aspx