Chris Wondolowski admits World Cup miss against Belgium still 'haunts' him

CARSON, Calif. – Over six months have passed since that moment, the chance that every player dreams about as a kid. But all that time has changed nothing for Chris Wondolowski and his World Cup demons.

The United States forward still thinks about that warm July evening on the northeast coast of Brazil and the glorious opportunity to become a national hero that dropped out of the sultry Salvador sky, bounced perfectly in front of him and found his right foot as he strode toward the six-yard box in the 92nd minute against Belgium in the round of 16. And Wondolowski still wishes he could have used his Nike Hypervenom boot to bury that adidas Brazuca into the back of the net and send the Americans through to the quarterfinals instead of pushing the ball high and wide to prolong a match that the Belgians would ultimately win 2-1 in extra time.

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"I would give anything in the world to have it back, to have that opportunity back – but I can't," Wondolowski said after the U.S. men's national team held its first training session of 2015 at the StubHub Center on Monday.

"It's something that I'm really trying to grow from and learn from. And to be honest, if I cared what people thought about me I would never have made it through high school."

Wondolowski's misfortune was generally chronicled as a blunder of epic proportions: the most un-clutch, point-blank misfire at a wide-open goal ever in the history of the sport if you summed up the backlash and vitriol on social media. But a review of the sequence on video revealed that the shot was a lot harder than it looked.

First of all, the open net wasn't as gaping as widely perceived because of hard-charging Thibaut Courtois, considered by many as the best goalkeeper in the world, who rapidly closed down Wondolowski's space to shoot. Secondly, the gangly 6-foot-6 Courtois held his right hand high to obscure the target for Wondolowski, who had to factor all of these distractions before figuring out his best option. These last-second adjustments were enough to cause Wondolowski's side-foot attempt to go completely awry. To make matters worse, he was onside (turns out, the flapping of the lineman's flag was to signal a goal kick).

After the game, Wondolowski did not duck questions from the media and he met criticism from fans head-on, most notably with a heartfelt tweet that acknowledged his failure to come through and revealed his own deep disappointment.

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No, time hasn't healed Wondolowski's wounds one bit.

"It's a tough one. I need to put that on frame 100 percent," he said of the shot. "I need to score that a lot more than I shouldn't."

He then paused for a second and shook his head. "Don't do what I did," he muttered.

Wondolowski, who turns 32 on January 28, most likely won't get the chance to redeem himself at the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Coach Jurgen Klinsmann began the process of grooming the next generation as soon as he got back from Brazil by calling in promising prospects like Rubio Rubin and Bobby Wood. But Wondolowski likes his chances at making this summer's Gold Cup squad. The San Jose Earthquakes star certainly wouldn't be at his fifth January camp submitting himself to two training sessions a day just to mentor the kids.

"That's my goal right now," Wondolowski said of the 2015 Gold Cup, where the Americans can clinch a trip to the 2017 Confederations Cup with a tournament win. "I feel I can still play at a high level. … I still feel I can have an impact on that tournament."

And what's driving this belief? Ironically, The Miss.

Since people haven’t stopped coming up to him to talk about his personal infamy – "I'm still waiting," replied Wondolowski half-jokingly – he has decided to turn this career-defining negative into positive reinforcement for his pursuit to accomplish new goals.

"I use it as a tool to try and get better," he said. "If I see myself hitting a wall or getting tired, I use that as motivation to keep me going.

"I've always kind of had duck feathers and let things roll off my back. But it [the miss] still haunts me. I'd be lying if it didn't."