SAN JOSE, Calif. – If, as expected, Marvell Wynne takes his usual spot at right back when the San Jose Earthquakes meet the Seattle Sounders1759311385" style="z-index:0" tabindex="0">on Saturday (4 pm ET, MLS LIVE), it will mark his 250th MLS regular season appearance.
Just don’t look for Wynne to do a lot of reminiscing over his near decade in the league, which has taken him from New York to Toronto to Colorado to – as of this winter’s Re-Entry Draft – San Jose.
“There’s no need to,” Wynne told MLSsoccer.com last week. “There’s good times, there’s bad times. But the game at hand is the game at hand.”
In Wynne’s case, the game at hand will put him at a quarter century before his 30th birthday. The former No. 1 overall pick has made at least 20 starts in each of his first nine seasons, and is well on his way to reaching that number again, having opened 13 of the Quakes’ 14 MLS matches so far under newly returned coach Dominic Kinnear.
“To get to that number as quick as he has, health has got to be in his favor,” Kinnear said of Wynne’s match total. “He’s been healthy, had no injuries that have kept him out a long time. And he deserves to be in the starting lineup. For whatever team he’s at, everyone’s thought the same thing: that he should be playing for them. You take those and put years behind it, that’s the reason he’s at 250 at the age of 29.”
Wynne came into the league with a sprinter’s speed, and that aspect of his game was an obvious draw for Kinnear, who set out this winter determined to increase San Jose’s quickness on the flanks. But Wynne hasn’t been blowing past opponents just for the sake of it this season, only sprinting when he has to with an eye on staying healthy.
“I don’t really use it that much, only when I need to track back,” Wynne said. “I’m sure there are guys faster than me now…. Now I’m cautious of it.”
Indeed, Wynne has missed only one match this year – a 1-0 loss against Real Salt Lake on1759311386" style="z-index:0" tabindex="0">April 5– and that came after he had to be removed the previous week upon suffering a strained left hamstring after beating New England’s Kelyn Rowe in a jostling footrace through the rain for a long lead pass.
Wynne can still turn on the jets in the most advantageous situations, as he did during San Jose’s fourth-round victory against Sacramento Republic FC in the US Open Cup playTuesday. Wynne burst past the Sacramento defense in the 79th minute, taking the ball to the end line before cutting it back with a near-post cross. Chris Wondolowski headed home for the tying goal, forcing overtime and allowing San Jose to win on penalty kicks.
But with so many games under his belt, Wynne wants to rely on quick wits rather than raw quickness.
“I guess the experience just has me more composed on the ball,” Wynne said. “Seeing plays develop, as opposed to just waiting and reacting – a kind of anticipation.”
Having gone through previous changes of address also allowed Wynne to shift gracefully back to the outside in Kinnear’s 4-1-4-1 system, meshing easily with veterans Jordan Stewart, Clarence Goodson and Victor Bernardez.
“Maybe experience allows more adaptability when it comes to different players as well,” Wynne said. “I feel like I’m able to adjust to this playing style much faster than I would if I was a young buck back in the day, where I wanted to just play my own way and hope everything else just adapted to me.”
Wynne isn’t yet in sight of the MLS’ all-time leaderboard – former D.C. forward Jaime Moreno currently ranks 10th all-time with 340 appearances – but with his relative youth, Wynne could soon cross the 300-match threshold and start to threaten that group. Former goalkeeper Kevin Hartman is the record holder at 416; Steve Ralston, now a San Jose assistant coach, is the leading field player at 378.
Wynne wouldn’t mind climbing those ranks, given how long he said he’d like to play:
“Forever.”
So, they’re going to have to cart you off the pitch?
“I hope so,” Wynne said. “I love my sport. I love what I do. I love playing, so I’m going to keep playing until my body gives out.”
