Taylor Twellman
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Taylor Timothy Twellman | ||
| Date of birth | February 29, 1980 | ||
| Place of birth | Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States | ||
| Height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) | ||
| Playing position | Forward | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1998–1999 | Maryland Terrapins | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1999–2002 | 1860 Munich II | 58 | (29) |
| 2002–2010 | New England Revolution | 174 | (101) |
| Total | 232 | (130) | |
| National team | |||
| 1997 | United States U-17 | 3 | (2) |
| 1999 | United States U-20 | 4 | (4) |
| 2002–2008 | United States | 30 | (6) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals). |
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Taylor Twellman (born February 29, 1980, in Minneapolis, Minnesota) is a retired American soccer player who currently works as a television analyst for the Philadelphia Union and ESPN soccer.
Contents |
[edit] Career
[edit] Youth and College
Taylor was raised in St. Louis, Missouri, and attended Saint Louis University High School, where he lettered in American football, basketball, soccer, and baseball, and maintained a 3.5 grade point average. Playing shortstop, he batted .450 as a junior and .517 as a senior; although he was not drafted, he was offered a contract by the Kansas City Royals. After graduating from SLUH in 1998, Twellman rejected the offer, electing to play soccer at Maryland on an athletic scholarship.[1]
At Maryland, Twellman played soccer in 1998 and 1999; in 1998 Twellman was named a second-team All American for the squad, and in his sophomore 1999 season he finished as a runner-up for both the Hermann Trophy and the MAC Player of the Year Award. After only two seasons with the Terrapins, Twellman left college to turn professional.
[edit] Professional
In 2000, Twellman signed with German Bundesliga club 1860 Munich. However, after an unsuccessful two years with the team, for whom he never played above the reserve level, Twellman returned to the U.S. when he was drafted second overall by the New England Revolution in the 2002 MLS SuperDraft.
In Twellman's first season in MLS, he established himself as one of the most dangerous players in the league, finishing second in the league in goals scored (23), first in overall points (52), and was runner-up to Carlos Ruiz for MLS MVP, despite starting the season as a backup for Mamadou Diallo and Wolde Harris. In the 2003 season, despite being beset by a number of injuries, Twellman finished tied for first in the league in goals scored with 15, again with Ruiz. His production went down in 2004, as he ended up with just nine goals. But 2005 saw Twellman back to his old form, as he won both the Major League Soccer MVP Award and MLS Golden Boot, finishing the regular season with 17 goals. He was also named to the MLS Best XI, as he was in 2002.
Twellman was the target of transfer talk when Odd Grenland of Norway reportedly made a $1.2 million bid for him, which MLS rejected. In February 2007, New England announced they had signed Twellman to a four year contract, reportedly worth $300,000 per year.[2]
In 2007, Twellman won his first title with the Revolution: the US Open Cup, a season in which he finished third in MLS in goals scored. The Revolution also won the Eastern Conference title, with Twellman scoring a spectacular bicycle kick against the Chicago Fire to secure the Revs' spot in the 2007 MLS Cup. Twellman scored the opening goal of the 2007 MLS Cup against Houston Dynamo. However, this would be New England's only goal as they would go on to lose their third straight MLS Cup by a score of 2-1.[3]
In January 2008, English Championship team Preston North End had a bid totalling $2.5 million rejected for the striker, against the player's wishes.[4]
Twellman missed the majority of the 2008 and 2009 MLS seasons after suffering a neck injury and a subsequent serious concussion in a game against Los Angeles Galaxy on August 30, 2008.[5] Twellman planned to make his return during the 2010 season but on June 24, it was announced that Twellman would not play in the 2010 season and was placed on the season-ending injury list. After struggling to find any playing time over the past three seasons in MLS, due to his head injury, Twellman announced his retirement from the game at the end of the 2010 MLS season.[6] Twellman has agreed to donate his brain to science after death. It is believed his brain could be of great use to determine whether or not multiple concussions causes permanent harm to the brain.[7]
[edit] International
In addition to success in MLS, Twellman has occasionally played for the U.S. national team. He made international headlines at the 1999 World Youth Championship, scoring four goals. Twellman graduated to the senior national team (making his first appearance for the team on November 17, 2002 against El Salvador). Twellman struggled to score his first international goal, having several apparent goals waved off for offside infractions, before finally scoring against Panama in a World Cup qualifier October 12, 2005. He began to improve his chances for a spot on the 2006 World Cup team with a hat trick against Norway in a friendly on January 29, 2006 (only the ninth in US National Team history). However, as the selection process for the 23-man World Cup roster came around, Twellman was not on the list.
[edit] International goals
| # | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 12 October 2005 | Gillette Stadium, Massachusetts, United States |  Panama |
1-0 | 2-0 | WCQ |
| 2. | 29 January 2006 | Home Depot Center, California, United States |  Norway |
1-0 | 5-0 | Friendly |
| 3. | 29 January 2006 | Home Depot Center, California, United States | Norway |
2-0 | 5-0 | Friendly |
| 4. | 29 January 2006 | Home Depot Center, California, United States | Norway |
4-0 | 5-0 | Friendly |
| 5. | 10 February 2006 | SBC Park, California, United States |  Japan |
3-0 | 3-2 | Friendly |
| 6. | 12 June 2007 | Gillette Stadium, Massachusetts, United States |  El Salvador |
3-0 | 4-0 | 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup |
[edit] Personal
Taylor's father Tim Twellman, and uncles Mike Twellman and Steve Twellman, all played professionally in the North American Soccer League. Taylor's brother James Twellman, played with the San Jose Earthquakes reserves in 2002. Taylor's grandfather, Jim Delsing, was a major league baseball outfielder in the 1950s for five different teams. His uncle is golfer Jay Delsing.
Twellman was the recipient of the inaugural Keough Award for outstanding male soccer player from the St. Louis area in 2004.
[edit] Honors
[edit] United States
- CONCACAF Gold Cup (1): 2007
[edit] New England Revolution
[edit] Individual
- Major League Soccer MVP: 2005
- MLS Golden Boot Winner: 2005
- MLS Best XI: 2002, 2005
[edit] Career stats
| Club performance | League | Cup | Continental | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Club | League | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| USA | League | Open Cup | North America | Total | ||||||
| 2002 | New England Revolution | Major League Soccer | 28 | 23 | - | - | 28 | 23 | ||
| 2003 | 22 | 15 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 25 | 17 | ||
| 2004 | 23 | 9 | 1 | 0 | - | 24 | 9 | |||
| 2005 | 25 | 17 | 1 | 0 | - | 26 | 17 | |||
| 2006 | 32 | 11 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 36 | 12 | ||
| 2007 | 26 | 16 | 4 | 4 | - | 30 | 20 | |||
| 2008 | 16 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 19 | 9 | ||
| 2009 | 2 | 2 | - | - | 2 | 2 | ||||
| Total | USA | 174 | 101 | 11 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 190 | 109 | |
| Career total | 174 | 101 | 11 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 190 | 109 | ||
[edit] References
- ^ Rosewater, Amy (2002-08-01), Twinkle returns for Twellman, USA Today, http://www.usatoday.com/sports/soccer/mls/2002-08-01-twellman_x.htm, retrieved 2007-11-09
- ^ Revs' Taylor Twellman signs contract extension, MLS, 2007-02-12, archived from the original on December 29, 2007, http://web.archive.org/web/20071229113750/http://web.mlsnet.com/news/mls_news.jsp?ymd=20070212&content_id=83473&vkey=pr_mls&fext=.jsp, retrieved 2007-11-09
- ^ (– Scholar search) Dynamo beat Revolution 2-1 to repeat as MLS champions, Fox Sports, 2007-11-18, http://msn.foxsports.com/soccer/story/7462040, retrieved 2007-11-18[dead link]
- ^ Twellman Vents About Preston Approach, The Washington Post, 2008-01-18, http://blog.washingtonpost.com/soccerinsider/2008/01/twellman_vents_about_preston_a.html, retrieved 2008-01-30
- ^ Revolution’s Taylor Twellman out indefinitely
- ^ http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/report-twellman-end-his-playing-career
- ^ http://www.necn.com/11/04/10/Twellmans-retirement-not-a-choice/landing_sports.html?blockID=345492&feedID=6097
[edit] External links
- MLS player profile
- Taylor Twellman articles on Yanks Abroad
- Taylor Twellman profile at Soccer New England
| Preceded by Amado Guevara |
Major League Soccer MVP Award 2005 |
Succeeded by Christian Gómez |
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- 1980 births
- Living people
- Soccer players from Minnesota
- People from St. Louis, Missouri
- American expatriate soccer players
- United States men's international soccer players
- 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup players
- 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup players
- 2007 Copa América players
- CONCACAF Gold Cup-winning players
- Major League Soccer players
- TSV 1860 München II players
- New England Revolution players
- Maryland Terrapins men's soccer players
