Matt Taylor (born October 17, 1981) is an American soccer forward who currently plays for FSV Frankfurt in the 2. Fußball-Bundesliga.

[edit] College career

Born in Columbus, Ohio, Taylor played college soccer at UCLA from 2000 to 2003. Taylor was mostly a substitute his first year, but earned a larger role as a sophomore, finishing the season with seven goals and two assists. As a junior he bettered that, registering 12 goals and eight assists, while being in an important part of a UCLA team that won the NCAA Championship. Taylor's senior season was his best, as he scored 14 goals and 8 assists, was named the Pac-10 Player of the Year, and was a Hermann Trophy finalist. Taylor was the nation's leading scorer in the NCAA tournament during UCLA's championship run in 2002 and was named to the all tournament team at the college cup. Taylor also is the all-time leading scorer for UCLA in post season tournament play. During his college years he also played several games alongside former German National Team player Jurgen Klinsmann with Orange County Blue Star in the USL Premier Development League.

[edit] Professional career

An excellent MLS Combine saw the Kansas City Wizards trade up to draft him 4th overall in the 2004 MLS SuperDraft. Although stuck behind Davy Arnaud and Josh Wolff and receiving little playing time in 2003, Taylor showed his scoring acumen registering three goals and an assist in only 524 minutes from a substitute's role.

After his first season, Taylor was left unexposed for the 2004 MLS Expansion Draft, and was selected 8th overall by Chivas USA. He became one of the few non-Hispanics on the squad. Taylor was Chivas USA's first ever player to be named MLS player of the week. Taylor's first four years in MLS were hampered by injuries including a broken tibia, and double hernia surgery. Taylor became a first eleven player for Chivas USA coach Hans Westerhof and responded by leading all offensive categories in a starter's role. Taylor just started to regain the speed and quickness to match his work rate when he decided to leave Chivas USA over a contract dispute with then coach Preki.

He had a short stint at the amateur side Hollywood United F.C. in the Los Angeles-based USASA-affiliated Coast Soccer League, where he scored two goals on penalty kicks against his former club the Portland Timbers in the first round of the 2008 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, helping Hollywood to a shocking 3-2 win over the USL side.

On August 14, 2008, German squad TuS Koblenz, currently playing in the Germany's second tier 2. Fußball-Bundesliga announced Taylors move, just three days before their season started. He scored in his first game for the team^[1]. On October 5, 2008, Taylor scored a hat trick for Koblenz in a 5-0 win over Kaiserslautern. He announced his transfer to FSV Frankfurt on 27 May 2009, here signed a two years contract between 30 June 2011^[2].

[edit] References