Taylor Twellman

Personal information
Full name	Taylor Timothy Twellman
Date of birth	February 29, 1980 (1980-02-29) (age 29)
Place of birth	Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Playing position	Forward
Club information
Current club	New England Revolution
Number	20
Youth career
1998–1999	Maryland Terrapins
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1999-2002	1860 Munich II	58	(29)
2001–	New England Revolution	174	(101)
National team‡
2002–	United States	29	(6)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 1 November, 2009. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 3 April, 2009

Taylor Twellman (born February 29, 1980 in Minneapolis, Minnesota) is an American soccer player who currently plays for New England Revolution in Major League Soccer.

[edit] Career

[edit] Youth and College

Taylor was raised in the American soccer hotbed of 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 graduated 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 (First Division) 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].

[edit] International

In addition to success in MLS, Twellman has occasionally played for the U.S. national team. He made international headways at the 1999 World Youth Championship, scoring four goals. Twellman has since 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	0-0	5-0	Friendly
3.	29 January 2006	Home Depot Center, California, United States	Norway	1-0	5-0	Friendly
4.	29 January 2006	Home Depot Center, California, United States	Norway	2-0	5-0	Friendly
5.	10 February 2006	AT&T 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 is the son of Tim Twellman, who played soccer for the Minnesota Kicks, Tulsa Roughnecks, and Chicago Sting in the North American Soccer League. Taylor's brother James Twellman, a defender, played with the San Jose Earthquakes reserves in 2005. Taylor's grandfather is former Major Leaguer Jim Delsing, who played ten seasons in the Major Leagues with six different teams (Chicago White Sox, New York Yankees, St. Louis Browns, Detroit Tigers, Kansas City, and the A's). His uncle is also a professional athlete, golfer Jay Delsing.

Twellman was the recipient of the inaugural Keough Awards 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

• Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup (1): 2007
• North American SuperLiga (1): 2008

[edit] Individual

• Major League Soccer MVP: 2005
• MLS Golden Boot Winner: 2005
• MLS Best XI: 2005

[edit] Career stats

[edit] New England Revolution

[edit] See also

• List of current MLS players

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• MLS player profile
• Taylor Twellman articles on Yanks Abroad
• Taylor Twellman profile at Soccer New England

Taylor Twellman Navigation boxes and awards v • d • e MLS All-Star Game MVP 1996: Valderrama | 1997: Valderrama | 1998: McBride | 1999: Preki | 2000: Diallo | 2001: Donovan | 2002: Etcheverry | 2003: Ruiz | 2004: Guevara | 2005: Twellman | 2006: De Rosario | 2007: Ángel | 2008: Blanco | 2009: Howard v • d • e Major League Soccer MVP 1996 Valderrama (Tampa Bay Mutiny) · 1997 Preki (Kansas City Wizards) · 1998 Etcheverry (D.C. United) · 1999 Kreis (Dallas Burn) · 2000 Meola (Kansas City Wizards) · 2001 Pineda Chacón (Miami Fusion) · 2002 Ruiz (Los Angeles Galaxy) · 2003 Preki (Kansas City Wizards) · 2004 Guevara (MetroStars) · 2005 Twellman (New England Revolution) · 2006 Gómez (D.C. United) · 2007 Emilio (D.C. United) . 2008 Barros Schelotto (Columbus Crew) v • d • e MLS top scorers 1996: Lassiter | 1997: Moreno | 1998: John | 1999: Kreis | 2000: Diallo | 2001: Pineda Chacón | 2002: Ruiz | 2003: Ruiz | 2004: Ching | 2005: Twellman | 2006: Cunningham | 2007: Emilio | 2008: Donovan | 2009: Cunningham v • d • e United States squad – 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup 1 Cannon • 2 Hejduk • 3 Berhalter • 4 Mastroeni • 5 Vanney • 6 Cherundolo • 7 Lewis • 8 Stewart • 9 Kirovski • 10 Donovan • 11 Mathis • 12 Bocanegra • 13 Martino • 14 Armas • 15 Convey • 16 Califf • 17 Beasley • 18 Howard • 19 Hahnemann • 20 Twellman • 21 Cunningham • 22 Klein • 23 Gibbs • Coach: Arena v • d • e United States squad – 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup Champions (4th Title) 1 Howard • 2 Hejduk • 3 Bocanegra • 4 Mastroeni • 5 Feilhaber • 6 M. Bradley • 7 Beasley • 8 Dempsey • 9 Johnson • 10 Donovan • 11 Ching • 12 DeMerit • 13 Bornstein • 14 Ralston • 15 Simek • 16 Parkhurst • 17 Spector • 18 Keller • 19 Clark • 20 Twellman • 21 Mapp • 22 Onyewu • 23 Guzan • Coach: B. Bradley v • d • e United States squad – 2007 Copa América 1 {{{p1}}} • 2 Wynne • 3 DeMerit • 4 Boswell • 5 Feilhaber • 6 Pearce • 7 Califf • 8 Gomez • 9 Johnson • 10 Davies • 11 Gaven • 12 Conrad • 13 Bornstein • 14 Olsen • 15 Moor • 16 Kljestan • 17 Beckerman • 18 Keller • 19 Clark • 20 Twellman • 21 Mapp • 23 Guzan • 25 Nguyen • Coach: Bradley