TnT wins it with 23 goals, 6 assists. First time a young American has won the title. By all measures he is ready and able to go for the USA. PLUS he has a very good work ethic and appears durable( so far!).
Someone has to start the argument and step in for Carlos Ruiz. Only in MLS are assists added to the scoring leaders, and it's silly. The scoring title should go to the player who scores the most goals -and that is the Fish. He deserves MLS MVP and should be the scoring leader officicially.
I bet BA will call him into a couple of camps and play him here and there. BA will probably wait till next season to see if TT can produce again like this before Twellman becomes a mainstay on the NT. That's all saying Twellman doesn't completely impress in any NT games.
It wouldn't be MLS if we didn't. I agree that Twellman has earned a callup. Who wants to bet that Twellman v. Ruiz will be a major story during the 2005 Hex? Sachin
Ruiz is good but Guatamala usually doesn't have too much of a team. So he will not be getting the good passes Twellman will. The challenge for Twellman will be making the US team and being a starter. The challenge for Ruiz will be scoring without much support.
I still believe Bruce Arena looks higher in Buddle than Twellman. Bruce loves big target... just look at McBride... However, Conor Casey prolly is McBride's successor as the next big target man.
I say he caps all 3 of 'em and sees which ones deliver and then adds the ones that do to the mix of Donovan, Mathis (if he gets his head right), Wolff (if he gets his knees right), McBride (if he holds off Father Time) and perhaps Ante Razov. Having said all that, there is nothing in Twellman's pedigree that suggests he won't flourish. He scored with the 17s, he scored in college, he scored with the 20s and the 23s, he scored in the German 3rd division and he's scored in MLS. Every step of his career he's put the ball in the hole and I don't think he'll stop doing that at the senior level.
wasn't his 24th goal a pk in the 94th minute of the last game of the season? wasn't it Cobi that was taken down and should have taken the kick? wasn't it a gift to the fish to pad his stats?
When speaking about call ups, please stop mentioning Ante Razov. He is not national team quality. I know he scores goals at the MLS level, but he will never make it on the international stage. We have such a great pool of young forward that we need to work on developing and getting international experience. Buddle, Johnson, Casey......Lets work on these kids and forget about mid level performers like Razov.
From what I have seen, Twellman supports his team more than Carlos Ruiz in every aspect of the game. He deserves the MVP. As for national team duty, I believe Twellman would be a good fit for the USA team. He has a tremendous work-rate++++, good skill on the ball (at his feet and holding), fabulous off the ball-Taylor times his runs better than most MLS strikers, he deceptively fast, has that incredible instinct in front of goal, something that can not be said for most of the American forwards playing in MLS. It would be safe to say that he has had one of the most productive seasons in MLS history, and essentially a season following some reserve team football in Germany. That speaks volumes of his ability. Another statistic that jumps out at me is the fact that Taylor is one of the most fouled players in MLS, and, verily- he is among the leaders in fouls committed. He looks a hungry player. If I had to compare it would be a combination of the qualities you see in Joe-Max Moore (Everton) and Alan Smith (Leeds), save the occasional red.
Acutally, to become a mainstay in the US squad you need to perform well for the US team when you play for it. Club performances don't count. If you doubt it, just talk to someone like Jason Kreis.
Short-term memory? Guatemala very nearly beat out the US and Costa Rica in CONCACAF's semis ... we were fortunate to win at home against them after Eddie Lewis' red ... Ruiz scored a late game -tying goal away ... they had to have a play-off game between Costa Rica and Guatemala to decide who got to go to the Hex ... and I don't think I need to remind you that Costa Rica did pretty damn well in the Hex. I think Guatemala deserves attention as a major threat to make the Hex next time around.
One example of Twellman's relentless zeal: In the final game against the Metros, Revs up 3-0, Andy Williams dribbling on the left side, moving swiftly forward. Twellman's runs half the length of the field to pressure Williams from behind, and Williams knocks an errant pass over the end line. At one point in the game, when Twellman had landed on the ground once again, Tab Ramos came over to him and suggested he take it a little easier, since the Revs were in the driver's seat.
How about this for 2006 -----------Twellman---------Quarranta --------------------Donovan-------------- Beasley-----------------------------Reyna
This is my prediction: -----------Twellman---------Casey --------------------Donovan-------------- Beasley-----------------------------Thorrington --------------------O'Brien---------------- Sachin
Congrats to Twellman. On a different note, the MLS ROY policies are absolutely idiotic. If this were any other professional sport, Twellman wins the award hands down. Since the ROY rules of MLS are screwed, not to mention the fact he's had the best year of any MLS player, Twellman wins my vote for MVP. His consistency on an inconsistent team has been outstanding. Will all this translate into a successful Nat career? I hope so.
And who was Arena's "BIG TARGET MAN" in DC? He really had none (remember, he used Sanneh as a midfielder). Moreno was more of a forward while Arce was more of a striker, neither of whom was a big target man. Arena tends to have a basic system, but instead of molding the players to the system, he molds the system to his players. If his best 11 players were all Conor Casey look alikes, the system would involve 11 Conor Casey's If his best 11 were all Landon Donovan look alikes, the system would look different.
How can you compare MLS to International play? Let's just wait until the next call up who Bruce will select... You guys will be surprised that Twellman won't be in it.
actually, it wasnt really the revs or dc..it was themselves. theres no excuse to not get a win in situations like those. both the revs and dc were basically eliminated and fought back, the revs makin it and dc barely missing out. the metros were basically in with a really good shot to get the #2 seed and blew it.
There are a few things that really impress me about Twellman (besides all his skill, blah blah blah). I don't think he's particularly tall (5-11, according to mlsnet, granted they list Sommer as 5-10!!!!!!!), but he managed numerous times to beat defenders and score headers (thanks to Ralston crosses). The other thing is that he's always running around, never tired. He runs up and down the field for the whole 90 mins. I haven't really seen Ruiz play much, how is he at coming back at helping out on D?