...score 40 goals for the National Team. The following is the text from a portion of Eric Wynalda's June 2nd interview on the New England Revolution's radio show "In the Net". The segment that discusses Twellman starts at 13:40 and lasts about three and a half minutes. You can listen here http://boss.streamos.com/real/binarypro/nerevolution/radio_network/2003/nerlor06022003.smi Eric Wynalda- "I'm a little bit nervous about Twellman getting his change with the National team, to be honest. I think if I really was honest about it... I look at him and I think that that's a kid who has a chance at scoring 40 goals for his country. I think it's the opportunity." Brad Feldman (Host)- "Wow, that's coming from Eric Wynalda folks. The guy who has the record: 34 goals." Wynalda- "Yeah, I really think that when I watch him play he's not just a one dimensional guy. He does a lot of things that you just can't teach. I'm a little bit... I think Bruce Arena has taken his time bringing him in. And I think that that's a little unfortunate for Taylor because, what I've noticed with him is, Taylor's the kind of player that, he gets a lot of energy from his team, from his teammates. I think he loves playing for the Revs, because he loves his teammates and he plays for them. And when he went to the National team you could see that, and it's a little bit overwhelming sometimes when you get your chance to get into the National team you don't really...you end up being something that you're not. And what Taylor needs to remember is that if he just sticks to who he is, he's pretty damn good. And that's what he needs to do. I saw him play in a couple of the times that he's been in and his attitude...if he figures out that, guess what, I'm a good player and I just need to be me and it's Bruce's job to figure out how to put me into that group, he's going to be fine. He has the ability to score goals that I haven't seen in anybody in a long time." Feldman- "Well that's big coming from you, and I think he's going to come back from the Confederations Cup and we're going to have some highlight tape of him scoring against a Brazil or a Turkey. Because if you look at the other strikers they brought in, two or three of them aren't out and out strikers. You look at a Landon Donovan, Demarcus Beasley and Mathis, those are guys that sometimes get put in the hole or the attacking midfield role. And then you've got Jovan Kirovski and Cunningham. So you've got to figure that Taylor's going to get some playing time." Wynalda- "He better. I mean it would be an absolute travesty if he didn't. I think it's...and it would be a huge misktake by Bruce Arena not to play him. This is the time where you've got to get Tayor into the group and scoring goals. I think you look at someone like Jovan who's been around for a while, he doesn't have some of the elements to his game that Taylor has. You look at Cunningham, Cunningham is a dribbler. But when in front of the net, he's still going to try and...pass it off the goal post if he can. He just doesn't really show that he wants to score goals. Feldman- "He paints himself into corners a lot" Wynalda- "Right, and Landon, as we all know, is not big enough to handle it up front and he's going to be a guy that is very effective when he comes from deep. So I think that..I said this when we watched New England play agaisnt San Jose, I said 'I would love to see these two play together, Landon and Taylor.' That is the combination that we need to start thinking about, because that's the kind of combination that really would scare another team. Becasue you've got a guy that's not afraid to stick his head in anywhere and then you've got another guy who can beat you on the dribble, who can have defenses collapse on him and then dump it to a guy like Taylor who knows what to do when he's in front of the net. So, I want to see that."
I've really enjoyed Waldo on the ESPN2 telecasts... However, I think he's got Twellman wrong. Twellman can be a role player with this team, but he needs to get alot faster (both in thought, play recognition, and physically) to be considered for a starting role with that team. James
So could Bocanegra. He already has two. How many does TT have? OK, I'm just kidding. TT could turn out to be all the things Waldo says he is. And considering that Waldo played for Arena, this interview is telling. He might be one of Arena's only players who came out and openly questioned Arena's decisions. Could that have something to do with the fact that he knows it won't cost him a shot on the team? I'm just saying...
I think Donovan, either Quaranta or Johnson, and Adu will all break Wynalda's record. That being said, I believe Mathis (30 caps/11 goals) is the only player on track to break the record if he gets 100 caps, but he'll suffer from having to share with the above players (as well as McBride, Twellman, etc.) as well as from playing a similar role in the team to Donovan.
Wynalda sees a bit of himself in Taylor. In his prime Wynalda was faster and was better from set pieces. Mathis is more like Wynalda, but all three can finish. Twellman has the advantage of being able to head the ball.
Waldo sucks as an announcer, but I like how he calls it like he sees it: On Landon:"Right, and Landon, as we all know, is not big enough to handle it up front and he's going to be a guy that is very effective when he comes from deep." Does he mean in size or in getting the job done? BWahahahaha. Interesting how he doesn't talk any about McBride.
I don't see Mathis getting 100 caps. Getting 70 caps after he's 26 years old, especially if he goes abroad next year, is going to be a very hard thing to do. If Mathis had gotten an early start like Donovan I think he could do it, but Donovan started before he could even legally buy himself a beer after the game. Donovan will probably break it. He's got 12 years left in him to do it.
Excellent post -- thanks for highlighting that interview. I'm pretty ignorant about non-television soccer coverage, so aside from the content (which was excellent), simply listening to an intelligent interview with an ex-national team player was pretty cool. Plus, I agree with what Wynalda says, and think people are underrating Twellman. When does this show air?
God, I'd love to believe that but I have my doubts. The caliber of defending in the MLS just aint what it is in Europe and the top-flight leagues. How many times does a MLS player go off to Europe, score some goals because he's not marked seriously, and then shut completely down? (Kirovski, McBride, Joe Max Moore). I was unimpressed with Twellman's first start for the Nats, but I don't think anyone - particularly a striker - can be assessed in their debut. But that debut does show what a player is capable of doing when the pressure is on him, the very sort of crucible that a striker should thrive in.
Well the only way to get faster is at the national team level. Every new player to the team has to go through that. Boca has been training with the team for almost 2 years and he is only just now starting to get it. Like Waldo says Twellman needs to be himself and play his game. He has time.
Wynalda is just hoping Arena will play Twellman alot so the guys that could challenge his record -- Mathis, McBride and Donovan -- won't get as much time.
Waldo speaks truth. That's why he had so many problems as a player. But it will serve him well in his job. I only wish he would have gone all the way and said what he was thinking, that Kirovski and Cunningham are total shite. I like Waldo and his commentary better than Chinaglia, who wanted a boring one-striker formation with Mathis on top for the World Cup. Would have been three and out for the USA. Still, I don't care to dissect Taylor's game here on Big Soccer. Some of us here spend so much time wanking over their styles of play that we eventually conclude that even Landon and DaMarcus are shite. What kind of logic is that? How's this for logic? Taylor scores goals. Lots of em. Let's see him play and then we'll know if Waldo was right. Can he do it wearing the stars and bars or if he is any Lights Out Lassiter or Jason Kreis? Confed Cup is a good time to look for an answer ...
With the new qualifying format, any of our strikers - Donovan, Mathis, Twellman, whoever - will have a chance to pad their stats with a dozen goals if they start 3 or 4 first round games against Aruba and Elbonia.
Never seen Quaranta so I'll pass on him Donovan - Maybe but I don't think so. I see him more as a setup guy Johnson - Seen him and I'm unimpressed so far. Just another fast kid. Mathis - Never happen. He's on the way down now and I'll be surprised if he plays in the next WC Adu - HEy, if you read these boards, he should be starting now. I'm surprised we're not hearing about Bungle and Josh Wolfe too. I am a TnT fan but how he does depends a lot on who's playing around him. With the wrong cast (like the first Nat outing), he can look like a flop. With the right players, he could break that record. He has scored some spectacular goals when given the chance.
Re: Re: Eric Wynalda thinks that Twellman could.... I don't know how you can prove this point given such a small sample size, but even these examples are pretty poor. First, Kirovski hasn't scored one goal in MLS - until he proves he is a monster in MLS, he bears no reflection on the quality of MLS defending. Second, Brian McBride had four goals in eight games. Even if he had four goals in twelve games, he would be scoring comparable to his rate in MLS. He has not been a monster in MLS since his first season (17 goals). He was not really shut down in the last four matches - he just didn't score a goal. Third, Joe Max-Moore struggled a lot with injuries and problems getting regular playing time after his initial flurry. I will admit he comes the closest to proving your point. On the other hand, Stern John scored 9 goals this season (in limited action) and scored boucoups of goals at the first division level. He is not going to be a first-tier EPL striker, but MLS defenses are better than they were in his MLS hey-day and he is not quite as svelte as he was in his younger days. Onandi Lowe has been very successful at lower levels of English football and would easily be successful above the second division, where he is playing now. The team that signed him is extremely ambitious and is paying him well beyond the average for the league. His national team play demonstrates that he would be dangerous in just about any league. He was excellent in MLS, but he was not as dominating as other players. There is also the philosophy that says that some players actually perform better in a more difficult league. The benefit of more skillful teammates and the atmosphere that feeds their motivation helps them reach. Most of us who play soccer know that our best performances come when we are trying to hang with other players who are a little bit better than us - to prove that we can. Some players look like idiots when they are placed over their heads - but other players thrive at the higher level. Brian McBride is a good example of this. An even better example - many relegated EPL teams find that excellent players who produced well on the EPL level are not as effective at the First Division level. There are many "Triple-AAA" soccer players like Paul Dickov, Steve Claridge or Nicky Forster who are dominating at the 1st Division level and score more goals than relegated EPL thoroughbreds like Malcolm Christie or Fabrizio Ravenelli. This doesn't mean that Christie is a worse player than Dickov. Only that playing at the higher level benefits a player with his skill set. There are individuals in MLS who would probably not be as successful at a higher level of play: Jason Kreis (poor man's Kevin Phillips), Ray Lassiter and Ante Razov are examples. But there are other MLS players: Clint Mathis, Landon Donovan and Brian McBride who I anticipate would play better soccer if they were in a more difficult, technically or even physically demanding league. They have proven this by showing a level of play on the national team that is even higher, in some respects, than their level of play in MLS.
So who exactlly DO you think we score many goals for us? Not nessecarily break the record, but just score a lot as you say these guys won't (except The Adu, and we can't really count him yet..) thanks
Martin, quite frankly that is a load of bull***************, and u know it... Jeez man, Waldo may not be the best announcer, but hell if it isn't interesting to actually hear from someone who has actually played in international games rather than imported wannabees who haven't played the game since 4th form... Cmon... stop trolling...
This was one of the reasons I thought the interview was interesting to begin with. Pre-WC it was fair game to call Bruce to task for various personnel decisions. Whether it was Hejduk, Regis, Sanneh, Kirovski, Wolff, etc., we all had at least one guy who we called Bruce a fool for bringing into camp. But two things have silenced that criticism for the most part: (1) Bruce got us qualified and then rocked at the WC. All his gutsy calls regarding who should be on the field and in what positions were incredibly successful. And we are still thankful and awed. (2) through all that we saw how many young folks Bruce was bringing into camps to get a look at. Many came to feel that our success was due to Bruce really getting the most bang for his buck regarding the available American soccer talent. That fact together with the success we've had leads one to feel that Bruce can practically do no wrong. So to hear Waldo be a bit critical of our beloved coach, and of all topics to suggest that he's overlooked someone in the player pool was pretty surprising. The other interesting thing for me was to hear a very accomplished stiker's opinion of Twellman's abilities. The past season we all watched Twellman score so many goals, many of them on scrappy half chances that we were left to wonder how talented he really is. And without solid proof from him on the field for the Nats yet, the closest we can get to an answer is to hear a professional's opinion on the matter. Which of course doesn't really mean ***************, but it's still pretty interesting.
Bit of a problem isn't it. I see problems getting goals from strikers and this isn't a new problem. In a game like the Wales game, TnT might have excelled. There were many quality crosses flying into the box and that's were he does the best. If we continue to play that way, he may be the man. In earlier games, with a different cast, there was no service for anybody. If that's the new style, we will have trouble scoring no matter who plays forward. It all comes down to who Arena settles on for the number one spots. While I like him as a coach, I do believe that he plays favorites, regardless of what they actually produce on the field. He seems loyal to players that may not be the best available. Two quick examples are Beasley and Mathis (with Armas right behind). I think that unless those two (and other favorites) start producing something, he'll HAVE to look elsewhere in time. The other big problem he has is center mid. With an aging Reyna and JOB inconsistent, we have a problem. I think that I would find a way to get Convey into the middle and try and find a #10 from either Reyna of JOB. Maybe they split the time on the same position?
Ok, if you said that last September maybe it'd have held held some merit. But please, 5 goals in 5 games for the metros. He's back on the up.