Earlier in the year I posted here suggesting that Twellman should be in the mix for 2006. Have you folks seen him lately?- every game he looks more and more dangerous. He is now dominating games , even when he is a marked man. The thing about him is he is a versatile striker. He can do it with his shot, dribbling, he is great in the air and he has super anticipation. It is not simple stopping him because he scores many, many different ways. He looks ready for international duty right now.
Twellman's gain will be Wolff's downfall, unless he can get back to old form. I really hope that McBride is the odd man out for '06. Too soon to tell.
McBride will be out due strictly to age.. That and the fact that there are a ton of young up and comming players on the horizon who offer up potentially a lot more than the classic target forward that McBride is.. Conor Casey, yes the much maligned Casey.. Faster, better ball skills and by the time WC 06' rolls around, he will have had a ton of experience playing in a top flight league.. Twellman is also another of the brightspots for the future that also include Santino Quaranta, Ed Johnson and a name to look out for in the future, Nate Jaqua of Portland University.. The future looks quite good offensively for our future WC team, defensively is a whole notha' story...
How soon we forget. 2 goals in a World Cup just not good enough for you. That said, Twellman is looking great. I hope MLS gives him a Josh Wolff deal and we see this guy thru 2006. Can you imagine the uproar form Revs fans if this guy slips away?
It's not because I hate him, it's because I hope Bruce takes a younger player rather than trotting his old ass out there. Agree now?
It will be interesting to see how Arena uses Twellman. Twellman is a gifted finisher and hard worker, but he is not much of a threat outside of the box and is not going to trouble world class defenders by running at them from the midfield. His speed is below average for a striker and his dribbling skills are best suited to open room for his shot ( which is superior) rather than get by people. His passing vision/skill is also nothing special, he is not a tricky, creative-type striker who will set up many goals. He seems more comparable to JMM or Mathis than Josh Wolff. He probably will need strong midfield and wing possession play to be successful (which may be hard to obtain against top national sides) and he is a more forward type target player than I have seen Arena use in the past. He probably is not as versatile as Mathis and might have a hard time beating him out (though I wouldn't bet against it). Nevertheless, the guy is motivated, confident, and persistent. He certainly could be useful with the National side and, with the right supporting cast, might become "the man".
I get the impression that he has a nose for the goal and is quite a poacher -- kind of like Ante Razov, but with better skills.
I think the comparison with Mathis is most apt. Nose for goal, finisher. I think he doesn't threaten Wolff because Wolff is very speedy, which TT is not. I am the only one who is glad we have another "Mathis"type? Frankly, I am VERY worried about Clint, both health and attitude. He looks fat and lazy- and I am a Clint fan!! He can't do much about his knees but he can do alot about fitness and smoking cigarettes. I find that very, very disturbing. If he wants to throw his career away, it is his business as long as he doesn't drag the US team down with him. TT is comparable to Mathis-doesn't have Clint's free-kicks but works much, much harder and is much fitter.
this is not true. The other guys might be good MLS pros, amybe great pros. Twellman is dominating MLS right now. That is a HUGE difference.
Personally, I see McBride in 2006 in the JMM role, an experienced striker on the bench to put in during a close game.
I think ruling out McBride is a huge mistake. Remember, his game doesn't depend on speed. These big target forwards last a very long time. Niall Quinn is about 36 or so and still plays in the EPL, still plays for Ireland. It wouldn't surprise me at all if McHead was still the best target guy in the US in 2006.
It was interesting to read in FourFourTwo that their Germany writer mentioned both Casey and Cherundolo as good players for Hannover, when the focus on the article was mostly on who'll win the Bundesliga. Jaqua needs to get away from college if he wants to progress as a player. Then again, I say this about any worthwhile college player (of which there are very, very few). As for Twellman, he should play well upfield internationally. He's not much of a possession player, so he shouldn't be dropping into midfield unless we're defending a lead late. He should be successful...he doesn't remind me of other MLS goalscorers that failed internationally, like Jason Kreis or Ante Razov. Twellman is also several years older than those two. Who knows where Quaranta and Johnson will be in 4 years? I can say, having seen Twellman at Maryland, that Quaranta is further along now than he was then. Twellman's nose for goal was probably a tiny bit more developed, but in every other facet Tino is more advanced.
I didn't say Twellman wasn't dominating MLS.. All I was saying is that there are other options to choose from which in the past we really haven't been able to look forward to.. There is nothing untrue about my statements saying Quaranta, Johnson and Jaqua couldn't be just as big a factor as Twellman.. Kreis and Lassiter have torn up MLS from time to time and have done jack squat at the international level.. Twellman has played for his country (4 goals at the U-20 World Cup in 99') and played quite well.. All I am saying in the end is that for once in our history, we could be spoiled for choices...
But these things are not necessarily linear. Do you remeber Jason Moore? Do you remember Mike Sivitski? Both were outstanding prospects who never went that far. Just because someone is precocious doesn't mean they will be a dominant player. Believe me, I am rooting for all of these young guys, but having a potentially great future and scoring 20 goals in 24 games like Twellman are 2 entirely different things.
Quaranta and Johnson have a lot more potential than either of them...the hype behind them was really just a mistake on most people's parts. While you do have a good point that potential doesn't mean quality now, it's rather irrelevant. The point of bringing up Quaranta, Johnson, etc. is that we have a ton of forwards that, as of now, can say they've got a chance at playing in 2006. You seem to be saying that this season alone for Twellman means he's guaranteed a spot on the WC roster in 4 years. There's plenty of time for the young players to catch up or even surpass Twellman, just as there's plenty of time for Twellman to get even better. 4 years ago, the best striker in MLS was probably Jaime Moreno. And now, he's got 3 goals in a season. No player is guaranteed permanent success.
of course, no guarantees for anyone. My point is that Twellman isn't just about potential. He is doing it big-time right now.
Twellman is being paid less than $30,000 for this season. MLS is going to have to give him some reasonable money or he is going to head abroad. As a Revs fan, I've seen TT all year. He reminds me of Jason Kreis in size and skill, but with the most sheer determination of any American player I've seen. He has the ability to be in the right place at the right time, and he seems to think that any time he shoots he has a right to score. I've never seen a shooter so consistently get his shots on goal. Rarely does TT fail to get his shot on net, and when he does fail, its never off by much. He also seems to really enjoy playing the game, unlike those sour strikers, Razov and Graziani.
I don't know which one of these strikers will make the '06 team, but I do know that for the first time the US should be formidable up top. And the beat goes on.................
He had incentive clauses in his contract AFAIK. He won't end up making 30K at the end of the year. I'm guessing closer to $60-80K. If sources are to be believed, he made $100K/yr. for 1860 Munich during his two years there.