A (not quite) meaningless friendly

With MLS out of season, U.S. Mens' coach Bruce Arena has called a large number of MLS players into camp in Los Angeles, looking to keep them fit in the off-season. Normally, this time of year would see the Nats playing a few meaningless friendly matches against other countries. But this year is different. Because it's a World Cup year, each and every player called into this camp is fighting for one of the precious few remaining spots on the 23-man roster that will travel to Germany this summer. Some of the players in camp now have no chance of making the squad, but there are quite a few "bubble" guys who are doing everything they can to catch Arena's eye. One of those players is Taylor Twellman (in the center of that celebratory sandwich). Despite the fact that Twellman plys his trade for the New England Revolution and has scored some big goals against DC United in the past, I'm a fan of his play. He's a scrappy striker who is always willing to give up his body if there's a chance to score. He's been fairly prolific at the MLS level when healthy, but until recently, was never quite able to translate that scoring ability to the international level. After 11 scoreless appearances, some very bad luck, and one great goal called back by a laughable offsides flag, Twellman finally got his first goal last October against Panama. But today he showed the type of play National Team fans have been hoping for, putting home a hat trick as the US dominated Norway 5-0. All the more impressive considering two of his goals were headers. Taylor is (rather generously) listed as 5' 11" in his US Soccer profile, while the average height of the Norweigian defense today appeared to be 6' 7", so the fact that he was dominant in the air today tells you something about his play. But what I really like about Twellman is that he also plays pretty good defense for a goal-scorer, buzzing around the opponent's half and often pressuring defenders into turning the ball over. In one sequence today, he chased down two Norweigian players, eventually slide-tackling the ball away in the US half of the field. Sometimes his enthusiasm gets the best of him, but he's not the type of striker who drops his head and stops running when the other team has the ball, which makes me respect him.

Overall, it was a pretty good showing for a very young US squad. Granted, Norway didn't bring much in the way of experience, and I would have liked to see the US's passing be a little quicker and sharper, but there was an obvious quality difference between our B team and Norway's B team. After a yawner of a scoreless tie against Canada last weekend, today's result should be a welcome confidence boost, since the spring friendlies should get more difficult as the World Cup approaches. In February, the US takes on a World Cup-bound Japan squad and a local rival in Guatemala, and in March they travel to Europe for matches against Germany and Poland, as well as a chance to get a look at the stadiums where they'll be playing in June. By then, the competition should be pretty fierce, since those games will likely be the last chance for players to make an impression before Arena locks in his final roster.