Revolution's Twellman retires

When I think about the New England Revolution over the years two players distinctly come to mind - Clint Dempsey and Taylor Twellman. Yes this was a club originally founded on players like Alexi Lalas and Mike Burns, but it was Dempsey and Twellman that brought New England to new levels.

Dempsey long ago back in 2007 left the Revolution for Fulham in the English Premier League, but Twellman stuck around to become the Revolution's all-time leading goal-scorer with 101 goals in 174 games - a remarkable clip for such a small player in such a physical game. He may be listed at 5-11, but I've met Taylor on several occasions, he can't be taller than 5-7, 5-8. That total was good for 5th all-time in league history and also earn him five all-star appearances.

After the Revs drafted Twellman second overall in the 2002 Super Draft, the Revs would go on to four MLS Cup championship games -- 2002, and 2005-07 -- reached the Eastern Conference finals in 2003 and 2004, won the U.S. Open Cup in 2007 and became the first MLS team to win the SuperLiga championship in 2008.

Concussions ultimately derailed the now 30-year-old's career in 2008 when he received a blow to the head on August 30 from LA Galaxy keeper Steve Cronin. He finished the regular season but had to sit out the playoffs after the concussion. He returned for a brief stint at the tail end of May, but suffered another bad concussion after being struck this time by DC keeper Josh Wicks, and although he would score a pair a week later that would essentially be the end of Twellman's career.

Although Twellman was small in stature, he was fearless in the air and I often found it frustrating that the U.S. never fully utilized his talents at a time when were looking at guys like Brian Ching to carry the torch from Brian McBride after the 2002 World Cup. I thought Twellman was one of the best candidates to play in the 2006 World Cup, but Bruce Arena did not even select him for the roster largely because the two had a well-know icy relationship.

In all Twellman only had 30 caps for the Men's National Team and scored six goals, a fair hull.

Anyway the Revolution are a team in flux, Shari Joseph is their leading player, but outside of that there are few links to the glory days earlier this decade. It's a team in transition, and one of their greats is transitioning to the booth.