In April 2006, reigning Major League Soccer Most Valuable Player and Golden Boot winner Taylor Twellman was on top of the world.
The New England Revolution striker, who announced the end of his professional playing career on Wednesday, netted scored four goals in six appearances for the United States national team that year and looked like a good bet to make Bruce Arena's 2006 World Cup roster.
Despite his success, Twellman was cautious about his prospects.
"You're only as good as your last game," he said at the time when asked about his chances to play in soccer's most important tournament.
A month later, he sounded like a fortune teller. In Arena's eyes, the 26-year-old wasn't quite good enough to oust strikers Eddie Johnson, Brian Ching, Josh Wolff, Brian McBride and Landon Donovan from their spots on the 23-man squad that failed to make an impression in Germany.
Twellman watched the tournament from home. While he did appear in all six of the US' 2007 Gold Cup matches – coming on four minutes prior to Benny Feilhaber's historic strike against Mexico in the final – he made few significant contributions to the American side as concussions robbed the Maryland Terrapins product of his prime.
In the great "What if..." narrative of Twellman's career, his potential contribution to the US team is less uncertain. Despite being one of MLS' best scorers in the run of play, the now 30-year-old striker probably didn't have quite enough talent to succeed in the international game. As multiple American forwards have demonstrated during the past four years, a player needs more than hustle and effort to tally on the biggest stage in the world.
Then again, Twellman possessed an uncanny knack for being in the right place at the right time and finishing when presented with an opportunity. Perhaps he could have taken that skill to the international game if given additional chances with the Red, White and Blue.
The fact that we'll never know for sure is one more sad angle of an already sad day.
Noah Davis covers the United States national team for MLSsoccer.com. Follow him on Twitter at @noahedavis.
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