October 12th (2005)

Oct. 12, 2005: Taylor Twellman scores his first international goal in the USA’s 2-0 win over Panama in a World Cup qualifier at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass. Fellow St. Louisan Steve Ralston is a second-half substitution. Manager Bruce Arena will name neither player to the final U.S. roster for the 2006 World Cup. Considering that Twellman will score a hat trick in a friendly against Norway on Jan. 29, 2006, Jere Longman of the New York Times will call the selection of Brian Ching over Twellman for the World Cup team as one of “two choices that could be considered surprises.” Jimmy Conrad over Gregg Berhalter (who will become head coach of the 2022 U.S. World Cup Team) on defense will be rated as the other surprise. Despite 30 caps for Twellman and 36 for Ralston, neither will ever be picked to a U.S. World Cup roster.