Taylor Twellman on the USMNT’s biggest World Cup question, ESPN return, and Ian Darke

For 13 years, Taylor Twellman’s summers had a shape to them. There was a tournament somewhere, a broadcast to prepare for, a booth he shared with Ian Darke where the two of them called the games that gradually built American soccer’s modern mythology. Clint Dempsey splitting two defenders after 32 seconds against Ghana in 2014. John Brooks materializing from nowhere in the 86th minute of that same game to send thousands of red, white, and blue-clad fans at the Arena das Dunas into bedlam. Twellman was next to Darke for both of them, nearly ripped his headset off for at least one, and still can’t quite account for everything that came out of his mouth in the immediate aftermath.

Then MLS signed a 10-year, $2.5 billion deal with Apple, the rights moved, and Twellman went with them. He’s now the lead analyst for MLS Season Pass, calling marquee matches every week on a platform that didn’t exist when he started in this business. The World Cup — the event that gave his ESPN career its biggest moments — is back on American soil for the first time since 1994, and it belongs to Fox. The booth he used to sit in is occupied by John Strong and Stu Holden. Darke is there too, paired with Landon Donovan, calling games for the third consecutive World Cup together at a network that isn’t ESPN.

Twellman is back in ESPN’s orbit anyway, doing the Today show and Get Up and whatever studio work needs a voice that can explain why any of this matters. He described it to me as a five-year college reunion where everyone is surprised you moved out of the basement. He means it affectionately. We spoke recently — with the tournament less than two weeks away and the USMNT’s starting goalkeeper still somehow undetermined — to talk about watching the World Cup from the other side, what a quarterfinal would actually mean, the two goals that people still stop him about twelve years later, and why Ian Darke still gets a text before every match.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Awful Announcing: Now that you’re no longer on the call, what does watching the World Cup actually look like for you?

Taylor Twellman: It doesn’t change just because the media role is still the same. Whether I’m on the call of the game or I’m doing the Today show or doing Get Up, whatever it may be, I still want to treat the audience with the same respect. Now, am I going to go on the Today show and talk about why a 3-4-3 is more conducive than a 4-4-2? Absolutely not. But I still think if I treat it the same way and give it the same energy, then I think it works out that way.

What would you consider a successful World Cup for this USMNT?

Quarterfinal. I’ve said that for a while now, and I just think the way the 48-team World Cup is lined up, the way the groups are lined up, if you win your group, you play a third-place team. I think home field advantage, I think you could sense it a little bit in the Senegal game. I just think it’s got to be quarterfinal. I really do. Now, if by some odd chance the group stage doesn’t go to chalk and you end up playing a third-place team, that could be different, but I think before the tournament starts, I’ve said now for a while I would say quarterfinal.

How have these appearances been on ESPN recently?

It’s been a blast. I referenced it as like I feel like I went back to my college reunion, five-year college reunion, and everyone is surprised I moved out of the basement of my mom and dad’s house. It’s just fun. Like when you put in 13 years in a place, and that place was a huge part of me learning the craft and learning all of that. And again, if MLS and U.S. Soccer and the World Cup didn’t leave ESPN, I wouldn’t have left. And so it’s been fun. It’s been great to see everybody. I’ve stayed in touch with those people anyways, and a lot of those people, I think it would surprise the public to know they’re really intrigued by the growth of MLS and [Lionel] Messi and all of that. So for so long, all of us have talked about the World Cup coming. So now that it’s here, you’re rekindling a lot of those professional relationships, those friendships that have helped grow the sport.

Speaking of ESPN, I’ve found myself going back and listening to Ian Darke’s calls, specifically the Clint Dempsey goal against Ghana and the John Brooks goal. Do you ever find yourself just going back and listening to those even though you were a part of it?

No, but it’s always — it’s when I hear it, or someone sends the clip. I was very lucky to work with [Ian]. ESPN did me a massive favor very young in my learning, like they gave me a lot of very strong play-by-plays, but all very different, whether it’s Ian, Adrian Healey, John Champion, Glenn Davis, JP Dellacamera, and then even Mike Tirico, Bob Ley, all of that. So you think about those people, they all have done this for a while, but obviously a smile comes to my face. I know exactly where I was. I know exactly what I was doing in those moments. I don’t think I’ll ever forget that. But I think that Clint Dempsey goal was a massive statement in the group of death, that the United States was going to get out of that group. And I still have a lot of people come up to me and reference that, which may be a referendum on not having any moments since then, you know what I mean? And that’s a different conversation, but that Dempsey and Brooks, those two goals, they’re still thought of as the biggest moments the United States have had in a long time.

You’re no longer calling games with Ian, but will you find yourself when you’re watching the World Cup, just glad to be able to listen to him?

Yeah, I’m so happy Ian gets to do this. I know when ESPN lost the World Cup and lost the Euros, it was a huge part of what he wanted to do, and he was very patient, and I’m glad it’s worked out for him. I’ll send him a text once the game kicks off or right before and wish him good luck and all of that. I’m really happy for him.

I feel like we keep having this conversation about what this World Cup can mean for soccer in America. What do you personally think it could mean?

Well, you’ve got 45 countries coming to the United States of America, and I think all 45 are going to be pleasantly surprised at what the culture and sport has turned into from 32 years ago, when the last time we hosted a World Cup. And so when you think of three of the top seven teams ranked in FIFA using MLS facilities to train, that was never even part of the vernacular or even a possibility 32 years ago. So, it’s interesting. Everybody talks about like what does it mean? I always tell people the United States and the soccer culture that we have here and where it’s going, it’s gonna give us credibility. This World Cup is gonna give us credibility because the world is now gonna see, oh, hang on a minute, there’s 27-whatever soccer-specific stadiums, the training facilities, the culture that we have, the soccer bars. That’s the part, I think, that people don’t fully understand, is that the rest of the world doesn’t fully know who we are and what we’ve done over 32 years. And quite honestly, it’s over the last 10 years where the growth has gone. I think a lot of people go, oh, will it overcome the NFL or any of that, it’s like, well, hang on a minute. I don’t think you guys understand what it’s gonna do to the credibility around the world.

Just talking about the USMNT in general, what do you make of the whole controversy around the emails being sent out instead of a personal phone call?

I think each manager will do what he or she feels is right at the moment. And when I listen to [Mauricio] Pochettino answer that question — someone who himself didn’t go to a World Cup or major tournament or two — it resonated with me how personal he felt about it. And so I’m fine. I would have no problem if the coach wanted to call me and we wanted to discuss it, but I completely understand him saying, listen, no one’s really going to want to discuss it. There’s going to be no conversation, so it’s pointless. Here’s an email. I thought it was a bigger deal than it needed to be, and I think Pochettino did a good thing in describing why he came from the angle that he did.

Conventional wisdom is that if the United States is going to be successful at the World Cup, they’re going to need a lot out of Tyler Adams and Chris Richards. Would you agree with that sentiment? And is there anybody X-factor wise that you’re looking for, like we need this guy to be nails in order to make that quarterfinal?

It’s the first time since 1990 that we are less than 12 days from a World Cup, and we don’t know who our number one goalkeeper is. And I agree with you — Chris Richards, Tyler Adams, absolutely. And I think what I saw from the nines, particularly [Ricardo] Pepi and [Folarin] Balogun, was really strong. I thought the attack was good against Senegal. But the fact that we still don’t know who the number one goalkeeper is, that’s as baffling as it comes. So now you’re asking me, whatever it is, June 2, June 3, that almost becomes more important than Chris Richards and Tyler Adams to me, because I’m really shocked that we don’t know that answer, and Senegal didn’t give us any indication of what that answer is gonna be, considering Chris Brady played the second half.

Do you have a personal opinion on who you think should be in goal? 

Matt Freese played himself into this conversation last summer. I thought he was brilliant. But the way Pochettino picked this roster and the way he’s looking at experience — Tim Ream is now his captain, when most of us would say, well, Tyler Adams is your captain — that becomes interesting. I’ve just said the last six months, Matt Turner has been really, really good. The inside deep analytics, he’s prevented nearly eight goals. That’s nearly four goals more than second or third place, and Matt Freese isn’t in the top six or seven. Matt Turner’s been really good. So if you don’t know who your number one is, then I think experience becomes a real interesting part of this equation. But it’s crazy that here we are on June 2 and we still don’t know that answer.

What do you make of the announcing duo of John Strong and Stu Holden as the voice of U.S. men’s soccer, as somebody who used to be it themselves?

I think John and Stu have done a fantastic job. They’ve done so many games together and so many reps, and so they know the strengths and weaknesses of each other. They know how to add to one another. You can tell they get along away from television. I just think it’s so cool to see a pairing like that really thrive and get an opportunity to be together for such a long time. They’ve been great.

As a fan of the sport yourself, is there any former player on the coverage that you’re looking forward to hearing from?

I mean, if you think I’m not gonna say Zlatan [Ibrahimović]. Having covered him with the LA Galaxy and had many good conversations, both on and off the record, with that man, I enjoy a good Zlatan-versus-Thierry Henry argument.