Back in 2002 Ray Hudson was asked to comment on Taylor Twellman before DC United hosted the Revolution at RFK. “He’s a poacher,” Hudson replied. “I’m not too worried about him to be honest. I don’t have too high a regard for Twellman. I think he’s a poacher and that’s it … I don’t see him as a special player at all.” United prevailed in the game, but they had to fight from behind after Taylor Twellman put the Revs up with two goals in two minutes.

Now, after years of struggle at the international level, Twellman finally tore it up against Norway. Problem is it’s simply too easy to discount the game. It wasn’t just that it was the Norwegian u-23 team with a few older guys evidently along for vacation, it’s that the Norwegian team was just plain awful. Sure, the US fielded a bunch of third-stringers, but even our third-stringers were light years ahead of Norway.

Was Ray Hudson right about Taylor Twellman? Let’s just say, for now, I remain firmly unconvinced about Twellman on the international stage. He’s a great MLS player, but is he, as Hudson put it, a special player? It’s pretty hard for me to take the hat-trick against Norway too seriously. It certainly didn’t qualify him as a special player in my eyes.

Don’t get me wrong. I’d love to have a guy on the national team that’s capable of putting up numbers the way Twellman does in MLS. And if Twellman turns into that player then it’s fine with me. But nothing says he’s that player yet - that includes last weekend’s hat-trick.