Minnesota Twin Stars

Minnesota Twin Stars

Full name	Minnesota Twin Stars
Nickname(s)	Twin Stars
Founded	2005
Stadium	Edor Nelson FIeld Minneapolis, Minnesota
Owner	David Hans
Head Coach	Youssef Darbaki
League	National Premier Soccer League
2011	4th, Midwest Playoffs: TBD
Home colors Away colors
Current season

Minnesota Twin Stars is an American soccer team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. Founded in 2005, the team plays in National Premier Soccer League (NPSL), a national amateur league at the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, in the Midwest Division. Prior to the 2011 season the team was known as the St. Paul Twin Stars.

The team plays its home games at Augsburg Stadium on the campus of Augsburg College, where they have played since 2011. The team's colors are red, black, and white.

The Twinstars maintain a long-standing relationship with the Hmong community in Minnesota, along with the African community in suburbs such as Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. In the early stages of the team's history, the dominant ethnic group that played on Twinstars were Hmong, from Wisconsin and Minnesota.

The Twinstars have been Midwest division champions two times, runner-up's once, and National Championship runners-up once, in two appearances to the Final Four.

The competitive level of this squad has not been squandered in domestic leagues, and they have had several departures of promising players in Europe, including Jules Alex Nyom, Ansu Toure, and Greg Rosenthal.

History

The Twin Stars have competed for the Midwest title through its existence. Their first taste of success was the 2006 season, where one of their players, Igor Stosic, was named to the NPSL Midwest All-Star team. They followed up in the 2007 season, by having two of their players names on the All-Star team, Juan Fiz, and 3-time winner (2 with the Twinstars) Igor Stosic.

They won their first Midwest title in 2008, having five of their players named into the Midwest All-Star team, and one of the five, Geoffrey Myers, was named as the 2008 MVP, after scoring 14 goals, and getting 5 assists in only 12 appearances. Following their triumph in regional competition, they played in the Final Four in New York, where they earned runners-up in the National tournament.

They won the Midwest title again, in 2009, this time having 4 players named to the Midwest All-Star team, and once again, having the MVP, this time being the 5-time All-Star player, Igor Stosic, becoming the most decorated Twinstars player.

In 2010, the Twinstars had placed third out of six teams in the Midwest division, having an overall record of 5–3–2. It was easy to see as to why they had not placed highly in the league likened to recent seasons – they had a goal difference of +1, compared to 2009 (+7, 14GF, 7GA). For the third season in a row, they had produced the MVP, this time being former Liberian national team player Richard Kamara.

For the 2011-12 season the Twinstars will play in the MISL. They will play at the Target Center.

Colors and badge

The club crest has been changed several times, usually featuring a dragon, with two stars above a red and black shield. The current crest, featuring a red dragon in front of the black half of the shield, and a black dragon on the red half of the shield, both clutching a soccer ball with two golden stars (hence the name "twinstars") above them, is a modified version of one of the first crests, used in 2005.

Players

First-team Squad

Source: [1]

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 00 GK Frederick Neher 1 GK Andrew Eccles 2 FW Lawrence Talery 3 DF Anthony Keller 4 DF Igor Stosic 5 DF Freeman Eweh 7 FW Isaac Kanneh 8 MF Francisco Mbome 9 MF Lucien Bruggeman 10 MF Karim Darbaki 11 MF Phong Vang

No. Position Player 12 FW Paul Yonga 13 FW Matthew Nyuah 14 FW Adama Diawara (vice-captain) 16 DF Patrick Serebour 17 DF Richard Kamara (captain) 18 MF Neil Bartholomay 19 MF Michael Greene 20 FW Hamad Jaman 21 FW Geoffrey Myers 22 FW Michael McCarthy 28 FW Rolando Danha

Academy squad

Notable former players

• Ansu Toure
• Jules Alex Nyom
• Greg Rosenthal

Honors and records

All-Star Team Players

• Adama Diawara (2008, 2009, 2010)
• Juan Fiz (2007, 2008)
• Richard Kamara (2008, 2009, 2010)
• Geoffrey Myers (2008)
• Jules Alex Nyom (2009)
• Igor Stosic (2005 [with Minnesota Blast], 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009)
• Ansu Toure (2006)

Club MVP's

• 2008 Geoffrey Myers
• 2009 Igor Stosic
• 2010 Richard Kamara

Captains

• 2006 Juan Fiz
• 2007 Juan Fiz
• 2008 Richard Kamara
• 2009 Juan Fiz
• 2010 Richard Kamara

Year-by-year

Year	Division	League	Reg. Season	Playoffs	Open Cup
2005	4	NPSL	4th, Midwest	Did not qualify	Did not qualify
2006	4	NPSL	3rd, Midwest	Did not qualify	Did not qualify
2007	4	NPSL	3rd, Midwest	Did not qualify	Did not qualify
2008	4	NPSL	1st, Midwest	Final	Did not qualify
2009	4	NPSL	1st, Midwest	National Semi Finals	Did not enter
2010	4	NPSL	3rd, Midwest	Did not qualify	Did not qualify
2011	4	NPSL	4th, Midwest	Did not qualify	Did not qualify

Honors

Domestic

• National Premier Soccer League
• Midwest Division (NPSL):
  • Winners (2): 2008, 2009

Head coaches

• Youssef Darbaki (2005–present)

Stadia

• James Griffin Stadium; St. Paul, Minnesota (2005–2006)
• Macalester Stadium at Macalester College; St. Paul, Minnesota (2007–2010)
• Augsburg Stadium at Augsburg College; Minneapolis, Minnesota (2011–present)

The Twinstars had played at several venues; two matches in St. Paul - James Griffin Stadium (2005-2006), and Macalester Stadium (2007-2010) - before moving its home games to Augsburg Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 2011.

External links

• Official website