Teal Bunbury

Teal Bunbury

Bunbury with Nashville SC in 2023
Personal information
Full name	Teal Alexander Bunbury[1]
Date of birth	(1990-02-27) February 27, 1990 (age 34)
Place of birth	Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)[2]
Position(s)	Forward, winger
Team information
Current team	Nashville SC
Number	12
Youth career
2006–2007	Valley United Juventus
College career
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2008–2009	Akron Zips	48	(23)
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2009	Rochester Thunder	11	(5)
2010–2013	Sporting Kansas City	89	(19)
2014–2021	New England Revolution	231	(45)
2022–	Nashville SC	27	(6)
International career‡
2007	Canada U17	1	(0)
2008–2009	Canada U20	2	(1)
2012	United States U23	3	(0)
2010–2012	United States	4	(1)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of April 29, 2023 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of November 25, 2014

Teal Alexander Bunbury (born February 27, 1990) is a professional soccer player who plays as a forward for Major League Soccer club Nashville SC. Born in Canada, he played for the United States national team.

Early life

Bunbury was born in Hamilton, Ontario to Kristi Novak, an American of Polish and Swedish descent,^[3] and Alex Bunbury, a Guyanese-born, Canadian professional soccer player who is the eighth most capped player for the Canadian men's soccer team. He has an older sister, actress Kylie Bunbury, and two younger brothers, Logan and Mataeo, the latter of whom is also a professional soccer player.

At the age of two, he left Canada to travel with his family, at first to England, where his father played briefly, and then to Portugal. When he was 10 years old,^[4] he moved to the United States with his family and has lived there since. He grew up in Prior Lake, Minnesota and attended Shattuck-St. Mary's High School.

Club career

College and amateur

Bunbury's first club was Apple Valley Juventus,^[5] followed by college soccer at the University of Akron. He made a total of 35 starts and appeared in 48 games with the Zips during the 2008 and 2009 seasons. In his first season, he made 23 appearances, starting ten games and scoring six goals, a total second only to future SuperDraft pick Steve Zakuani, who led the NCAA in scoring with 20.^[6]

After Steve Zakuani was selected first overall in the 2009 MLS SuperDraft, Bunbury began to shine for Akron. As a sophomore, he started all 25 games for the Zips, including the 2009 Division I Men's College Cup final.^[7] Bunbury led the team and the nation in goals, scoring 17 during the year, led the team in shots (103) and tied with fellow forward, Darlington Nagbe, in game-winning goals (5). Bunbury earned many accolades during the 2009 season, including the Mid-American Conference's Player of the Week award three times and same award by College Soccer News, once. He was also named to Top Drawer Soccer's national Team of the Week during the season. At the end of the season he was named as the winner of the 2009 Hermann Trophy Award, honoring the best player in college soccer.

During his college years Bunbury also played with the Rochester Thunder in the USL Premier Development League^[8] and the Chicago Fire Premier in the USL Super-20 League.

Professional

After two years with the Zips, Bunbury decided to forgo the remainder of his collegiate career and signed with Generation adidas.^[9] He was drafted in the first round (4th overall) of the 2010 MLS SuperDraft by Kansas City Wizards.^[10]

He made his professional debut on March 27 in Kansas City's opening game of the 2010 MLS season against D.C. United,^[11] and scored his first professional goal on April 13 in a Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup game against the Colorado Rapids. He was handed a start on his first game in Canada versus Toronto FC and was subbed off in the 58th minute. He scored his first MLS goal in a 1–0 victory over Columbus Crew on July 14.

In December 2010, Bunbury joined English Premier League side Stoke City on trial and scored in a reserve match against Wigan Athletic.^[12]

In August 2012, he suffered a torn ACL during a match against New York Red Bulls, which kept him off the field for 10 months.^[13]

In February 2014, Bunbury was traded to the New England Revolution for a first round 2015 MLS SuperDraft pick and allocation money.^[14] Bunbury became a major contributor to New England's run to the 2014 MLS Cup Final, scoring from long distance in the Eastern Conference final against Red Bull New York.^[15] New England fell to LA Galaxy 2-1 final after extra time, with Bunbury's potential game-winning shot bouncing off the crossbar in the 85th minute.

Bunbury helped lead the Revs to the 2016 U.S. Open Cup Final, scoring twice against the New York Cosmos in the Round of 16 and adding the third goal in a 3-1 victory over the Chicago Fire in the semifinals. Bunbury assisted on Juan Agudelo's second goal in the final, but the Revs eventually fell to FC Dallas 4-2.^[16]

In 2018, Bunbury tallied 11 goals for the Revs, reaching double-digit league goals in one season for the first time in his career.^[17]

Bunbury was New England's leading scorer during the pandemic-shortened 2020 MLS Season. He was also named the club's Humanitarian of the Year.^[18]

On December 12, 2021, Bunbury was traded to Nashville SC for up to $150,000 in allocation money.^[19]

International career

Bunbury played for the Canadian national U-17 and U-20 teams. Though he had said he would play for Canada and it would feel "wrong" to play for the US,^[4] he was called up to the full US team as part of the squad to face South Africa.^[20] Bunbury earned his first cap for the United States on November 17, 2010, coming on as a substitute at halftime in the Nelson Mandela Challenge Cup. He scored his first international goal against Chile from a penalty kick, in an exhibition match in Los Angeles.

Personal life

Bunbury is the son of Alex Bunbury, a former striker who is joint-seventh highest scorer and is eighth in caps won all-time for the Canadian men's soccer team. He also finished his career as one of C.S. Marítimo's all-time top goal scorers.^[21] Bunbury is the first son of a former MLS player to be drafted into the league.^[22]

In 2015, he married Kaity Maurer,^[23] with whom he has two daughters.^[24]

Career statistics

As of match played December 6, 2020^[25]

International

As of match played January 25, 2012^[26]

As of goal scored on 22 january 2011

List of international goals scored by Bunbury

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition	Ref.
1	22 January 2011	Dignity Health Sports Park, Carson, California, U.S	Chile	1–1	1–1	Friendly	[27]

Honors

New England Revolution

• Supporters' Shield: 2021

Individual

• Mid-American Conference Player of the Year: 2009^[28]
• Goal.com Player of the Year: 2009^[29]
• Hermann Trophy Winner: 2010^[30]
• NSCAA All-American: 2009^[31]
• Soccer America Player of the Year: 2009^[32]
• New England Revolution Golden Boot Winner: 2020^[33]
• New England Revolution Humanitarian of the Year: 2020^[34]

References

External links

• Teal Bunbury at the Canadian Soccer Association
• Teal Bunbury at Major League Soccer
• Akron bio^{[permanent dead link]}
• Teal Bunbury on Twitter
• Teal Bunbury at National-Football-Teams.com

This page was last edited on 26 February 2024, at 06:16