Ahead of Euro 2020, the first major tournament Finland’s men’s side had qualified for, the national team published a guide on how to pronounce their names for English speakers.
Already a household name in England from his time with Norwich City, the guide clarified Teemu Pukki surname is pronounced “Pooky”, not “Pucky,” a common mistake. Born and raised in the United States, Niko Hamalainen has probably lost count of the number of people to have butchered his surname, so he and the rest of those with Finnish surnames benefitted from the opportunity.
The guide was memorable not because of names like those that Finns were already well-accustomed to, but rather for two that didn’t quite fit: Daniel O’Shaughnessy, of Irish heritage, and Robert Taylor, Lionel Messi’s new running mate with Inter Miami.
Robert Taylor grew up with one foot in England and Finland, the son of former British soccer player Paul Taylor, who came through Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest as a schoolboy before joining Finnish Fourth Division side Kalliosuon Sisu.
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After spending most of his childhood bracing Finland’s long and cold winters, the Taylor family moved when Robert was 14 to Chesterfield, a small market town in the East Midlands, around 30 minutes north of Nottingham. When he was not playing for his Sunday league club, Taylor would go to Chesterfield’s town center and practice his freestyle tricks and skills in front of the locals, collecting the change he earned as a street performer for pocket money.
Practicing his skills in front of an audience would pay dividends after his father arranged for a scout for Forest to watch him during a game for his club. After impressing in the match, Taylor showed the scout a few tricks on the sideline and was offered an opportunity to demonstrate his talents at the academy level. After an extended five-week trial period, Taylor signed and spent a season with Forest’s Under-14s before returning to Finland with his family.
The experience was enough to motivate Taylor to make a bold decision, moving to England aged 16 in search of a scholarship. After being recommended by Forest academy coaches, he impressed Lincoln City enough in a trial game to earn a two-year deal. But Lincoln had just been relegated to the fifth tier of English football from League Two, and Taylor’s game didn’t quite suit the rough-and-tumble nature of the Conference.
“He was good, but wasn’t quite tuned to the English game,” said Grant Brown, former academy coach and Lincoln’s record appearance holder. “I think he was always playing catch up with the English style of football. But I immediately saw good technical ability; he loved to be on the ball and was with the ball all the time.
“It was a more robust style of football if you like, and while technical ability will always stand out, you still need a bit of physicality to really shine, and he probably lacked that at the time. Height-wise, he’s grown considerably since then, I think he’s referred to as six foot now, but he was a lot smaller then in terms of his upper body strength. He was never the quickest, so he couldn’t really get away from people with his pace. He could get pushed off the ball sometimes, and if there were a few little naughty tackles, he didn’t really enjoy it.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbVYYIio6mg
According to Brown, Taylor was always among the best in any technical drill, including shooting, a part of his game that has come to the fore since Messi’s arrival in Miami. His standout moment as a youth scholar at Lincoln was a long-distance free-kick against Darlington, remembered to be around 35 yards from goal by Brown, where he hit the ball to swerve away from the goalkeeper and nestle in the top corner.
Ultimately, however, despite Brown’s efforts to find a position where Taylor could really shine, Lincoln’s strict finances and questions regarding Taylor’s footballing suitability meant he was not offered professional terms after his scholarship ended at 18. Andy McMillan, who worked with Taylor at Lincoln, briefly invited him to fellow Conference-level outfit Barnet to train under legendary Dutch midfielder Edgar Davids, but his time in England was up shortly after.
Returning to the Nordic countries brought Taylor more success. His first stop was JJK, a provincial Finnish club, now playing in the nation’s second tier, where he spent two seasons. After a stint with perennial top-flight side RoPS, Taylor spent time in Sweden and Norway before moving to South Beach in 2022.
Against seemingly long odds, it’s at the DRV PNK Stadium where he’s started to shine.
“Taylor was playing fairly regularly under Phil Neville, but when you chuck Messi, (Sergio) Busquets and (Jordi) Alba into that, a lot of people thought that would be it,” says Rich Nelson, host of the Finnish Football Podcast. “People thought he’d be a bench player at best and struggle to get minutes. Obviously, this form he’s had since Messi came and the fact that every clip and photo of Taylor’s goals and celebrations have Messi there: it changes everything.”
It’s not an exact science, but Taylor’s Instagram goes some way to illustrating how his star has risen since Messi played his first game in Miami in July. His post after playing his first game in Miami pink has under 2000 likes at the time of writing, one of those from Finnish NBA All-Star Lauri Markkanen. His pinned post, celebrating in front of Messi after scoring twice in a 4-0 rout of Atlanta United, is approaching 300,000.
“Everyone knows who Messi is. There was a survey a few years ago, and it found that the most popular club in Finland was Barcelona,” Nelson adds. “(Taylor’s) profile in Finland is so big now because he’s playing with these players and scoring and doing so well. Following MLS now is fantastic because every morning after a match, we wake up to see Taylor scoring again.
“You look at the MLS Twitter feed, and it’s full of a Finland player doing well. There are other Finnish players doing pretty well in America, Alex Ring, (Lassi) Lappalainen, but Taylor’s come along and taken it to the next level by both playing really well but also having the stardust rub off on him.”
Taylor, who turns 29 in October, has never had it better. Despite only playing on the pitch together for a month, Taylor and Messi have developed a seemingly telepathic connection. When Messi receives the ball and turns, Taylor runs in behind. When Taylor gets the ball, Messi manages to ghost behind the opposition defense into space for his teammate to pick him out. Opposition defenders prepare weeks ahead of the game to predict Messi’s next move, but Taylor seems to know instinctively.
“He attracts so many players towards him,” Taylor told The Athletic. “He leaves so much space for everyone around him and that makes our lives easier. The same goes for Busquets in the middle and Alba: they make the right decisions.”
Across the Leagues Cup, they’ve netted a combined 13 goals on the way to Saturday’s final, many of which were scored inside the penalty box. There’s a fluid understanding between the duo, with Josef Martinez acting as a focal point in the central striker role, freeing the wide forwards to invert and create opportunities for each other closer to goal.
As the graph above demonstrates, Taylor was most commonly deployed as a traditional winger under Phil Neville before Tata Martino took over the reins to coincide with Messi’s arrival. His job back then was primarily to stay wide and create opportunities for Martinez, the central striker.
However, according to Brown, Taylor’s natural game is to drift inside into central positions, where his technical and ball-striking quality is put to better use. Since Martino took over, that’s primarily what he has done.
Appropriately enough, both of Taylor’s MLS goals this season came from a distance in the area between the touchline and the center of the pitch, referred to as “the half-space”. Since Jordi Alba arrived in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, his quality and positioning wide on the left channel have created more space for Taylor to excel in that zone.
His quarter-final goal against Charlotte FC, where Taylor moved into the box uncontested and whipped a shot beyond the goalkeeper from a DeAndre Yedlin pass, highlights how his spacial understanding has allowed him to profit from the increased movement around the box since Messi’s arrival.
With the final approaching and the chance for Messi, Busquets and Alba to add to their La Liga, Champions League and international trophy collections, Taylor has the opportunity to win his first. But in the hearts and minds of Inter Miami and Finland fans, he has already won. He’s thriving on the biggest stage of his career with the greatest of all time.
“To be honest, a lot of players would play alongside Messi and do really well, but the fact is, he’s creating stuff as well,” says Nelson, who started following Finnish football because of his Finnish wife, who he now lives with in London. “You know, it’s not just the goals, it’s the assists, and it just looks like he’s having the time of his life.
“He’s won the golden ticket to play Willy Wonka’s Factory because he’s got this dream that people would kill for, and it’s amazing to see.”
(Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
