Osei Telesford (born November 30, 1983) is a

Trinidadian Trinidadians and Tobagonians, colloquially known as Trinis or Trinbagonians, are the people who are identified with the country of Trinidad and Tobago. The population of Trinidad is notably diverse, with approximately 35% Indo-Trinidadian, 34% ...

retired

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

Career

Youth and College

Born in

San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John (disambiguation), Saint John, most commonly refers to: * San Juan, Puerto Rico * San Juan, Argentina * San Juan, Metro Manila, a highly urbanized city in the Philippines San Juan may also refer to: Places Arge ...

, Telesford was a member of the youth setup at famed Trinidadian club Joe Public, before coming to the United States in 2003. He played

college soccer College soccer, called college football in some countries, is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. While it is most widespread in the United States, it is also prominent in Japan, South Kore ...

Liberty University Liberty University (LU), known simply as Liberty, is a Private university, private Evangelicalism in the United States, evangelical Christian university in Lynchburg, Virginia, United States. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Conservativ ...

, starting 65 of 66 matches from 2003 to 2006, scoring 8 goals and assisting on 8 more. He was named to the All

Big South Conference The Big South Conference is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I. Originally a non-football conference, the Big South began sponsoring football in 2002 as part of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), ...

Team in each of his four years with the team. During his college years he also played for

Carolina Dynamo Salem City FC is an American amateur soccer club based in Bermuda Run, North Carolina that fields a men's team in USL League Two, and a women's team as the North Carolina Fusion in the USL W League. The teams plays their home games at the Truis ...

of the

USL Premier Development League USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States, forming part of the United States soccer league system. The league will featu ...

. He was PDL Defender of the Year in 2006, and was a PDL First Team selection for helping Dynamo to a league-best 14–0–2 regular season record

Professional

Telesford was drafted in the 2nd round (21st overall) by Chicago Fire in the 2007 MLS Supplemental Draft, but played 2

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

games for the team before being released at the end of the year. He signed with the

Puerto Rico Islanders The Puerto Rico Islanders were a professional association football team based in Bayamón, Puerto Rico. They played in several different leagues from 2004 to 2012, when they suspended operations. In their last two seasons they played in the Nort ...

in the

USL First Division The USL First Division (USL-1) was a professional men's soccer league in the second tier of the United States league system. It was organized by the United Soccer League as its premier league for men from 1996 to 2010, above the USL Second ...

in early 2008, and helped the Islanders win the 2008 USL First Division regular season title and progressed to the semi-finals of the

CONCACAF Champions League 2008–09 The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football, abbreviated as CONCACAF ( ; typeset for branding purposes since 2018 as Concacaf), is one of FIFA's six continental governing bodies for association football. Its 4 ...

. Telesford played for the Criollos de Caguas FC in the

Liga Puerto Rico The Liga Puerto Rico (LPR) is an amateur football competition organized by the Puerto Rican Football Federation. It is the top division football league on the island. The champion qualifies to participate in the Caribbean Club Shield each season ...

from 2013 until his retirement in 2015.Jugadores 2014/2015
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International

Telesford earned his first cap for the

Trinidad and Tobago national football team The Trinidad and Tobago national football team, nicknamed the "Soca music, Soca Warriors", represents the twin-island Republic of Trinidad and Tobago in international Association football, football. It is controlled by the Trinidad and Tobago F ...

in January 2007 during the Caribbean Digicel Cup. He was previously a regular fixture on the U-23 and U-20 levels.

Honors

;Puerto Rico Islanders *

USSF Division 2 Pro League The USSF Division 2 Professional League (D2 Pro League) was a temporary professional soccer league created by the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) for the 2010 season. The twelve-team league was formed as a compromise between the feuding U ...

: 2010 * Commissioner's Cup:

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

CFU Club Championship The Caribbean Club Championship, also known as the CFU Club Championship or CFU Club Champions' Cup, was an annual international football competition held amongst association football clubs that are members of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU). ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

References

External links

*
Puerto Rico Islanders bio

MLS player profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Telesford, Osei 1983 births Living people North Carolina Fusion U23 players Chicago Fire FC players Expatriate men's footballers in Puerto Rico Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Liberty Flames men's soccer players Puerto Rico Islanders players Trinidad and Tobago men's footballers 21st-century Trinidad and Tobago sportsmen Trinidad and Tobago men's international footballers USL First Division players USL League Two players Trinidad and Tobago expatriate sportspeople in Puerto Rico USSF Division 2 Professional League players North American Soccer League (2011–2017) players Major League Soccer players Chicago Fire FC draft picks Men's association football midfielders Trinidad and Tobago expatriate sportspeople in the United States