Carey Talley (born August 26, 1976 in Memphis, Tennessee) is an American soccer defender, who currently plays for Chivas USA of Major League Soccer.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Carey Talley | ||
| Height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | ||
| Position(s) | defender | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Chivas USA | ||
| Number | 12 | ||
| ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 4 November 2007 | |||
Talley played high school soccer for Houston High School in Germantown, Tennessee. His team won the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association soccer championship his junior and senior years in 1993 and 1994. He played his club soccer for Memphis Futbol Club. Some notable teammates on his Memphis Futbol Club youth soccer team were future Major League Soccer standouts and United States men's national soccer team members Richard Mulrooney, Ross Paule and Jonny Walker. Talley played college soccer at the University of North Carolina from 1994 to 1997. He finished his career at UNC with 26 goals and 22 assists in 75 games.
Upon graduating, Talley was drafted 14th overall by D.C. United in the 1998 MLS College Draft. Talley immediately earned a spot in the United lineup, starting 19 games and appearing in 29; he would remain in that role for the next three years, winning an MLS Cup with the team in 1999. In 2002, Talley was traded to the Kansas City Wizards for future considerations; although he was usually a starter when healthy, Talley had injury problems in 2003, and was traded in the offseason to the Dallas Burn along with Eric Quill for Shavar Thomas. Although he played little at the beginning of the season, Talley eventually supplanted Philip Salyer as the team's right back, and finished the year with one assist in 19 starts. After playing in 20 games in 2005, he was shipped to Salt Lake. In 2008 on May 9, 2008 he was traded to Chivas USA for a conditional pick in the 2010 or 2011 MLS SuperDraft
Although he has played at the U-17, U-20, and U-23 levels, Talley has never appeared for the full United States national team. He has been called in to several camps, and came very close in a game against Chile in 2000, where he was about to be employed as a late game substitute when the game was called.