Kalif Alhassan

A former Ghanaian youth international, Alhassan signed with the Timbers on Dec. 15, 2010, after playing in eight games with Portland’s second-division club in 2010.

2012: Started on April 14 against the LA Galaxy, playing 58 minutes ... Played 28 minutes as a substitute on April 7 against Chivas USA ... Scored his first MLS goal and recorded an assist to help lead the Timbers to their first comeback win as an MLS side March 12 in a 3-1 win over Philadelphia ... Was named the MLS Player of the Week by the North American Soccer Reporters for Week 1 of the MLS season ... Started and played 90 minutes in each of the team’s first three matches.

2011: Was awarded the Timbers’ Young Player of the Year for his performance throughout the season ... Finished sec­ond among team leaders with six assists, including three game-winning assists, in 32 matches ... Became the third player in MLS history, joining LA’s Carlos Hermosillo (1998) and New York’s Jorge Rojas (2008), to record assists in each of his first three home matches and went on to tally five assists overall in the Timbers’ first five home fixtures ... Started 18 consecutive matches from April 2-July 30 and started a total of 27 matches on the year ... Was named to MLSsoccer.com’s Team of the Week in Week 5 and was one of six Timbers selected to the AT&T 2011 MLS All-Star voting ballot.

2010: Was signed by the Timbers on Aug. 19 and played in six regular-season matches (3 starts) during the USSF Division-2 Pro League season ... Scored the game-winning goal – his first goal with the club – in a 1-0 victory over the Puerto Rico Islanders on Sept. 18 ... Tallied in the regular-season finale Oct. 2 against the Vancouver Whitecaps, which ended in a 2-2 draw ... Started both of the Timbers’ first-round playoff matches against Vancouver.

2007-10: Began his professional career with Liberty Professionals in Ghana’s GLO Premier League in 2007 ... Helped Liberty Professionals reach the semifinals of the 2009 West Africa Football Union (WAFU) Club Championship ... Played with the club through the 2010 campaign before arriving in Portland.

INTERNATIONAL: Has been a member of Ghana’s National Team system since 2007 ... Played for both the U-17 and U-20 National Teams ... Was first named to the Ghana U-20 National Team pool in 2008 and has participated in several camps with the U-20s, including ones for the 2009 Youth African Championship and the 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup ... Called into camp with the senior national team for the 2009 African Cup of Nations Championship.

PERSONAL: Pronounced “KA-leaf AL-hass-on.”