Background
Although he was born in Stuttgart, he has been capped for the United States national team
Although he was born in Stuttgart, he has been capped for the United States national team
Yelldell was the first choice goalkeeper for TuS Koblenz until suffering a knee ligament injury which kept him out of the final four matches of the 2009-2010 2. Bundesliga season, when the club were relegated to the 3rd Liga. He signed with MSV Duisburg before the 2010-2011 season and made his competitive debut for the club in a first round DFB-Pokal match against VfB Lübeck on 13 August 2010.
The next season saw him signing with Bundesliga giants Bayer Leverkusen.
He made his debut and currently sole competitive appearance for the club in a first round DFB-Pokal match, a 3–4 surprise defeat at Dynamo Dresden on 30 July 2011. Born to a German mother, and an American father who was in the United States. military, Yelldell holds dual citizenship and would have been eligible to play international soccer for either the United States or Germany.
He was first called up by the United States team in 2011 for a friendly against Argentina. He earned his first national team cap three days later, on March 29, 2011, in another friendly against Paraguay, replacing Marcus Hahnemann at half time.
Despite not conceding during his time of play, the United States lost this meeting 1-0.