EDDIE JOHNSON (AMERICAN SOCCER)

'Edward "Eddie" Johnson' (born 31 March 1984 in Bunnell, FL, United States) is an American soccer striker. He currently plays for Kansas City Wizards in the Major League Soccer league, and represented the United States in the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

Contents

Career

International Goals

See also

References

External links

Career

Already an established player on the US Under-17 team and having trained at the Bradenton Academy, Johnson became one of the youngest players to sign with MLS, and was drafted by Dallas Burn as a Project-40 player in the second round of the 2001 MLS SuperDraft. In his first three years in the league, he did not get much playing time, and was very inconsistent when he did get on the field. Johnson scored just seven goals for Dallas in those seasons, while missing a lot of time with US youth national teams.
Johnson came into his own at the end of 2003 at the FIFA World Youth Championship in the United Arab Emirates. He scored four goals (three from the penalty spot) and notched one assist to win the tournament's Golden Shoe as the top scorer^[1]. He translated the success at the world stage to MLS (a change in Dallas' coach likely helped too), as in 2004 he scored more goals than in his first three seasons combined: 12, to co-lead (with Brian Ching) the league in that department^[2], becoming the youngest player to achieve that feat in MLS history.
Johnson received his first cap and scored his first goal for the senior US national team against El Salvador on 9 October 2004, becoming one of a small group of American players to get his first international goal in a World Cup qualifier. He then scored a hat-trick in his second appearance, all in a 17-minute span against Panama, just four days later. Johnson totaled seven goals in his first six World Cup qualifiers (and is already third on the US all-time scoring list in World Cup qualifiers), earning himself limited playing time during the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
In January 2005, S.L. Benfica, the most popular club in Portugal, offered a record $5 million transfer fee for Johnson, but MLS rejected the offer.^[3]
In May 2005, Johnson suffered an injury to the toes of his right foot that sidelined him until August of that year. After returning to MLS in August (he scored only five goals during the season), and making a brief re-appearance with the national team on 7 September 2005, Johnson reinjured his toes in mid-September and was sidelined until January 2006. With Dallas in salary cap trouble, Johnson was traded to the Kansas City Wizards on 14 February 2006 for two allocations^[4].
In August 2006, MLS had reached an agreement with Spanish club Real Sociedad for a year-long loan but the plan fell through because the new ownership of the Wizards were not happy with sending Johnson^[5]. The loan would have made Johnson the second American outfield player and third American overall to play in La Liga, following goalkeeper Kasey Keller and midfielder Tab Ramos.
In November 2006 it was announced that Johnson would be training with English Premier League club Reading during the MLS close season^[6].
In 2006 and early 2007, Johnson suffered a decline in form, scoring only twice in the 2006 MLS season and failing to make an impact with the national team. However Johnson returned to form with the start of the 2007 MLS season, notching twelve goals and three assists in his first eleven games. He is the current front man for the MLS Golden Boot, given to the league's leading scorer during the regular season.
On June 2, 2007, Johnson became the first player ever to score back to back hat-tricks in MLS play. He scored three goals against the New York Red Bulls, following a three goal performance against the New England Revolution on May 26, 2007.
In the month of July 2007, Johnson has had increased speculation over a transfer to the English Premier League. Derby County has been most vocal, with Derby manager Billy Davies confirming that he will explore the US market.^[7] However after MLS accepted a $6 million bid from Derby, Johnson reportedly nixed the deal as he preferred to finish his season in Kansas City.^[8] Johnson revealed his contract is structured to give him final say over whether he is purchased by 15 designated clubs.^[9] According to news reports, the U.S. international has also seen interest from Manchester United, Middlesbrough, Reading, Celtic, Benfica and Real Sociedad.^[10][11]

International Goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	2004-10-10	San Salvador, El Salvador		2-0	2-0	WCQ
2	2004-10-13	Washington, D.C.		3-0	6-0	WCQ
3	2004-10-13	Washington, D.C.		4-0	6-0	WCQ
4	2004-10-13	Washington, D.C.		5-0	6-0	WCQ
5	2004-11-17	Columbus, Ohio		1-0	1-1	WCQ
6	2005-02-09	Port-of-Spain, Trinidad		1-0	2-1	WCQ
7	2005-03-19	Albuquerque, New Mexico		1-0	1-0	Friendly match
8	2005-03-30	Birmingham, Alabama		1-0	2-0	WCQ
9	2006-02-09	Frisco, Texas		3-0	4-0	Friendly match
10	2007-06-09	Carson, California		2-0	2-0	2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup
11	2007-06-28	Maracaibo, Venezuela		1-0	1-4	2007 Copa America

See also

★ List of current MLS players

References

1. Ismail Matar best player, Ed Johnson top scorer
2. Major League Soccer:History:Archive
3. Eddie Johnson sticking with MLS
4. Wizards Trade for U.S. Star Eddie Johnson
5. Wizards' watershed week
6. USA striker Johnson set to visit Reading
7. Rams in chase for USA Striker
8. Eddie Johnson Transfer News
9. Johnson spurns switch to Rams
10. English team has interest in Wizards’ Eddie Johnson
11. English team has interest in Wizards’ Eddie Johnson

External links

★

★ Eddie Johnson profile on kcwizards.com

★ Eddie Johnson profile on ESPN Soccernet

★ Eddie Johnson bio on usolympicteam.com

★ Eddie Johnson bio on ussoccer.com