Top Stories

Johannsson extends scoring streak in Alkmaar victory

Aron Johannsson AZ 2 (Getty Images)

By FRANCO PANIZO

Make it four games in a row for Aron Johannsson.

Fresh off an impressive U.S. Men’s National Team debut, Johansson extended his scoring streak for AZ Alkmaar to four straight games across all competitions by netting the opener in the club’s 2-1 victory over RKC Waalwijk on Saturday.

Johannsson found the back of the net in the fourth minute of the game, delicately lifting a shot from close range over onrushing Waalwijk goalkeeper Jan Seda after the ball fell into the Icelandic-American’s path.

The goal was Johannsson’s third in league play.

Here’s the goal:

https://dailymotion.com/video/x139djx

What do you think of Johannsson’s latest goal? How impressed are you by him scoring in a fourth straight match across all competitions? How many do you see him scoring this season?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

    • If in a year’s time Clint looks like your typical 31 year old MLS forward, I fully expect to see AJ ahead of him. As good as the move to Seattle was for MLS and “growing the game in America” (useless, the best leagues will always be the wealthiest ones and there’s just not enough room in the economy unless one of the other major leagues folds and leaves a gap), it’s a potential setback for his international career. It says a lot of things under the surface that are alarming, the biggest being that his hunger for the game has diminished. Dempsey’s determination to be great was what made him successful at Fulham. Without that I’m not sure he’s the same guy. I’m hoping for the best, I’ve just got concerns.

      I really wish he’d never left Fulham. At Fulham he’d be playing all over the place and we could use him as a possession midfielder on the left side and have him working 1-2s with Fabian on the overlap. The way Hodgson and Hughes used him.

      If he’s married to this withdrawn forward/attacking midfielder role he’s got a lot more competition for his spot. (Landon, AJ, Fabian, Bedoya, Corona, etc). As a pure forward there’s no doubt Jozy is the #1 guy. In our current setup (Jones and Bradley lying deep) it appears there are 3 of those spots to be divided between five or six worthy players. It’s a good problem to have, but it’s a bad thing for a few of those players.

      Reply
      • I’m glad the people running MLS don’t share your views. The US has a $15 trillion economy but there’s no “room” for a soccer league? Wow. Yeah I guess the league should stop trying to grow and become better and just throw its hands up and forget it.

      • You’re making straw men. I didn’t say there was “no room for the league” I said (in not so many words) that there was not enough fluidity in the economy to “grow” MLS into a league that could compete with Euro clubs in terms of developing higher quality players.

        Of course the people running MLS would disagree. They’ve organized the league so that it will be profitable despite the low quality of play.

      • Brett, you’re totally wrong on the economic front. There is fluidity in the economy for MLS grow, and they are in fact growing, shall we say thy have chosen the “managed growth” path for now though. That being said, I also disagree with your assertion that Dempsey’s move is a negative. Can we just admit we both don’t know? From the look of things though, David Beckham’s move to MLS went quite well, so why not Dempsey’s?

      • I expect you to soon win a Nobel prize in economics for the addition of your “room in the economy” theory to the field.

      • They called and said that I deserved it but they couldn’t in good conscience give it to me with a genius wit like yourself still alive and making provocative comments like this. You should receive a letter in the mail pretty soon.

      • This year the Sounders have a decent chance to draw more fans per game than every team in MLB – only the Dodgers in the way. They will put more fans in seats over the course of the season than at least half the teams in the NBA, while playing 17 games vs 41. They will put more fans in seats than every team in the NFL.

        This isn’t bragging about the Sounders, it is taking them as proof that there is indeed “room in the economy” for MLS to become not just *a* major sport but even the potential over time to become *the* major sport in the US. The Seattle market isn’t that different from any other sport market in the US, in fact Seattle is considered a small market. Sounders management just figured out how to tap the potential. It is there in other cities as well.

      • Seattle has no NHL or NBA team to support, and their baseball team has to black out local games to get fans to actually come to the stadium. Why? Because everyone is tapped out by the time they spend their money on Seahawks and Sounders tickets/merch/etc.

        Seattle is not indicative, and never has been, of the landscape of the US as a whole. How about attendance for Revs or Red Bulls games in a large market where they compete with every major sport? Many franchises realized the limitations of the league and built tiny stadiums to create the illusion of fervent support. MLS won’t be a league that can afford to pay players comparable salaries to European or Latin American clubs as long as those salaries are determined by the overall profitability of the league, which in turn be determined by how willing people are to spend money to support the league.

      • Average attendance across the MLS last year was a grand total of 62 people lower than it was in France and just about 5,000 less than it was in soccer-mad Italy…and HERE the sport is actually GROWING. So you might want to revise those prognostications, as you seem to be, well, wrong.

        Oh, and the “quality of play” argument from Eurosnobs has gotten WAY old. The quality of play in MLS is FAR better than it was a few years ago. This isn’t a “kick and chase” or “out-physical the other team” kind of league across the board anymore. But then, you’d have to actually WATCH the league to know that, and judging by your comments in this thread, I’d guess that isn’t happening.

      • Brett, do you really know what you’re talking about or are you just a negativist? Comparatively, NFL football is not the yardstick, and by your “tiny stadiums” analogy fails on many fronts as well. Take basketball for example, By your reasoning, we would also have to conclude that “Many franchises realized the limitations of the league and built tiny stadiums to create the illusion of fervent support”. Ha!

  1. we have Jozy, Gomez, EJ, AJ, Boyd, Agudelo, Bruin, McInerney, Salgado

    name other young quality strikers. either in MLS or groomed in academies in Mexico or Europe

    I didn’t name Shea or Gatt or Corona as they’re primarily wingers.

    Reply
      • He said “young”.

        Also…”quality” probably meant at the international level against ‘A’ teams, not off-year-Gold-Cup-scrubs. Wondo has a talent for getting into good positions, I’ll grant him that, and against lesser competition than we’ll see at the World Cup, that can be enough. But at the level we want to attain, it just isn’t.

    • This kid rates higher than Boyd and Gomez in my book, injuries or no injuries.
      Here’s hoping he offers the speed and guile next to Jozy that we’ve been looking for since CD.

      Reply
    • The iceman has been known in the YA circles for years at this point. You may have no heard of him, but he’s been a known commodity for awhile.

      Reply
      • speak for yourself. Most people had no idea he existed until a year ago when he scored 4 goals in 1 match in Denmark. 2 years ago he was a bit player on a squad in 2nd division Denmark. He did a year in Florida but he was still primarily unknown. There are still some US soccer fans who don’t even know him

      • That’s fine and it’s understandable that the average fan isn’t going to know about the myriad of YAs.

        People have no idea that there are Americans playing in places like Barcelona and Real Madrid’s academies, Bayern Munich’s reserve team, etc.

        But to say that nobody knew who this kid was is a bit silly. The entire YA community knew very well who he was.

      • I’m pretty deep in this YA stuff, but he really didn’t get my attention until last Sept. (that’s when he got his 1st thread on BS, for example). He really had a breakout at the end of the 2012 season and was on fire for the 1st half of the next season.

        Maybe someone knew about his US citizenship, but there was no expectation that he would blossom into a possible NTer.

      • To be fair he’s only 20 years old. There’s been a few guys who have seemingly come out-of-nowhere at a young age because they opted to join academies for european teams and work their way up rather than go the MLS route.

        The two that come to mind for me are Lichaj, who went from unknown to Gold Cup starter after he was promoted from the AV reserve squad and this kid a Tiajuanna who’s name I cant recall at the moment.

        If a player avoids the MLS route they really can go under the radar as they work their way up from euro academies.

        Johannson really bursted onto the scene when he joined AZ and scored a few goals.

      • And right on cue the kid at Tijuana I referred to (Arriola) scores.

        And when I said Euro clubs I meant non-MLS. I understand Mexico is not in europe.

      • His real breakthrough (and when he was mentioned in the NY Times) was in Denmark when he scored that hat trick (+1) in a game. He led the Danish league in scoring when he went to AZ in January.

      • And it matters not a speck of dust if he is not on “most people’s radar” as long as he is on US Soccer’s radar. And by his presence for a year in Bradenton as a teen pretty much tells “most people” he’s been in on the radar of the people that do matter for quite some time.

      • But he wasn’t in the US-sponsored part of Bradenton. He paid his way for a school year at IMG Academy. He got to know a number of the residency players, but we don’t know if he brought his citizenship status to anyone’s attention.

        Jurgen says he was following him for about a year and has been talking since he had his big breakthrough.

    • speak for yourself, I have been following him for over a year so when I comment about him is because I have some background on the kid.

      Reply
    • Whatever happened to Jonathon Carlos Elliott of the Juventus Primevera team?! Just kidding, Bacon looks like the real deal so far. We shall see.

      Reply

Leave a Comment