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Fabian Johnson agrees to join Borussia Moenchengladbach

FabianJohnsonHoffenheim3 (BILD)

By IVES GALARCEP

When the U.S. Men’s National Team plays in this summer’s World Cup, several players will be in the shop window for prospective clubs looking for a new signing.

Fabian Johnson won’t be one of those players.

The German-born fullback has agreed to join Borussia Moenchengladbach on a free transfer this summer, the club announced on Monday.

“Fabian Johnson is a very interesting player who can play attacking or defensive roles on either flank,” Moenchengladbach sporting director Max Eberl said in a statement released on the club website. “He comes on a free transfer and we’re delighted he’s opted to join us.”

Johnson, 26, started for Hoffenheim against Borussia Moenchengladbach in a 2-2 tie over the weekend.

Johnson will be the third USMNT player to play for Moenchengladbach, joining Michael Bradley and Kasey Keller.

What do you think of this development?

Share your thoughts below.

 

 

Comments

  1. Lucien Favre is a very good coach. DC United made a mistake going with Ben Olsen instead of him. Favre is an excellent identifier and developer of young talent. Great landing spot for Fabian Johnson!

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    • Agree that Favre is a good coach and that Gladbach is a big step up from Hoppenheim. But at 26 years old Fabian Johnson can no longer be labeled as “young talent.”

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    • They may have had a shot at Champions league but for some dude who will remain unnamed from Hoffenheim drawing a penalty last game and robbing Gladbach of those two additional points. Surely that’s gonna bite them in the end.

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  2. It should be noted that Johnson against Gladbach played right back for 90m for the second game in a row, which is good news for the USMNT in Brazil if Johnson can be 100% interchangeable between left back and right back and in emergencies as a winger. I think he got fouled in the box against Gladbach for the penalty that resulted in Hoffenheim’s equalizer.

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    • Great New! If Johnson and Ream can prove capable enough we’ll have a reason not to play Beasley at LB or even bring him at all. The last thing we want is another Eddie Lewis Vs Czech Republic type of game!

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      • What on earth does Ream have to do with this? You don’t want Beasley at LB, but you think REAM (who I am a fan of) can play there?

      • No? Maybe not all year as definitively as I stated, but at least the majority of the year?

        He’s been playing 90 every game at least, the LB portion is just knowledge gained from a recent statement by Ives

      • sorry, just saw your reply, hopefully you’ll see mine.

        he actually started at d-mid this season, then moved back to become their first-choice starter at left CB, where he’s been solid.

        pretty sure he’s only played left back for them since christmas, give or take…i haven’t seen them play for a couple months, so i can’t really speak to that.

      • and even so, has he all of the sudden gotten faster? stronger? I don’t know, I’m asking. He couldn’t hack it MLS, I remember that, and he was miscast as the USMNT CB of the future and proved that by struggling when deployed

        I’ll have to catch some Bolton games

      • But he didn’t make it in the premier league. All of his starts is 1 tier below at Championship. Not saying that bad. I actually wanna see him get a call up

      • I suspect Ream has grown out of his occasional bad giveaways. He has always had the ability to make good passes and control the ball well. Mostly I have seen him playing CB and do wonder about his speed. Still, Boca played left back well enough despite a lack of speed, a clever defender can use his brain to minimize a speed deficit (but it is always nice to have the speed as well.)

        If only speed mattered there, Wynne would be starting.

      • Beasley is not a defender! He’s failed miserably against partially solid opposition like the El Salvador game in Baltimore last summer. Ream plays LB weekly against better competition and he’s also a natural DF. Watch the first games of the 2006 WC and see how well it went for us when we played a Midfielder (Eddie Lewis) who preformed well against Concacaf opponents against world class opposition. I will concede that Bocanegra was suspended for that game but if serves as evidence as to why Beasley is not considered as part of the defenders making this trip to Brazil.

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GkeC7B8VDE

      • Does it matter? No one on our roster is as good as F. Johnson at LB. But we have comparable options at wing. Now if we’re still trying to figure out both outside defenders and Johnson can play either side, that’s one thing. But I think a lot of folks will be highly disappointed in JK if Johnson spends any time in Brazil as a midfielder.

      • “Watch the first games of the 2006 WC and see how well it went for us when we played a Midfielder (Eddie Lewis) who preformed well against Concacaf opponents against world class opposition.”

        This has nothing to do with DMB.

        That was about 8 years,two different managers, and a completely different player pool ago.

      • I don’t see how signing for a better team improves his backline skills. Whatever think of Beasley, he outfought FJ, Castillo, and others for the job and if healthy is the starter in pencil.

        Ream is a laugh. He can’t even keep up with his own shadow and his theorized composure on the ball is overrated.

        I did, however, feel like FJ did enough on the left wing to keep himself relevant there.

      • Outfought FJ for left back? No- Klinsman wants FJ on the wing and has stated so. He is one of our best 4/5 players who will be on the field no matter what. He can be true winger and combines well offensively with different players. He would be our best option at LB, but I think we’d lose too much of his offensive capabilities at that position, especially when playing a strong team that would require him to defend constantly.

      • When playing a strong team, if we don’t have defenders who can defend at that level, does it matter who is playing up?

        We need to try to lock down the back and play a conservative game – which with a little luck could just get us out of group. If we go in against Germany and team Ronaldo with two relatively inexperienced centerbacks and then Beasley/Parkhurst/whoever quality on the outsides, the only thing that will stop them from running up the score will be their laughing. That might be true of Ghana as well.

        Play the best defenders we have (even if that means Chandler) and then trust Donovan, Bradley, Dempsey and Altidore to create a little up top, which we know they can do to some degree, but not enough to compensate for bad defenders.

      • Mr. Miller,

        In World Cup terms, the USMNT has no standout defenders, midfielders or attackers.

        If you look at the 30 players or so available to JK, once you get past the obvious 5 or 6 starters, everyone is flawed; it’s not like you are going to get massive differences in overall quality.

        For example, Sacha has a far superior recent resume to Benny, who is just as gifted as Sacha. However, for a just couple of games, I am certain that a fired up, jacked up Benny, being home in Brazil and all, could really light it up.

        World Cup history is full of guys who had an awesome run of games and then were never heard from again.

        Your prescription is to play the guys who have the best reputation as defenders, in the defense. But the US has no one who is such a standout defender that they are worth being out there on that basis alone.

        There is not one regular player in the back four or in the defensive midfield who is unquestionably light years ahead, defensively, of his nearest competitor in the depth charge.

        If JK follows your prescription, the USMNT will likely get slaughtered.

        What you are describing is what Bradley would do. You want the death group to attack us and then we will counter attack.

        JK has just spent the past two years getting these guys to play in a slightly different way. High tempo, keeping a high line, putting pressure on the other team, keeping possession as much as possible.

        Let the death group guys worry about us not the other way around.

        Not that they can’t play defensively, they can like they did against Italy, which was a win by the way. But these guys are JK’s team now not Bradley’s.

        However, they will do it while attempting to retain possession in a way they did not under Bradley. So JK is going to play the guys who can best do that and that means all eleven guys not just the back four. If this team wants to advance it will play defense as a team.

        If it counts on individual defensive performances, this team will lose.

        ,

      • i think counter-attacking is exactly what we’ll see in the world cup, with maybe the exception of our game against ghana. klinsmann has shown that, above all, he’ll be pragmatic when it counts (which is why i still have hope that he’ll move fabian back to fullback for the cup).

        but there’s a big difference between klinsmann’s counter-attacking and bradley’s bunkerball, which i think you addressed above.

        all that said, you can play great “team defense” all you want, but if you have a weak defensive link like beasley that close to the goal, you’re asking for more trouble than you would have had otherwise.

      • Ream had a down year last season thus explaining why he wasn’t called into camp. But given how well he’s been playing this season he should be given a chance. Beasley didn’t actually beat anyone for a stop he just played by default. He established himself at a gold cup tournament with the B team

      • ” Beasley, he outfought FJ, ”

        FJ was not beaten out of the left back position by DMB.

        Donovan was not available and JK needed a midfielder who would be a replacement for Donovan in terms of creating offensive opportunities.

        JK feels DMB has done a good enough job to allow him to use Fabian wherever he might best be employed, right or left back or right or left midfield. This is true even with Donovan back.

        Whether this holds true for Brazil who knows but Fabian has proven he can start, and play very well, for the US on either side as a fullback or a wing midfielder. And managers value such versatility.

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