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MLS Disciplinary Committee suspends Johnson, fines Berhalter

Eddie Johnson

BY MITCHELL NORTHAM

Outside of scoring his first goal of the Major League Soccer season against the Montreal Impact over the weekend, it sure has been a rough going lately for DC United forward Eddie Johnson.

After being left off Jurgen Klinnsman’s 2014 World Cup roster last week, MLS suspended Johnson on Tuesday for what MLS called a “reckless challenge” against Montreal goal keeper Troy Perkins. Johnson was also fined an undisclosed amount and will serve his one-game suspension this week, missing out on DC United’s Wednesday match-up against the Houston Dynamo.

Johnson had been on a cold-streak since signing with DC in the off-season, but scored his first goal with the club on Saturday in the 84th minute to give the Black and Red a 1-1 tie against Montreal. The play for which Johnson will be suspended for came in the 60th minute of the game.

The MLS players union appealed the suspension on Johnson’s behalf, but it was denied on Tuesday. Johnson was also fined an undisclosed amount for a second time after making contact with the face of Montreal defender Wandrille Lefevre in the same game.

Here are the other MLS suspensions this week:

MLS also suspended Portland Timbers defender Alvas Powell for one additional game this week for a foul play on Columbus Crew defender Chad Barson. The foul occurred in the 34th minute of the Timbers’ game against the Crew on Saturday and Powell was issued a red card immediately.

That game ended in a 3-3 draw and MLS also issued fines to the Crew and head coach Greg Berhalter for breaking the league’s mass confrontation policy in the 85th minute.

Also suspended this week for issued red cards are Erik Palmer-Brown of Sporting Kansas City and Philadelphia Union midfielder Cristian Maidana. Chivas USA’s Oswaldo Minda will also miss a game due to yellow card accumulation.

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What do you think of Johnson’s suspension? Was it fair? Thinks DC United can stand against the Dynamo without him?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Whatever people think of him, if he was producing this year he’d be in camp. He’s where he is because of his poor transfer decision. Character wasn’t an issue when he was scoring.

    Reply
    • I’d add something to that comment:
      Most have assumed he didn’t make the camp solely because of his lack of goal production,
      Others (like Twellman) have said his recent comments sealed his fate..

      I would submit that his overall lack of effort was a prime reason for his exclusion. In the games I watched he looked uninterested, walked around, lacked hustle etc.
      In that interview on mls site last week, the ex usmnt assistant coach said the same thing..

      I find it annoyingly ironic that people criticize JK for leaving him out, yet it was JK who came in and gave him tons of chances and helped resurrect his career when he was an outcast from the usmnt.

      Reply
      • Valderrama: if you produce well you can stand around. It never proved a title winning recipe in MLS but he was so accurate passing he was never held to a high work rate.

        But I agree with the spirit of your comment in as much as coaches would likely view a low producing player with work ethic and attitude issues signs his own pink slips. Even when Wondo was a non-scoring bench player he would chase defenders and try and make himself useful. If you’re in a slump it helps to have other traits to offer. About all EJ does it poach.

        Maybe he thought he had the team made and was going to cash in at DC and coast into the Brazil squad, that he wasn’t going to hurt himself doing too much. I’m sure some players coast a little this particular year in the cycle. But he wasn’t the starter so he probably overestimated how much slack he’d be given. He also probably overlooked how his history impacts how another slump is seen. JK likely knows enough to know this may be a 2 year resolution before he gets himself together again.

      • Yea I don’t know. As Andy in Atlanta said above there’s a lot of stuff thrown around about him (including Twellman) yet I’ve never heard of anything negative from his usmnt teammates. He’s admitted some things and some things have been written about him that are opinion pieces.

        I just think that since JK already had so much invested in him, and certainly gave him a restart with the usmnt, he had to have seen something that he thought justified lowering him on the rating board.
        I personally haven’t commented on that aspect of this issue specifically because it never seemed to be a Nat Team issue, which is what JK cared about. He hadn’t scored yet, but I based my opinion on what I personally watched which was based on his effort and engagement etc…

    • So if there’s an incident behind the play that the refs don’t see, it should never be punished? Let’s say a player punches another, and kicks him when he’s down…he shouldn’t be penalized?

      Reply
  2. Hahahaha I always get a kick out of these “lazy” comments. Like you know the details of his training regiment. There is a reason he’s playing professional soccer and has represented the US and you’re here posting troll comments

    Reply
    • Your argument is that everyone who criticizes Eddie Johnson attempted to become a professional soccer player and failed and that’s why we’re not on the soccer field…?

      Good luck with that.

      Reply
      • You can criticize him for taking the money (I don’t blame him for picking financial security at the downside of his career). You can criticize him for his over reliance on step overs or his lack of recent production but calling him lazy with no evidence is bush league analysis. Educate yourself

      • I’m calling him lazy by his own words and actions and basically his entire professional career.

        http://www.sportingnews.com/soccer/story/2012-06-22/eddie-johnson-seattle-sounders-second-chance-former-us-national-team-forward

        Interesting fluff narrative when Johnson signed with Seattle about how he’s a changed man and no longer lazy, selfish, and a bad teammate.

        Took a grand total of a single season for that entire new facade to come tumbling down. Again.

      • The only one to use the word lazy was the author, definitely not his own words. He even says himself “I don’t know where the perception came from”. The only talk about being selfish or a bad teammate comes from the authors hypothetical situation of how HE thinks a younger Johnson would have reacted in those situations. No direct quotes from teammates, nothing. A lack of focus or being immature does not mean he was lazy. If anything working his way back from hitting rock bottom after a close family member suddenly died is the opposite of lazy.

        Its telling that you read Sporting News. Its common knowledge that they use sensationalist journalism to generate clicks. Just look at how they have covered the Winston case

    • One has to ask how come the work ethic issues came up at Dallas and KC? Bradley, now, and guys before him like McBride, and Friedel played for different teams in US and Europe, and issues of work ethics never arose.

      I tried to find the story, but I remember an interesting one on how he talked about being successful with the help of a soccer coach who served as a life coach, too–one who would kick him in the butt. I think it was when he was at Dallas.

      Reply
      • It was his coach growing up in Bunnell, Florida that would drive him to practice and help keep him out of trouble because he grew up in a bad area

    • Reckless challenges are serious business actually. And perhaps you’re not aware of the extra hours Eddie puts in each week on behalf of a number of charities. It’s not always been easy (with that reckless challenge urge always lurking just beneath the surface); but throught hard work Eddie’s stayed mostly on the straight and narrow. And he just missed the cut toward possible World Cup participation this time around.

      You on the other hand don’t know what you’re talking about

      Reply
      • All due respect but a trained soccer player understands where the line is. I was a defender with crunching tackles and I never earned a red for it. It arguably reflects the same poor self-control that leads him to take a process where he is respected again with a decent Seattle team and blow it up in favor of more money with a poorer DC side (even after his past experience with “take the money” decisions, ie, his awful stint in Europe). He is his own worst enemy.

      • I did not see the play for which he has been disciplined. I wonder if anyone commenting here has. If not, you have no business reaching a conclusion. As for crossing the line, forwards are usually lousy defenders and it is not unusual for an attacker to get a card. Paul Scholes, who was supposed to be a midfielder, was one of the worst I have ever seen in that regard. How many suspensions has EJ gotten in his career? A lot of people jump to conclusions without knowing salient facts. I don’t recall EJ getting many cards in the past or serving suspensions and he has played quite a few years in MLS. I don’t know the answers to the questions I raise because I am just now reading these comments. However, as I often do, I urge posters to know what they are talking about before slamming some player.

      • Gary, when he scored the other day, someone posted HE shouldn’t have been on the field after the incident with the keeper. I didn’t see it and asked what happened and a few replies back and forth ranged from nothing to he should have been red carded..

        I didn’t see the tape till last night, so haven’t commented till now.

        When he breaks through it sure looks like he drags his right foot into the keepers head. You can see the clip on the mls site.
        Then a scrum follows and EJ puts a finger in someone’s face.. barely.. but that’s a no no…

        Take a look for yourself, there’s not a good reverse angle, but to me it looks like he drags his right foot into his face, and the suspension is warranted

      • That’s great with the crunching tackles, but how did the year go when you made it to U-12

      • Honestly, who didn’t think Eddie could go off and do something like this the weekend after his WC hopes were dashed. He is prone to being reactionary(see “pay me”, “my teammates were better in Seattle”- paraphrase sorry).

      • This deserves some sort of info graphic. Who do we need to suspend next to get them moving?

      • After Dempsey was suspended a lot of posters then went off saying he was historically a dirty player. So, I looked it up. In 6 seasons in the EPL he had a total of 2 red cards. It didn’t say, but I’m guessing at least one was for yellow card accumulation. People here don’t just jump to conclusions, they often take prodigious leaps.

      • Eddie Johnson bashing is a full time job on this website. I’m not an Eddie lover but the guy is a good enough player to warrant the salary he receives his attitude and locker room demeanor is much better than people give him credit for. And quite honestly despite his stupid comments he deserved to be on the World Cup roster ahead of guys like Boyd and a completely untested Julian Green

      • “and locker room demeanor is much better than people give him credit for.”

        Complete bullsh*t. He’s been a locker room cancer everywhere and that’s factual.

      • Incorrect what that is is hearsay that gets repeated so many times that people think it becomes fact. It is very tea party-esque. Everyone on the national team thinks Eddie is a great teammate. The only person that hates on Eddie all the time is Taylor Twellman who is in the commentating booth now.

        Eddie came back from Europe with his tail between his legs and has worked his butt off to secure the contract he got from DC United. He will be motivated by the World Cup snub and his teammates do not hate him I know that for fact.

        So much about Eddie is complete hyperbole is supposed to complete failure in Europe, His me me me attitude. The truth is Eddie is a streaky goalscorer that is what he is.

      • Andy, you can see my comments below with IV, I agree with much of what you’re saying. I think the “limited” number of pundits ie: TT, etc, have fueled the attitude aspect of his exclusion..
        But I personally think JK just didn’t like what he’s seen out of him ON the field, both in the camp before SK, and this season..
        I appear to be in the minority, which is fine, I’m basing it off what I’ve seen of him this year on the field, not speculations, rumors, and his past.

      • I see my previous comment has been taken down even though it had salient facts. Let me put it another way. I remember when EJ first played for the US as a 19 year old and came on a scored a couple of goals in only 2 or 3 games and a lot of people were wondering where he came from as he seemingly came out of nowhere. That was almost 10 years ago and I have at least paid attention to his career ever since, saw his first entrance for Fulham, saw him play in MLS before and after. In all that time, only in the last few days have I seen this charge that he is lazy. Where does this come from if not from someone’s imagination? If it were true, you would think that it would have come up before now. A person doesn’t play professional soccer for a decade and all of a sudden get lazy.

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