Eddie Johnson has been unable to suit up for D.C. United throughout the opening weeks of the season, and it appears that there is a chance that the forward never gets the chance to suit up for the club again.
The Washington Post reported Tuesday that Johnson is currently sidelined with a heart ailment that is threatening to end the forward’s career. The report stated that Johnson’s return is “a long shot”, although both the club and the forward continue to hold out hope for a recovery.
The 31-year-old forward is currently in the process of seeing multiple specialists across the country and more information on his status is expected to emerge in the next month.
Johnson’s ailment first came to light toward the end of last season, as the forward was hospitalized less than two days before a playoff game against the New York Red Bulls, which saw Johnson feature for 30 minutes.
The forward originally reported to camp in January before D.C. United announced that he would be undergoing further testing for the medical issue.
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What do you make of the reports regarding Johnson? What do you expect from him in the future?
Share your thoughts below.
Wishing you the best EJ.
Feel terrible for EJ, but this news brings into focus some money matters. EJ’s situation raises a question about the salary cap space his DP deal is using up. Last week, I wrote a very long essay about this — a ‘fanpost’ — on the blackandredunited site. Check it out, but here’s the basics:
MLS has two published rules on injury lists. The short-term injury replacement list rule expressly states that the team remains responsible on the salary budget for any part of the salary that is on the budget. A team can create a roster space by putting the injured player on this list, but not cap space There is also a rule for replacing a player with a season-ending injury. That rule doesn’t make any mention of the salary budget. It does say the team will remain responsible for the player’s full salary.
This is very unclear language, but the fact this rule doesn’t make reference to the salary cap budget (even though the short-term injury list rule does), suggests to me that when a player goes on the season-ending list, the team gets a roster slot AND cap space. The team would be responsible for all of a player’s salary — even though a much of a DP’s salary is normally paid by the league. — but they would get corresponding cap space.
Like I said the rule is written vaguely…not clearly. There may be internal MLS documents that give more and clearer guidance. I hope so. I am not 100% sure that my interpretation is what MLS intends, but I think it would be consistent with hte purpose of the cap money the league provides. It’s meant for each team to fully use. It wouldn’t do anyone any good if DCU has to forfeit more than 10% of the team’s cap space on a player who won’t/can’t play a single minute.
When he was a scratch for the playoffs, this was the rumor going around. Sorry to see it appears to be the actual case. I hope he’s able to live a fairly normal life.
Terrible news for EJ, but better that they caught it so they can hopefully treat it and eventually get him back on the field. And if they can’t, at least he can live a productive life and raise his family. The alternative is unthinkable…
Get better EJ!
I’m surprised this was never discovered before. Everytime there is a US soccer video they show all the players going through physicals, getting blood drawn, VO2 max test, vertical jump, (yoga, haha) etc. This has to have been checked in the past, especially with various players having heart issues on the field. Strange.
An enlarged heart isn’t always the problem. You can function normally, sometimes with little effects, due to an enlarged heart. However, it is most often a symptom of another problem and that problem is often not detectable for a period of time.
I’m not a doctor, but I have read about people getting viral infections that damage the heart and sometimes even lead to death. Because it’s a virus, antibiotics don’t work, it’s up to the body’s immune system. This is one possible explanation. Best of luck to EJ.
It is not that unusual for athletes to develop heart conditions. The most common cause is an enlarged ventricle that results in electrical changes in the heart, often an inherited condition that does not appear until young adulthood, similar changes can be the result of heart damage due to disease or to overuse (see Alberto Salazar’s, the Boston marathon champion, for an example of that). In Italy whee the inherited problem is more common, there is a program to screen young athletes for this, it seems to be effective, but of course does not catch problems that arise later in life.
Such electrical issues are not a death sentence (I have lived with this for more than half my 68 years), but untreated and subjected to continued stress in can be deadly. Sometimes the first symptom is “sudden death”, so it is nothing to joke about. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DU_i0ZzIV5U for a video of a Belgian soccer player who collapsed on the field from this and was saved by his implanted cardioversion device (ICD).
Johnson scored the first MLS goal at BMO Field, Toronto.
Still remember the beer shower he was given.
This is more then just an injury this really impacts his overall health. Wishing for the best regarding his condition regardless of wether he plays again.
Well that is terrible news.
Get better Grown-As%-Man.
Even if he doesn’t play for Seattle, I would miss his great headers. There was no one ever better in the air. As close to unstoppable as you can get in a defensive sport like soccer.
Really, no one better than him in the air?
Sorry, that was a slap in the face….need to think before I type.
You are both fantastic. You are both missed.
I think we’ve known this for years.
Bah-BOOOMMM !!!!!
Yeah, that’s funny… Look up Reggie Lewis or Hank Gathers sometime. Then turn up the setting on your mental filter before declaring your idiocy to the world.
I can’t believe someone made a joke about this
You don’t know this site very well do you? It has guys making jokes about players accused of statuatory rape.
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Very tacky, even for the internet.
What is the “heart ailment” diagnosis specifically?
Could be an enlarged heart or congestive heart failure.
Only EJ could really give us the specifics of the “heart ailment” diagnosis because of all the laws regarding the disclosure of protected health information. So we are left with speculation. These “heart ailments” in elite athletes are typically a cardiomyopathy (heart muscle disease) congenital or acquired, or a malignant cardiac rhythm disturbance (arrhythmia). Neither is good. I wish EJ the best of luck.