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Eddie Johnson announces retirement

Photo by David Richard/USA TODAY Sports
Photo by David Richard/USA TODAY Sports

After being sidelined for the 2015 season due to a heart ailment, Eddie Johnson officially ended his soccer career Sunday.

D.C. United announced Johnson’s retirement from the game hours before kickoff against the New York Red Bulls, and the club intends to recognize his extensive playing career at halftime during the pair’s Eastern Conference semifinal meeting at RFK Stadium (3 p.m., ESPN).

Johnson, 31, ends his professional career with 71 goals and 21 assists in MLS. Meanwhile, he ends his international career with 63 caps and 19 goals scored, enough to currently hold the eighth most all-time for the U.S. Men’s National Team.

“Eddie had many outstanding accomplishments during his career and was a valuable member of the team during his time with D.C. United,” D.C. United general manager and vice president of soccer operations Dave Kasper said. “He will be missed but always remembered as he moves on beyond the playing field.”

After it was reported in March that Johnson may not be able to play again due to him being sidelined with a heart ailment, the forward had his MLS contract voided in May. Johnson’s last appearance came in 2014, due to athletic heart syndrome

What do you think about Johnson’s career? How will you remember his playing career?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Memorable EJ moment:

    Made a couple appearances for Fulham. Came on as a sub against ManU and played well. Had an incredible shot that went off the the post right where it meets the crossbar. Would have been an amazing highlight had it been a couple inches over.

    Reply
    • I remember his first appearance with Fulham. They were playing Bolton and Friedel was in goal. EJ came on in the 2nd half and had a breakaway down the right side. Fulham were either a goal down or it was tied, so a goal would have been important. EJ controlled the ball maybe 15 to 20 yards out and hard a fairly difficult angle because Friedel had the near post well covered. Since the defense was arriving from his left, EJ had to try and put it into the upper right 90, above Friedel. He took a hard shot and hit the crossbar, missed by maybe 3 to 4 inches. Had he made it, it would have been a great goal and he probably gets a lot more playing time. But, since he missed, he didn’t see the pitch much after that and eventually got loaned out.

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      • Correction, Friedel was GK for Blackburn Rovers for many years, not Bolton. Sol, it was a game Fulham vs. Blackburn. Mark Hughes, BTW, was the Blackburn coach. He now coaches Stoke.

  2. my favorite memory was the game when EJ subbed in, jogged on the field during a corner kick and scored. they showed his whole run from the sideline and he literally never stopped moving, just jogged up slowly as if he weren’t really interested in the corner kick, then once it was kicked he hustled and won the header.

    a couple of cool notes:

    commentator : “not a good time to make a sub on a free kick like this…” (insert foot in mouth)
    EJ subbed in for Wondo (blech)
    EJ had the ‘demolition man’ hairdo
    LD with the assist, lol

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  3. I am not an MD, but I am someone who has an enlarged right ventricle in my heart, also known as ARVD (you can Google it). As far as I can determine there are 3 causes, infection, genetic and damage due to prolonged stress (the 3rd is a bit controversial, but Alberto Salazar, the great distance runner is likely a victim of this). I did have myocarditis, an inflamation of the heart and that is a likely cause (it might also be related to having been a distance runner who averaged running 70 miles per week for over 5 years, including the period before my myocarditis was diagnosed.

    An enlarged heart can happen for a variety of other reasons, one is sustained endurance activity that increases the size of the heart and when I first had problems, it was assumed that I had the fairly normal “athletes heart”. That turns out to have been wrong. Perhaps the original description of EJ’s condition was similarly misnamed in the beginning.

    My condition causes electrical problems, including ventricular tachycardia which can turn into cardiac fibrillation which is death if untreated. I have an implanted cardiac defibrillator which can sense bad rhythms and shock it back to a normal rhythm. It is not an immediate death sentence (I have lived with this for over half my 69 years), but it can limit the ability to exercise that keeps the heart rate elevated or engage in activities that are likely to increase adrenaline. Soccer does both and at a very competitive level it does both in spades. Still, I have played soccer and exercised for over 30 years and it has not yet killed me, but I have been shocked both by my ICD and in the ER before I had the ICD and once after. Sometimes the bad heart rate happened while exercising, sometimes there was no immediate activity or emotion that caused it.

    Hank Gathers famously died while playing basketball after he was diagnosed with a similar problem and stopped taking the prescribed beta blocker. A Belgian player was shocked on the field and recovered, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjZK4HgoY2Q and in 2012, Fabrice Muamba collapsed on the field due to a heart problem and was forced to retire from soccer.

    Reply
    • I agree with your synopsis, however those issues with heart enlargement do not fit under the “Athletes Heart” syndrome, which see no deterioration of the heart output, and no enlargement due to injury or disease, or even birth defect. The heart is simply enlarged due to the need for more blood volume to the body’s muscles. During my annual physical last year, my doctor thought he had heard a small murmur or echo. I went to see a cardiologist and was checked out OK. Later I did an outpatient test and not only was I able to get my heart in the “red zone” for a significant period of time, but my recovery was also a lot faster than normal. I also did a 350 watt output on an equipped stationary bike for a significant period of time (40 percent above normal) for my age. Although my heart “has shrunk” I still retain enough heart and lung capacity to do a good test 4 decades after I was diagnosed.

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  4. I think there is more to this story than what is (was) being presented. The heart condition that Eddie Johnson was to have had (Athletes Heart) is in itself benign and is quite common among endurance athletes. I know this as I had(have) this condition since it was first diagnosed when I was at UC Berkeley in the 70’s. I was a track and field athlete and a cyclist, and competed at the elite level from 1970 to 1979 with no ill effects. In 1973 I was examined by Dr Rashid Massumi, who concluded and rightly so, that the heart, like any muscle, can grow when put under stress. Like body builders, whose body muscle development can be pronounced after years of training. so can an endurance athletes’ heart grow. In fact, after my diagnosis, several other athletes, representing several other sports, were also logged with this same condition.

    In the mid 70’s, I was also tested in the Human Performance lab at CSULB and was found to be healthy and sound. The only health exception was my blood pressure ran high, but with watching my diet and avoiding certain lifestyles, it has been under control throughout my lifetime. My point is, that after my diagnosis with this “disease” I was able to compete at the elite national and international level for several years afterward, even being offered a pro contract AFTER my physical. It was NEVER a problem.

    Of course, enlargement of the heart can be attributed to other causes, including injury and disease, but those enlargement conditions, would not be diagnosed under the cause of “Athletes Heart”, which, as far as I know, is caused by the process of endurance training.

    I am not privy to EJ’s medical records and maybe he has a medical problem with his heart, but as far as I was informed, the condition shared by EJ and myself is benign and un harmful.

    And if he has a harmful heart condition and it is lumped into the same category of Athletes Heart. it maybe sends the wrong message to athletes who have larger than normal heart and may quit the sport because they think they may have a heart disease. I suggest to athletes be they football (soccer) or any other endurance sport, to see a cardiologist, if they have been informed they have a larger than normal heart.

    Reply
    • Each case of Athletes Heart/Enlarged Heart is different. Depending on the individual, an enlargement of the heart can cause any number of issues. I know of one case (a former neighbor & teammate of mine in swimming) who Collapsed. He was out jogging before class at MSU, where he was on the swim team, and passed away before he could receive medical help. The autopsy listed his enlarged heart as the cause of death.
      As for EJ & his being sidelined this season….If I remember the reports correctly the issue wasn’t that he couldn’t play, it was that the team and league couldn’t get him insured. I’m guessing that after his contract was voided in May that his agent tried to find a different league/team to take him, but none were willing to take on the risk.

      Reply
    • One thing I learned a long time ago is that you cannot always go from the general to the specific. Just because you had a certain situation with a certain condition, it does not mean everyone else or even a majority of everyone else has that same situation. .

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    • relax Marc Antony, it was a joke, i read half of it but it became too much about his single perception. no offense to him intended. imho it was a bit lengthy. I’m ecstatic that you thoroughly enjoyed reading his post tho……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

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  5. He was very useful last cycle and probably would have been good to have after Jozy went down in group play. He had a certain swagger about him too even though he wasnt very good. Godspeed GAM

    Reply
    • I guess my standards aren’t as high as yours. I don’t consider 19 goals in 63 appearances for a national team to be “not very good.” I think we can safely say that he was in the top 10% of all US strikers (in first division pro soccer) in history to date.

      Reply

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