Fabian Johnson joined exclusive company on Tuesday, and broke a two-year drought for U.S. Men’s National Team players in the process.
Johnson became the first American to score in the UEFA Champions League since Sacha Kljestan did so in 2013, finishing well with a right-footed effort in the 18th minute of Borussia Moenchengladbach’s 1-1 draw with Juventus. Johnson’s goal, his first Champions League strike, was the opener in the Group D match at Borussia Park. Moenchengladbach, however, surrendered a late first-half equalizer in part because of Johnson and had to settle for just a point that kept it at the bottom of the group.
With his strike, Johnson became the sixth U.S. player to find the back of the net in the presitigious European tournament. The others are Kljestan, Jermaine Jones, Maurice Edu, DaMarcus Beasley, and Jovan Kirovski. Kljestan was the last one to score on Oct. 12, 2013.
The goal comes just three days after the 27-year-old Johnson assisted on Moenchengladbach’s opener in a 4-1 rout of Hertha Berlin in Bundesliga play. It also adds another interesting twist his standing with the U.S. Men’s National Team, from which he was sent home early in October because of what head coach Jurgen Klinsmann perceived as a lack of commitment.
Klinsmann will name his roster for the U.S.’s first two World Cup qualifiers this Sunday, and it is unclear right now whether Johnson will be on it.
You can see Johnson’s goal here at the 0:40 mark:
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What do you think of Johnson’s goal? Should Klinsmann call him up to the U.S.’s November camp? Expecting to see him on the roster?
Share your thoughts below.
Too bad Klinsmann not using Johnson on the left side of midfield.
Nice goal. Although in the extended highlights it looks like FJ was also slow to get back on the Juventus goal, and then after Gladbach had a man advantage in much of the 2nd half he sailed a nice, uncovered winning opportunity over the bar from the penalty spot. So any suggestion that the goal should immediately shift JK’s opinion is too narrow.
I find it incredibly interesting how short sighted people are on this board, not to mention the vitriol spewed. Sacha has never looked good on the USMNT team in multile opportunities given under BB or JK. He is good club player in a weak league (MLS, Belgium). FJ actions got his teammates mad at him. What he pulled would have gotten a school coach mad at him. People on this board need to stop looking for reasons to hate JK.
Strange thing is he’s better then Bradley or Diskerud in that same weak league, however they often look good for the national team. (at least in friendlies, not as often in real matches)
+1
Amen Jack….Amen
Mix is not looking good, but he is mainly played out of position and not doing what he used to. He is also not having a great year. Listen, I like Sacha, but he is not…NOT as good Michael Bradley.
Is that guy wearing a mouthguard?
Let’s hope so.
You have to at least admit FJ is partially responsible if he isn’t called in. JK was wrong to call him out in the press, but Fabian pulled himself out of a big game in order to save himself for club games.
EXACTLY….. some may not like JK “calling a player out” ( i don’t see it that way) but either way, FJ was still wrong in what he did and there are plenty of top coaches that would be/have been mad at players who act similarly. point being, FJ still did something wrong in the eyes of most coaches, he’s not innocent in all of this. if playing 111′ made him tired then he should rethink how he approaches staying in form. this comes from a guy who rates FJ highly, but even if Messi had done the same in a big match I, as a coach, would be upset… (my response would have been “why are you requesting to be subbed out? you’re not injured? you’re just tired? TIRED?! you’re a professional, this is your job, you do what your boss tells you to do, you don’t want to? well then find another job …. etc”. and that’s pretty much what JK said. [harden the eff up]…)
another thing to think about, JK never really “called him out” there was a post game press conference, a reporter asked him about FJ being sent home (to find out if it was injury or something else) and JK responded to the question. JK did not call a press conference himself JUST to lambast FJ for the entire press conference. he responded to a question, some fans were offended by the response and have stretched it mean that JK “hates” FJ or something of the like. this is not the case. think to how many time a NTer (of any country) has requested out of a BIG match WITHOUT being injured (as shown by his full 90 for club the following week). there’s a reason why it doesn’t happen. in the pro soccer culture it is highly frowned upon by coaches. JK is not the inventor of this logic.
True but he could have been much more politically correct and simply said he returned back to Germany to prepare for upcoming matches as he did with the other guys that went home. I understand directly after the match when people were asking why he was seemingly playing for penalties by bringing on Evans, but two days later I think he could have crafted a better answer to a question he had to know was coming.
dloa,
but according to his club, fabian *was* injured, just not seriously; all comes down to who you want to believe. he apparently asked to come off because if he hadn’t, he would’ve been *seriously* injured. This isn’t some unheard-of thing–it happens pretty often that a player will notice the warning signs, and if they’re responsible, will stop before it gets too bad.
i’m wondering if maybe this is an american thing: we’re not satisfied unless a player gives “110%”, plays through an injury, “toughs it out”, even if it’s not in the best long-term interest of the team or the player. i think klinsmann’s got us nailed–i’ve been shocked by how many people bought into his “if he plays a week from now, then obviously there was nothing wrong” line.
Nate, all the club said was he received treatment, which could have been a massage, an ice bath, or some icy hot. There is a difference between hurting and being injured. There were a lot of players on that field that night that were hurting on both sides, but only one asked to come off. Both FJ and JK are at fault in this one.
johnny,
there are obviously different degrees of “hurting”. fabian thought he was “hurting” too much to go on, and klinsmann thought he was just being a big baby.
just depends on who you believe: i’ve never really had reason to think fabian is a big faker, but i *have* seen klinsmann throw players under the bus.
of course, none of that excuses klinsmann’s ludicrous statement that fabian couldn’t *really* be hurt if he played the next week, as if that wasn’t the situation for players all the time. he might as well have just released a poll that said “Do you trust me? Yes or No “
The title of this article is incorrect – it calls Johnson a USMNT player. He’s no longer one. He’s been Feilhabered.
You’re right and not only that, he is not the FIRST American to score in the Champions League this year. Cesar Romero scored in the Champion League play-in game for Armenia’s Pyunik in August, He left right after to play in Macedonia’s FK Vardar. Romero (formerly of Chivas USA) was the leading scorer in the Armenian 1st Division lasy year.
+1
“Cesar Romero scored in the Champion League play-in game for Armenia’s Pyunik”…..Post like this is what we need here. People who produce facts that bring light to new players, info etc., thanks man
I will also say that it was his man that made a run from midfield to score and level it. Totally ball watching.
Big fan of Fabian and love that he scored but…..two sides.
True he was at fault for leaving his guy all alone, but that pass from Pogba was ridiculous, with such a strange trajectory that everyone had to kind of look up and try to track it.
Fabian came really close to scoring a second, with a wonderful volley..
Fabian scores in the CL, Benny is a finalist for MVP…maybe it’s good for your career to be on JK’s bad side.
and the last person to score in Champions league was Kljestan, who Klinsmann also never really rated.
I assume you’re new to watching the Nats, because Kljestan has failed to impress at the international level under multiple managers.
That opinion isn’t really disputed by anyone who’s paid attention.
Always a class move to assume such things about people. He wasn’t even implying that JK should have called Sacha up more.
Old School, you know what opinion also isn’t disputed by anyone? The one that says JK always played Sacha out of position, and the one that says Sacha usually only got a 10 minute cameo under JK and was rarely called up. Hard to prove yourself like that.
Bottom line is that there are players that Klinsmann has given infinite amount of opportunities to no matter how bad their club and national team form is, and there are players that Klinsmann gives no opportunities to or very little opportunities to no matter how good their club form is. How does Klinsmann decide who falls into what group? I have no idea.
@Old School- fair enough, however then we shouldn’t be too impressed by this goal either and pretend it means anything
UclaBruinGreat, I am not arguing against the main idea of your comment but if we are talking about chances for Sacha, Bob Bradley also gave him shots and did not break him into a prominent role. So he was 0-2 with two different managers.
He did have a shot to make a run at the World Cup Roster in ’14. JK gave him opportunities to go for it. He came up short.
Sacha is thriving on the Red Bulls right now. But people tend to forget that after starting well for his last team, he was also losing playing time. And yes, he was in CL, but let’s face it, it was because he played for a good team in Scandinavia.
Red Bulls are a really good team right now and he is a good piece to the puzzle.
I don’t believe Belgium is Scandinavian.
JK needs to grow up a bit as a human being. He is not a good coach nor leader. He was a cheater
(diver) as a player and a BS artist as a coach.
Good call, Jack. My bad with Scandinavia reference. I mixed up that up.
My point was that it was not a top tier league (yes, he was part of a european league winning team which was awesome and cant say that everyday).
Making CL is great but there is a difference between Fabian playing/scoring for a Bundasliga club in the group stage vs. Juventus or Beasley playing/scoring in the knockouts with PSV and Sacha playing for a Belgium team in the qualifying rounds. They did not make the group stage.
Actually they were in the group stage. The Champions of the top 12 nations by coefficient go straight to the group stage.
@UCLA, actually he did have time to play in his preferred position he just didn’t do well. But hey not like facts matter to you anyways.