Eddie Johnson

Eddie Johnson
Personal information
Full name	Edward Johnson
Date of birth	March 31, 1984 (1984-03-31) (age 25)
Place of birth	Bunnell, Florida, United States
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Fulham
Number	21
Youth career
	IMG Soccer Academy
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2001–2006 2006–2008 2008– 2008–2009	FC Dallas Kansas City Wizards Fulham → Cardiff City (loan)	84 (24) 43 (17) 08 0(0) 30 0(2)
National team2
2000–2001 2002–2003 2003–2004 2004–	United States U-17 United States U-20 United States U-23 United States	25 (23) 21 (12) 07 0(2) 39 (12)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 10:37, 9 December 2009 (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 17:08, 6 June 2008 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Edward "Eddie" Johnson (born March 31, 1984 in Bunnell, Florida) is an American soccer striker. He currently plays for Fulham of the Premier League. Johnson also plays for the United States national team. He represented the United States in the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

Career

An established player on the U.S. Under-17 team and having trained at the IMG Soccer Academy, Johnson became one of the youngest players to sign with MLS, and was drafted by Dallas Burn as a Project-40 player in the second round of the 2001 MLS SuperDraft. In his first three years in the league, he did not get much playing time, and was very inconsistent when he did get on the field. Johnson scored just seven goals for Dallas in those seasons, while missing a lot of time with US youth national teams.

Johnson came into his own at the end of 2003 at the FIFA World Youth Championship in the United Arab Emirates. He scored four goals, three from the penalty spot, and notched one assist to win the tournament's Golden Shoe as the top scorer,^[1] becoming the youngest player to achieve that feat in MLS history.

Johnson received his first cap and scored his first goal for the senior United States team against El Salvador on October 9, 2004, becoming one of a small group of American players to get his first international goal in a World Cup qualifier. He then scored a hat-trick in his second appearance, all in a 17-minute spree against Panama, just four days later. Johnson totaled seven goals in his first six World Cup qualifiers and is already third on the U.S. all-time scoring list in World Cup qualifiers, earning himself limited playing time during the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

In January 2005, S.L. Benfica offered what would have been an MLS-record $5 million transfer fee for Johnson, but Johnson and the league both rejected the offer.^[2]

In May 2005, Johnson suffered an injury to the toes of his right foot that sidelined him until August of that year. After returning to MLS in August – he scored only five goals during the season – and making a brief re-appearance with the national team on September 7, 2005, Johnson reinjured his toes in mid-September and was sidelined until January 2006. With Dallas in salary cap trouble, Johnson was traded to the Kansas City Wizards on February 14, 2006 for two allocations.^[3]

In August 2006, MLS had reached an agreement with Spanish club Real Sociedad for a year-long loan but the plan fell through because the new ownership of the Wizards were not happy with sending Johnson.^[4] The loan would have made Johnson the first American outfield player and second American overall to play in La Liga, following goalkeeper Kasey Keller.

In November 2006 it was announced that Johnson would be training with English Premier League club Reading during the MLS offseason, but he did not sign with the club.^[5]

In 2006 and early 2007, Johnson suffered a decline in form, scoring only twice in the 2006 MLS season and failing to make an impact with the national team. However, Johnson returned to form with the start of the 2007 MLS season, notching twelve goals and three assists in his first eleven games. On June 2, 2007, Johnson became the first player ever to score back to back hat-tricks in MLS play when he scored three goals against the New York Red Bulls, following a three goal performance against the New England Revolution the previous week on May 26.

In the month of July 2007, Johnson saw increased speculation over a transfer to the Premier League. Derby County had been most vocal, with Derby manager Billy Davies confirming that he would explore the U.S. market.^[6] However, after MLS accepted a $6 million bid from Derby, Johnson reportedly nixed the deal as he preferred to finish his season in Kansas City.^[7] Johnson revealed his contract is structured to give him final say over whether he is purchased by 15 designated clubs.^[8] Johnson left the U.S. National Team camp in California on January 17, 2008;^[9] he completed a transfer to Fulham on January 23, 2008, signing a contract extending until the summer of 2011.^[10][11] He joined Championship side Cardiff City on loan for the 2008-09 season in August,^[12] making his debut for the club during a 2–1 victory over Milton Keynes Dons in the Carling Cup. He went on to make his league debut four days later as an eighty-fifth minute substitute in a 0–0 draw with Sheffield United. He struggled to recover his goal-scoring form that he showed during his time in MLS. However, he regained some of his form as the season progressed, and had a breakthrough week when he scored his first goal in English football on March 7, 2009 in a 3–0 victory against Doncaster Rovers.^[13] Four days later Johnson was named man of the match for his performance in Cardiff's 3–1 victory over Barnsley.^[14] A month later, when Cardiff hosted Derby County, Johnson scored his second goal of the season and added an own goal during injury time as the Bluebirds rolled to a 4–1 victory. Johnson's goal for Cardiff also meant that he was the last ever Cardiff City goalscorer under the Ninian Park floodlights.^[15]

Johnson returned to Fulham from Cardiff City for the 2009–10 season. He featured in the majority of Fulham's pre-season fixtures, scoring in a friendly at Australian club Melbourne Victory^[16], was on the bench for Fulham's 3–0 victory over Vetra in the first leg of the third round of the Europa League, and came on as a late substitute in and recorded an assist in Fulham's 3-0 win in the second leg against Vetra.

Career statistics

Last updated 2009-09-01

^[17]

International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	Oct 10, 2004	Estadio Cuscatlán, San Salvador	El Salvador	2–0	2–0	2006 WCQ CONCACAF 3R
2	Oct 13, 2004	RFK Stadium, Washington, D.C.	Panama	3–0	6–0	2006 WCQ CONCACAF 3R
3				4–0
4				5–0
5	Nov 17, 2004	Columbus Crew Stadium, Columbus, Ohio	Jamaica	1–0	1–1	2006 WCQ CONCACAF 3R
6	Feb 9, 2005	Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad	Trinidad and Tobago	1–0	2–1	2006 WCQ CONCACAF 4R
7	Mar 19, 2005	University Stadium, Albuquerque, New Mexico	Honduras	1–0	1–0	Friendly
8	Mar 30, 2005	Legion Field, Birmingham, Alabama	Guatemala	1–0	2–0	2006 WCQ CONCACAF 4R
9	Feb 19, 2006	Pizza Hut Park, Frisco, Texas	Guatemala	3–0	4–0	Friendly
10	Jun 9, 2007	The Home Depot Center, Carson, California	Trinidad and Tobago	2–0	2–0	2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup
11	Jun 28, 2007	Estadio José Pachencho Romero, Maracaibo, Venezuela	Argentina	1–0	1–4	Copa América 2007
12	Jun 15, 2008	The Home Depot Center, Carson, California	Barbados	6–0	8–0	2010 WCQ CONCACAF 2R

Honors

United States

• CONCACAF Gold Cup Champions (1): 2007

References

External links

• Eddie Johnson career stats at Soccerbase
• Eddie Johnson profile on kcwizards.com
• Eddie Johnson profile on ESPN Soccernet
• Eddie Johnson bio on usolympicteam.com
• Eddie Johnson bio on ussoccer.com
• Eddie Johnson profile at Cardiff City homepage
• Eddie Johnson profile at Fulham FC homepage

United States Squad v • d • e United States squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup 1 Howard • 2 Albright • 3 Bocanegra • 4 Mastroeni • 5 O'Brien • 6 Cherundolo • 7 Lewis • 8 Dempsey • 9 Johnson • 10 Reyna • 11 Ching • 12 Berhalter • 13 Conrad • 14 Olsen • 15 Convey • 16 Wolff • 17 Beasley • 18 Keller • 19 Hahnemann • 20 McBride • 21 Donovan • 22 Onyewu • 23 Pope • Coach: Arena v • d • e United States squad – 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup Champions (4th Title) 1 Howard • 2 Hejduk • 3 Bocanegra • 4 Mastroeni • 5 Feilhaber • 6 M. Bradley • 7 Beasley • 8 Dempsey • 9 Johnson • 10 Donovan • 11 Ching • 12 DeMerit • 13 Bornstein • 14 Ralston • 15 Simek • 16 Parkhurst • 17 Spector • 18 Keller • 19 Clark • 20 Twellman • 21 Mapp • 22 Onyewu • 23 Guzan • Coach: B. Bradley v • d • e United States squad – 2007 Copa América 1 Howard • 2 Wynne • 3 DeMerit • 4 Boswell • 5 Feilhaber • 6 Pearce • 7 Califf • 8 Gomez • 9 Johnson • 10 Davies • 11 Gaven • 12 Conrad • 13 Bornstein • 14 Olsen • 15 Moor • 16 Kljestan • 17 Beckerman • 18 Keller • 19 Clark • 20 Twellman • 21 Mapp • 23 Guzan • 25 Nguyen • Coach: Bradley