AJC Soccer Insider: Atlanta’s Sean Johnson smart to train with Hull
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Atlanta native and Chicago Fire goalkeeper Sean Johnson is training with Hull City in England’s Premier League through Saturday.
The Fire didn’t qualify for the MLS playoffs, though Johnson was named the team’s MVP after starting 33 games and making 96 saves. He had a goals-against average of 1.48.
Johnson has four caps with the U.S. men’s national team. He has previously trained with Stoke City and Everton.
Many MLS players have gone overseas to train during the offseason.
Doing so can provide numerous advantages: exposure to Premier League clubs in first-person settings, should the player desire a move abroad; different coaching styles and techniques, which should always be helpful; and the overall experience itself.
Johnson is in an interesting position in MLS and with the U.S. men’s national team.
Whether fair or not – and he hasn’t complained — Johnson seems stuck as at best the fourth-best choice as goalkeeper for manager Jurgen Klinsmann’s side, behind Tim Howard, Brad Guzan and Nick Rimando.
That’s training with Hull could be very important for Johnson’s future.
Klinsmann’s desire to see players challenges themselves is well chronicled.
Also well chronicled are the success that U.S. goalkeepers have had in England, going back to Kasey Keller and Brad Freidel (who is still with Tottenham but rarely plays) and continuing with Howard at Manchester United and Everton, and Guzan at Aston Villa.
Johnson, who has consistently played well in MLS, may have to take the initiative to move up the pecking order on the U.S. men’s naational team by testing himself in the Premier League, where the world’s best talent plays.
Training with a team like Hull isn’t a guarantee that the club is even interested in purchasing him. But going over there and playing well may plant a seed that could lead to Johnson moving overseas and improving his chances of making the U.S. World Cup roster for the World Cup in Russia in 2018.
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