Fabian Johnson: '87 @ Hoffenheim

Zamora played in the 2002 UEFA U-21 Championship for England

How he was able to play for England after supposedly switching to T&T has always confused me unless he neither actually filed the paperwork.

Interesting, I can't find anything about him filing a switch. I found a discusion with the Goal.com people saying he filed a switch but never played for TnT so he was still eligible for England, but keep in mind this was Goal.com.

which is the answer. There's no other possibility. Many players have talked about representing a country without ever filing the switch.

Back in action today. He started and went 67 minutes today vs. 'Gladbach. SFS said the commentator said he was credited with a butt assist in the 1-0 win. I thought he looked very soild.

Looks like we'll all get the chance to see him suit up with the nats in a few weeks.

He sure did.

Torschützen.

1:0
Ibisevic (56., Rechtsschuss, Johnson)


http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/...99-hoffenheim-3209_borussia-mgladbach-15.html

Depends. Even though those games are in Europe, they are friendlies. Players coming off of injury are usually asked to hold themselves back and decline the call up due to rehab. If he gets 100% clearance from the Hoffenheim trainer then he will play. If not I would expect him to decline.

If he plays 90 on Saturday, then I would expect to see him, barring any setbacks.

Still hard to say. I cannot tell you how many times I have seen players play a full 90 only to show up on IR Monday AM with an "injury".

It all depends on whether or not Hoffenheim rushed him back or not and how he recovers after playing a few games. Re-injury is not the only problem. Injury to new areas due to game stress are frequent too. And Hoffy need FJ, so there may be a strong implication there too.

We will have to wait and see.

Didn't Tim Chandler recently turn down a callup and play 90 for his club? Lead to one of several occurances of the "he's leaving us" chicken little-itis that spead over this board and others, IIRC.

Don't recall to be honest. Right now in Germany there is a big discussion going on about releasing players for meaningless friendlies on the back of the Robben-Bayern-Holland arguments stemming from the Dutch playing Robben in 2010 knowing he was injured and then he was out for Bayern for months. Recently Robben was sent back to Bayern before an EM match for being slightly injured. So many teams are questioning the release of players just coming off of injury.

Not saying it won't happen, but that is the current mindset in Germany right now.

That was a little different situation. Chandler had a minor injury in the last match before JK announced his roster. When the roster was announced, his club wasn't sure how long he would be able to last in a match. Two days later they found out he was good for 90 minutes. They didn't want to send him before he was for sure fit.

Hoffenheim is pretty conservative. Unless he has played several matches 90 mins they won't send him. Of course, they may ask JK only to play him slightly. Given it is during the BL international break if JK played him 30 mins or so each game Hoffy might be okay with it. Again, assuming he is fully fit in their eyes.

Yes, that will help too.

But meaningful friendlies are still cool, right?

My guess is that he will be with the USMNT...the question is, would he be allow to play or just train with the team?

The only meaningful friendly is the one with Meagan Fox rolling sushi naked at my house.

I see nothing wrong with bringing him in, letting him train and if he feels well enough play him 15-20 minutes in reserve for Shea/Donovan or whoever the wingers are. And if the club doesn't want him to go, so be it. Its not the end of the world.

I agree that JK really wants to see him play, as does the USSF to see how he will fit with the squad. However, Hoffy pays the boy and they want to make sure they have him healthy for the spring, ergo they may be more conservative than normal. However, a few things going in your favor:

• The games are close enough to the winter break that if he does reinjure they can likely have him back for the spring.
• Hoffenheim is not under the same pressure as other clubs to make $$$ since they are backed by Hopp.
• Since JK is German he is likely to work with the club to only use him as needed and not take risks.
• Friendlies usually are less stressful and guys pull up a lot rather than going in hard (that's what she said).
• Johnson is not the type to "tank" and not play if he even thinks he is healthy.

As the Germans would say, "Spannend".

Add: JK and Hopp are friends.

New interview with Fabian Johnson

JOHNSON EXCITED FOR USMNT FUTURE

That Brian Sciaretta guys gets the best interviews.