Jemal Johnson at Southend

Jemal is a free agent after having been released by Dover. Maybe Toronto will give him a call?

 

Jemal Johnson is now a Lamb. He signed with Tamworth today.

 

Not exactly the career path that many were picturing for this guy.

 

Johnson signed with Arlesey Town and played in their last match. He had a shot that hit the post and was tapped in by a teammate for a goal.

 

JJ is one of 11 trialists on the Tampa Bay Rowdies (NASL) preseason roster http://nasl.com/index.php?id=3&newsid=3700

 

Johnson still trialing with the Rowdies, scored a goal against USF last week:

http://www.nasl.com/index.php?id=3&newsid=4135

 

He won't get rich playing in the NASL but it could prove to be a good shop-window to MLS.

 

Jemal now trialing with the Ft. Lauderdale Strikers:

http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/20...-strikers-goalkeeper-matt-glaeser-daryl-shore

 

They do love their YAs.

 

Johnson has officially signed with the Ft. Lauderdale Strikers. Already started 3 games, and has one goal. I'm guessing his contract lasts through November, when the NASL season ends, at which point he might hope to get a trial with an MLS club.

 

Has signed with the Cosmos, according to Dan Dickinson

 

This thread should have been closed long ago.

 

Some of his YA adventures:

http://www.yanks-abroad.com/content.php?mode=show&id=11487

 

Jemal Johnson looks back at his time with Lokomotiv Sofia in this feature on Americans in Eastern Europe

Soccer in Eastern Europe Lures Adventurous Yanks

 

Perhaps this thread should've been closed long ago, but this highlight is worth including for the record. Johnson has joined the newly formed NASL team Jacksonville Armada, and the linked video shows what he did only 12 seconds into franchise history.

 

Oh Lord Jesus who is that keeper!?

 

Apparently Matt Van Oekel; played for Rutgers and Minnesota.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Van_Oekel

 

Jemal Johson has extended his stay in Jacksonville:

http://nasl.ezitsolutions.com/teamuploads/nasl/images/news_images/2016%20NASL%20Fall%20Season/Jacksonville/Jemal%20Johnson.jpg[/img/

http://www.nasl.com/news/2016/11/18/veteran-forward-jemal-johnson-returns-to-jacksonville

As I think I've noted before, I spoke (many years ago) with a Man U youth coach who was familiar with Johnson as a teen. Basically, he blew experienced and knowledgeable youth coaches away at that point in his life.

Could he have done more in his career? (He turns 32 next year.) I don't know, and I don't know what kind of history U.S. Soccer might have had in terms of trying to recruit him for any of its programs, which might've helped put him in context.

He's an '85, which puts him in the same U20 cohort as Feilhaber, Gaven, Spector, Sacha and others. At the time, he was still the property of Blackburn Rovers. In terms of his career to date, he's done reasonably well relative to the 85/86 U20 pool -- not a glaring oversight, but then journeymen like Will John and Sammy Ochoa made that Finals squad, and that was still a time when a decent number of pool players didn't go pro at all.

 

Whoops. Guess I didn't do a great job with the photo (credit NASL):

 

He scored some wonder goals in the Championship, League One and League Two back in the day. He was a player who always looked great in his highlight reel clips, but I guess was never a complete enough player to consistently compete at a higher level. He had a few good years with MK Dons several years ago (2007/08 & 2008/09) when they were playing in League Two and League One, respectively.

 

Johnson staying in Jacksonville for 2017 season. Better than Freddy is doing, at the moment.

http://www.armadafc.com/news/2017/01/17/seven-armada-players-return-for-2017