NEW YORK - Kansas City Wizards forward Eddie Johnson tallied three goals and two assists in April to earn MLS Player of the Month honors while leading his team to a 3-1-0 start. Kansas City now sits in third place in the Eastern Conference standings, one point behind New York and Chicago, who are tied for first.
This is the first MLS Player of the Month award for the seven-year veteran, who also won his first Player of the Week award in this season. Johnson is off to a hot start and has already surpassed his scoring totals of 2006, when he notched two goals and one assist.
Each of Johnson's three goals this season was a game winner and he leads the league in the category. He opened the season in dramatic fashion in a 4-2 victory on the road versus D.C. United. In the game, he recorded assists on the first two goals, then scored the game winner and had a hand in the fourth and final goal. Johnson opened the scoring in each of the Wizards' two games against Toronto FC - a 3-0 win at home April 21 and a 1-0 win on the road April 28.
Johnson spent much of the 2006 season with the U.S. Men's National Team preparing for and playing in the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Now in his second season with Kansas City, he is showing signs of returning to the form of his 2004 season in which he scored 12 goals and tallied five assists for the Dallas Burn.
The MLS Player of the Month is selected following the last game of each month throughout the regular season by a panel of journalists from the Professional Soccer Reporters Association (PSRA). The PSRA votes among players nominated by their respective teams.
