SEATTLE — After being held out of the previous training session for non-injury related reasons, Eddie Johnson returned to Seattle Sounders practice on Friday. Why he was held out on Thursday, however, remained unclear.
“It was a one-day thing,” Sounders head coach Sigi Schmid told reporters. “We talked, we resolved and we move forward. It’s like families. In families, sometimes you disagree and you move on.”
When asked if Johnson was held out for disciplinary reasons, Schmid only reiterated that “It was my decision. He respected that decision and we moved on.”
For his part, Johnson seemed to be in good spirits and sounded as if he’s expecting play in the MLS regular-season finale against the LA Galaxy on Sunday (9 pm ET, ESPN).
“It’s just something where the best thing for me is to take the day off,” Johnson told reporters. “Being frustrated, you don’t want to get out on the field, you don’t want to push it more, set yourself back. With another day of rest, a harder training session today was the plan. I felt good today and I look forward to Sunday.”
The exact reasons for the US national teamer being kept out of training remain unclear. But he was seen leaving Tuesday’s training before the session was entirely over and he appeared to be upset.
“Obviously, I’ve been frustrated,” the Sounders’ leading scorer said. “I’ve been injured. Got injured with the national team. I know how important it is for our team right now. The last four games, even before I went to the national team, our run of play hasn’t been as good of late. We haven’t been getting the results that we wanted.
“You know me being a guy that’s important to this team, being injured, I’ve been really frustrated. I’ve been frustrated with the time they sent me out and I felt like after that training session, with everything that’s been going on, it’s me being frustrated with myself knowing how important I am to the team and how much I want to be out there helping my teammates.”
Whatever has gone on, Johnson said he feels as though his teammates and coaches support him.
“At the end of the day, it’s not what everyone else was talking about,” he said. “You can ask every guy, they’re confident in me 100 percent and as well as I am in them. That’s what it’s about.”
