BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. – Sean Johnson is not interested in personal accolades for now, but he will be happy to bask in whatever plaudits may come his way if and when he and his Chicago Fire teammates have claimed some silverware for the club.
The busy goalkeeper has the fifth most saves in the MLS this season, impressing with his commanding, assured performances despite his failure to keep a clean sheet.
His heroics between the posts have also elevated him into international consciousness and have earned the 24-year-old four US national team caps since making his debut against Chile in 2011.
The Georgia native has once again been solid throughout his club’s opening six games, but Johnson steers most of the attention toward the collective as the Fire chase their first victory of the season against the New England Revolution at Toyota Park on Saturday (4 pm ET; NBCSN).
“For me, the personal accolades are not important,” Johnson insisted at Toyota Park this week. “What’s important to me is just doing what I can to keep the team in the game, and whether that’s making an unbelievable save or an easy save that’s what it takes.
“I’d much rather win games and be a successful team than get all the accolades. Once we win a championship I’d love to take accolades after that, but until then it’s just a process, we want to stay even-keeled and focus on the task in hand which is getting a win against New England this weekend.”
Personally, he has made 19 saves from 31 shots in the team’s concession of 10 goals to rank fifth amongst his fellow goalkeepers.
“Like everyone on the team, I’m just working hard in training every day,” he said. “I keep doing what I’m doing with my routine and trying to get to a level of consistency and maybe take it up a notch.
“I think the season has been OK so far, but I think myself personally and the team can step it up another gear and really push towards those wins.”
Despite five ties to start the season for new head coach Frank Yallop’s men, including three on the road, Johnson is convinced their recent positive performances will soon transfer into wins.
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“Over the six games we’ve been unlucky in some games; we’ve had the majority of possession in some of them and we’ve had greater chances in some games which just hasn’t gone our way,” said Johnson.
“All in all there’s been a couple of fractions that we can look back on and say, ‘What if we had done this better, or what if we had done that better?’ But it’s up to us to go out there and get results, and it’s most important for us to come out training with the mentality that we’re going to get better and we’re going to do what it takes, no matter what, to get results.”
