E. HARTFORD, Conn. - Words of encouragement from a manager, especially with the World Cup on the horizon, can go a long way. Just ask Eddie Johnson.
The Kansas City Wizards forward took U.S. manager Bruce Arena's message to heart before the U.S. national team's game against Venezuela on Thursday night.
"All it takes is for Bruce to say something," he said. "He's still looking for guys to put on the field on June 12."
And Johnson wants in the worst way to be one of those players, to walk out with the starting XI on the field in Gelsenkirchen against the Czech Republic.
"As a player it goes through your mind, 'Here's my chance to make a difference, he's my chance to step myself up where I can be walking out on June 12,'" he said. "That was my main goal, to play to my strengths, play the way I was playing when I was scoring goals."
And Johnson did just that Sunday night in the final World Cup tune-up for the U.S., doing just about everything but score in a 1-0 win against Latvia at Rentschler Field.
"We've had a tough time with him over the last five months and I think he's starting to break out again," Arena said of Johnson. "Although he didn't have a goal tonight, I thought he had some real good moments and he played quite well. I think they might have missed a couple calls on offsides. A lot of good things Eddie did tonight and on Friday, so that's a real positive."
It's been a steady progression for Johnson, who has 18 national team caps, his first coming Oct. 9, 2004 against El Salvador. In the Send-Off Series, Johnson came off the bench against Morocco, playing the final half hour in the 1-0 loss in Nashville, Tenn. Thursday, he started alongside Houston striker Brian Ching and played 83 minutes, setting up Clint Dempsey's goal in the 69th minute.
And Sunday against Latvia, Johnson did all the little things. Playing alongside Brian McBride, he held up the ball well, got his teammates involved, won balls in the air and got behind the Latvian defense. At times he did that too well, as the U.S was ruled offside six times.
"Eddie played great tonight. I think the things he can bring to this team, he brought," McBride said. "The progress he's made with this team, guys understanding him a little bit more and him understanding the guys a little bit more, his movement off the ball was excellent. He got behind them quite a bit."
And it appeared he had a pretty good case for a penalty kick when he was tripped up by Latvian defender Oskars Klava in the box 20 minutes in, but Canadian referee Steven Dipiero didn't point to the spot.
A minute after one of several offside calls - this one television replays proved was a wrong call - he made a clever dummy, allowing Landon Donovan to run through in the 37th minute.
Johnson remained active in the second half, flicking DaMarcus Beasley's cross towards goal, forcing Aleksandrs Kolinko into a save in the 72nd minute.
"I was doing things I was doing when I was scoring goals," Johnson said. "In the third game you can see I was more confident, the way I am capable of playing. It's all about confidence and every game was a better performance from me."
Johnson credits the partnership Sunday with McBride for the improvement in his play.
"Brian's been there, he's played in the World Cup, he's playing overseas and doing well," he said of the England-based striker. "He's a good coach on the field. If he seems me standing still, he's good at saying, 'Eddie make this run, Eddie make that run.'"
Chivas USA midfielder John O'Brien, who played 66 minutes before being replaced by Bobby Convey, also did well. With his work on the left and Steve Cherundolo on the right, the U.S. was very dangerous on the flanks and the goal, a header by McBride in the 43rd minute, was a by-product of one of those crosses.
"I felt good personally, it was good for me to get in longer than a half, I had some competitive moments," O'Brien said. "I think our team played real well in the first half and in the second half we controlled the game a bit better."
Arena is pleased with his improvement.
"He still has a way to go, he's probably not going to be ready to position himself to play 90 minutes on June 12 but we're getting to see the old John again," Arena said. "His match fitness isn't where he needs to be but physically he appears to be fine so that's a positive."
Dylan Butler is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
