The wheels are officially in motion for AZ Alkmaar Aron Johannsson to make his one-time switch to represent the United States in international play.
The Alabama-born forward announced Monday that he had chosen to switch international allegiances from Iceland, where he spent most of his childhood and played at the youth international level, to the United States. Doing so requires him to make a one-time nationality switch with FIFA, a process that U.S. Soccer confirmed on Tuesday it had started.
"Aron Johannson informed U.S. Soccer of his desire to apply for a change of association to represent the United States in international competition," U.S. Soccer press officer Michael Kammarman said in a statement to Yanks-Abroad.com on Tuesday.
"We are excited that Aron has chosen to pursue his international career with the United States. We have been in contact with him for the last several months," said US head coach Jurgen Klinsmann. "He is a great young talent with a bright future, and we look forward to introducing him to our team as soon as possible."
As soon as possible could be soon indeed, as the US will be playing a friendly at Bosnia and Herzegovina on Aug. 14, and Johannssonn could play then, if the paperwork is processed in time. Otherwise, he will still be around to meet and train with the team.
U.S. Soccer did not immediately respond to MLSsoccer.com's request for comment.
