It would appear that the Seattle Sounders striker is heading back to the American camp, at least according to Twitter and his frequent retweeting of congrats from fans.
If so, great. He deserves another run after an impressive year in Major League Soccer -- Comeback Player Award controversy or not -- and an excellent performance for the American squad in Antigua and Barbuda. Johnson, much to the surprise of pretty much everyone, proved he belongs somewhere in the Stars and Stripes player pool.
But why, oh why does he make it so difficult? The last time we went through this, he got in trouble for tweeting the news of his call before it could be announced. Is he really doing it again? Did he learn nothing?
Now look: I know he’s excited. (I would be.) And proud of how he’s come back. (And he should be.) And, yes, having to hold the news and the secrecy around who’s getting a call to camp is sort of ridiculous. So I get the reasons for tweeting something. I do. I really do.
But... this isn’t about Johnson. There are other people who need to be informed, other people who need to make the announcement, other people who need to do a lot of other things. There are many, many, many moving parts to making a national team camp happen. Johnson is just a small part of all of it. He needs to understand that and it seems he doesn’t.
In the grand scheme of things, it’s probably not a big deal. But at the same time, why do it? If your coach, your manager, your team doctor, anyone asks you not to spread the word, don’t spread the word. Is it really that complicated?
Apparently so:
“@na828: The big homie @eddie_johnson7 gettin called back to the USMNT #grindtoshine #HardWorkDedication”thanks fam
— Eddie Johnson (@eddie_johnson7) December 27, 2012