11. Were you shocked or surprised to be in the starting lineup once you got here? Yeah, a little bit. I’d done a full preseason in Holland and kept myself fit, so I knew fitness-wise it was going to be okay. It worked out well where they had a little bit of an injury to a few guys here and there, and maybe some not-so positive results on the road. I think you are never guaranteed anything, and I think I got my opportunity a little earlier than expected, but I think so far I’ve done okay with it, and the team’s been doing well. I’m happy.
12. How do you think you can help the club? A lot of ways. You know I think I’m a young guy that can help going in the future, but I am also a young guy that’s played a lot of games and has a lot of experience, so I don’t really consider myself a young guy anymore. I just want to do whatever’s asked of me by the coaching staff.
13. You were initially described, at least in the media, as a striker who can play a little bit of midfield, but so far you’ve been playing in the midfield and look pretty comfortable there. Where do you feel most comfortable? I guess when I played for Chicago I played a little more forward than midfielder, but in Holland we played a lot of 4-3-3, not the same as here, but similar. So I sort of converted into not an attacking midfielder, but a midfielder with attacking qualities and the way that we play in this formation in Salt Lake it lets me use all of my qualities where I can get up and down the field. I can help defensively, and hopefully I can support the attacking guys and get a few goals for us.
14. So what do you think are your key strengths? I think I always work hard. I’m good with the ball. I take a lot of pride in not giving away the ball cheaply. I do whatever it takes to help the team win, and when I get in the final 3rd I’ve shown over the years that I can get a few goals to help out the teams that I’ve played for. So those are the 4 or 5 things that are my main qualities.
15. You’ve had some success with the Canadian Youth National Team, what have you taken from those experiences? Yeah a lot. You know I played a ton of games when I was younger for the under-20’s, and under 23’s and a few times for the first team. Where a lot of guys in the MLS don’t get to play that many games, I got to play that many games – I think 30 – 40 games. Those were 90 minute games against good oppositions. And when you play for Canada most of the time you’re not the better team so you get to play against some good players. I got to play in two World Cups, both of which didn’t go too well. But sometimes you learn the lessons a little easier when you get beat. So I learned a lot playing with those guys.
16. You also played a few times with the senior national team in Canada, which means that you are cap-tied obviously, was that a conscious choice or just a matter of opportunity? More the opportunity opened up and I did not have US citizenship, and I wasn’t sure I was going to get it playing abroad so I took the opportunity to go play for the Canadians. So obviously I cap-tied myself.
17. How do you feel that the quality of the MLS is compared to other leagues? I tell you what it’s a lot better than when I played for Chicago. I think the league’s getting good. It’s getting a lot more attention in Europe which I’ve seen being over there. I think it’s just exciting the way things are moving forward in the league and in this country playing soccer, and I’m excited to be part of it.
18. How do the training sessions here compare to the training sessions in Europe? They are similar. I think the game side of things is similar. I think in Holland they do a lot of ball work. They do a lot of warming up with skill work. They take a lot of pride in passing drills, and sort of the beautiful football game that they like to play. Whereas here we like to do more games 4 v 4, 5 v 5. I think it’s similar to the English style. I think the Dutch are pretty unique in the way that they train on the technical side.
19. What’s your view of this team, how it’s constructed and how they are playing? Yeah I think it’s a good team and a great organization. It’s got a lot of good support pillars. It’s got a lot of good veterans in the locker room. Obviously having Jason, Robin, BJ, and Jeff – all these guys who have played in the league, they understand what this league is about and that’s an important part of it. Like I said before, I think the future is bright for this organization.
20. Had you played with any of these guys before? Andy Williams was at Chicago when I was there for the first couple of months. I played against the US U-20 guys quite a bit – Nate, Tony and Chris.
21. Are there any teammates since you’ve been here that you’ve bonded with? Yeah, all these guys. To be honest I just came in and fit right in. So it’s been good.
22. What do you like to do outside of soccer? Well a lot of things. Over the last couple of years I really haven’t had a lot of spare time. I like to see, my brother plays for Western in college, so I like to go see him when possible. My little sister plays as well. The last two years I haven’t had any time to do anything except hang out with my family and friends.
23. What about travel, is there anywhere you like to go either in the US or in Europe? Last year at the end of the season I got to Florence to see some friends that were studying abroad, so that was quite an awesome vacation. And then over the summer I got to go see Michael when the US played Barbados in World Cup qualifying so me and my girlfriend flew from Chicago to Los Angeles and caught that game. Basically even in my down time everything revolves around soccer – if I’m not playing I’m watching.
24. Anything else you’d like to tell the fans? No not really. Just enjoying my time and looking forward to hopefully a successful time in Salt Lake.

I was able to sit down with Will Johnson for the first time, and below are the results. There is no doubt that he is a serious, focused, intense, hard-nosed individual who is also quite confident in his abilities. However, he was much more personable than I anticipated and I enjoyed the chance to chat with him.

1. Can you walk us through where you have been and where you have played soccer? I was born in Canada, Toronto. My parents were living abroad for a couple of years and I happened to be born there. So before I could walk I was already back to England, to Liverpool. I grew up just outside of Liverpool until I was 10 and then that’s when I moved to Chicago. I stayed there until all my friends were going into residency and I didn’t have US citizenship at the time and I wanted to take the next step as a youth player. So I got a trial at Blackburn and went to play with their academy for a year. I ended up staying there for about a year and a half. Then came back and that’s when I signed with the Fire, and ended up staying there for about a year and a half. After things went bad there I went over to Holland and stayed there about 2 ½ years. Now I’m in Salt Lake.
2. You mentioned things going bad in Chicago, were you disappointed that you weren’t offered a senior contract or was it just the pitiful MLS developmental contracts? Yeah, I was disappointed that I was offered a senior developmental spot based on my status as a young guy from Chicago where I was basically told I was good enough to be in the 18, but you know they tried to make a business decision and tried to screw me over a little bit and that didn’t sit well with me. And I didn’t want to be part of an organization that did those kind of things. So I left.
3. With all that travel, is there a city that you consider home? Yeah, Chicago is home. You know my friends are there. We have a house, but my parents aren’t living there. But when we all come home for the holidays, my brothers and sisters, we always go back to Chicago. That’s definitely what I call home.
4. Were you interested in other sports growing up, or was it just soccer? I was interested. Growing up in England I played a bit of cricket and rugby. But I got injured when I was playing rugby, I lost a bit of my tongue so I said this isn’t for me. They always got angry at the little guy running fast. But I enjoyed playing cricket and rugby when I was little. But once I got to America when I was a little bit older I knew that all I wanted to do was play soccer.
5. You were in the Blackburn youth program, how was that? It was good. It was a great experience. The facilities were fantastic! As the English academies have a reputation and I can attest, the chances of players getting from the academy to the youth team is next to zero. There’s one guy maybe every couple of years. It was good to go over and get my feet wet and learn what it’s like to be in a pro environment. I learned lots of those things, but you know as far as taking the next step where you are playing games in the first team Blackburn wasn’t for me and a lot of young kids – not the place. And that’s why after Chicago I ended up going to Holland where they give young guys a chance.
6. How did you end up at Herenveen? It’s a funny story actually. After the Chicago Fire thing went down I went with the Canadian National team, we had a game in Austria. I think it was March the 6th. So there is no transfer window open, so I had basically 3 months to find a club. So I had a bunch of trials lined up after Austria but I wanted to go over, get used to the time difference, get my feet on the ground, get a weeks training in. So one of my good, good buddies is Michael Bradley and he just made the move to Herenveen. So through him I arranged to go there for a week, to spend some time with Michael, to get fit and sharp to go on some of these trials I was going on. They ended liking what they saw after a week, and asked me to stay another week. I was like oh yeah this could be great. Stayed another week. Played in a game, and did really well and after two weeks they ended up offering me a contract. That’s how it went down. It was pretty cool.
7. What was your experience like there? Awww…it was fantastic! I really enjoyed my time there. The first year I was there we won the Cup and the league reserve team. I scored a ton of goals. So it was a lot of fun, and I broke into the first team for the first time, getting some games with a team that was in the UEFA Cup, so it was a great experience. But after going on a loan for a year, I ended up making a decision to come back here to get more 90 minute games. I just felt like I wasn’t getting enough 90 minute games. You know I’m not getting old, but at 21 I felt I wanted to try and come back to a place where I’d have a good chance at playing some 90 minute games.
8. While you were in the Dutch league you felt like things were going well? Yeah, things were going well I wanted to be more of a guy that’s counted on a little more than just a role player or a little bit of a pitch hitter. I think I played close to 30 games last year including Cup games. For someone my age it’s quite a good accomplishment. But I wasn’t getting enough 90 minute games, and to develop a little more and to get better at the things I want to get better at – basically to get to the next level – I just felt like that would be an important step.
9. So when you came back here, were there any teams that you were interested in? Were there any teams interested in you? Yeah there were quite a few teams. I think my agent, Ron Waxman, spoke to every team in the league. I just made it clear that I didn’t want to Chicago. I heard that the two teams that were most interested from day 1, which always means a lot, were Salt Lake and DC. Two fantastic clubs who I both heard good things about. So when –nothings guaranteed –but I heard it was those two teams that got me really excited and I was like okay I’ll sign with the league and hope it goes to one of those two places. I couldn’t be happier that I ended up here things are really good.
10. So when you first found out it was Salt Lake what was your immediate reaction and how much did you know about the club? I had spoken with Jason and with Garth, the GM, and I had gotten a very good impression from them. They told me there is no guarantees with anything. You can come in and if you do well, then you’ll play. I liked the way that they approached me, and I liked the way that they were very excited. And I think it’s a very exciting time for this club, moving forward into the future and into the new stadium. You know all of those things excited me and I felt that this would be a place that I’d really fit in and so far that’s definitely proven to be the case.

(continued – part 2)