Eddie Johnson said it’s his dream to play against Brazil. Kaka is Johnson’s favorite player and he hopes to exchange jerseys with the Brazilian midfielder after Sunday’s United States-Brazil friendly.
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“Benny Feilhaber and I are fighting over it right now,” Johnson said. “[Feilhaber] has a bit of an edge because he speaks Portuguese. Hopefully, I can get it.”
Just because Johnson may be a little starstruck doesn’t mean he is viewing Sunday’s exhibition at Soldier Field as a Kaka meet-and-greet.
“To be on the field and play against those guys — you don’t take those for granted,” Johnson said.
The match pits the United States against the five-time World Cup champions and FIFA’s top-ranked team. Besides Kaka, Brazil’s roster will boast two-time FIFA World Player of the Year, Ronaldinho, up-and-comer Robinho and “The Beast,” Julio Baptista, among others.
Trending down
The last time the United States faced a team of Brazil’s caliber, it was without its own top players and lost 4-1 to Argentina on June 28 in the Copa America group stage. The U.S. lost its next two Copa America games and then an exhibition against Sweden on Aug. 22, giving it a four-game losing streak.
“Our confidence was down after the Sweden game,” U.S. defender Carlos Bocanegra said. “We came off a high at the Gold Cup and didn’t do so well in Copa America. We did all right against Sweden but didn’t get a good result.”
Brazil ‘human’
Brazil was without Ronaldinho and Kaka when it dismantled Argentina in the Copa America final 3-0 on July 15. With both players expected to be in the lineup Sunday, many question whether the U.S. can keep up with the world’s best attack.
“They’re human,” U.S. forward Landon Donovan said. “They’re not machines. They’re not unbeatable. But they’re very good players. When you put 11 of them together, that makes it hard. But teams have beaten them.”
New month, new rumor
Almost every month, Johnson seems to be linked to a different club in Europe, most recently with England’s Derby County.
Johnson said he enjoys the rumors.
“It’s a good thing when people want you,” said Johnson, who currently plays for the Kansas City Wizards. “If people aren’t wanting you — it’s a bad thing. You’re not doing something right.
“There has been interest this year. Right now I want to be on top of my game. Europe is my future, but I still feel like I have something to prove this year. I want to score 20 goals [in MLS] — I have 14 right now. I wanted to prove I can still be one of the top scorers in this league.”
What accent?
According to U.S. forward Josh Wolff, the England-based U.S. players tend to hide their newly acquired English accents during national team camp.
“I think we’ve seen so many bad ones over the years, that most guys are self-conscious about it,” Wolff said. “You hear it every now and then out of [Jay] DeMerit. On the whole, they make sure to keep it away while they’re here because they’ll get hammered if they bust it out.”
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