ASN: ArJo:

Icelandic-American striker Aron Johannsson has joined Bundesliga aspect Werder Bremen and spoke about his first day of coaching with ASN contributing editor Brian Sciaretta. 

BY

Brian Sciaretta

Posted
August 07, 2015
9:55 AM

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WHEN U.S. MEN’S NATIONAL TEAM ahead Aron Johannsson finalized his switch from AZ Alkmaar to Werder Bremen he bucked a pattern. As an alternative of dropping all the way down to a lesser league, he moved as much as one among Europe’s elite leagues.

Johannsson, 24, is now the one American ahead taking part in first-team soccer in one among Europe’s 5 high leagues.

His transfer made headlines within the U.S. soccer group however it’s garnering way more consideration in Germany. In his first few days in Bremen, massive crowds assembled to welcome Johannsson to the workforce and watch him observe.

For a person who spent most of his childhood in tiny Iceland it was fairly a brand new expertise.  

“It was a little bit different than I am used to,” Johannsson advised American Soccer Now with a chuckle after competing his first day of observe with Werder Bremen on Thursday. “But people here really like to come out and watch the trainings and check out the new guy on the team. Of course I’ve come here to make an impact as soon as possible. I am going to try my hardest to get into the team and into the starting XI as soon as possible.”

The eye surrounding Johannsson is comprehensible when you think about that he has loved success at each step of his profession. After impressing within the Danish Superliga with AGF Aarhus, Johannsson moved to AZ Alkmaar in 2013 and promptly scored 38 objectives in 84 video games. He left the Dutch membership on a excessive word, scoring 4 objectives within the ultimate three video games of the 12 months—together with a bicycle kick and a 35-yard rocket—that helped the membership declare an sudden Europa League spot.In the course of the offseason, nevertheless, Johannsson felt the urge to depart AZ Alkmaar. He had signed a brand new four-year contract with Alkmaar only one 12 months in the past however he felt there was no problem left for him within the Netherlands. In his three seasons there, Johannsson averaged one objective for each 138 minutes of Eredivisie or Dutch Cup play.

At Werder Bremen, Johannsson has discovered himself in a state of affairs the place the membership wants him to contribute straight away. Main scorer Franco Di Santo, who tallied 13 occasions for Werder in 2014-15, left for Schalke in July. The membership’s second-leading scorer final season, Davie Selke, lately left for RB Leipzig.

“I was hoping all summer that a move would be made and that someone would buy me,” Johannsson stated. “AZ is a great club and I enjoyed my time there but I felt that the time was right for me to make a move to a top league. I knew for a while that Werder were interested in me and were following me. But when they sold [Di Santo] two weeks ago, things started to happen very quickly.”

By transferring to the Bundesliga, broadly thought to be one of many high two leagues on the planet, Johannsson doubtless introduced a smile to the face of U.S. males’s nationwide workforce coach Jurgen Klinsmann. The previous Bundesliga star has repeatedly stated that he needs his high gamers to push themselves to compete on the highest-possible stage. Johannsson, who has discovered himself caught behind MLS strikers Clint Dempsey and Jozy Altidore on the U.S. depth chart, might be primed to vary the pecking order.

Dempsey is 32. Altidore is struggling. And Johannsson, it seems, is on the upswing.

“I talked to him after the move once everything was finished,” Johannsson stated of his dialogue with Klinsmann. “I called him and he just wished me congratulations. He was happy for me and felt that it was perfect timing as well to go to a better league and keep improving.”

Everyone on the U.S. nationwide workforce must enhance if the Individuals hope to qualify for the 2017 Confederations Cup in Russia. The workforce’s poor displaying on this summer time’s Gold Cup signifies that an October 9 showdown with Mexico on the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., will decide which nation represents CONCACAF on the pre-World Cup event.

“It’s hard for me to sit here and say to you what we have to fix but everything in our whole game has to be better,” Johannsson stated of the nationwide workforce. “We wished to win the Gold Cup and we had a workforce to win it. Now we simply have to take a seat down and deal with the sport in opposition to Mexico. It’s now an important recreation of the 12 months for U.S. Soccer.

“Of course we’re a little down,” he added. “We wished to win the event and we completed in fourth place. That’s nothing to be pleased with and it’s not adequate—particularly with the gamers we have now on our workforce. However we all know we will beat Mexico. It’s an enormous recreation.

“We just have to believe in that and I think everyone on the team believes in that.”

Within the weeks main as much as Johannsson’s transfer to Werder Bremen, rumors surfaced that the striker was contemplating a transfer to MLS. His new four-year deal signifies that Johannsson is unlikely to compete within the North American high flight earlier than he turns 28.

However he nonetheless intends to be an MLS participant sometime.

“It’s still the same,” Johannsson stated. “My goal is to play in MLS at one point in my career. Football is a strange sport. I don’t know when but I think most definitely it will happen at one point in my career.”

Johannsson, whose bond along with his start nation continues to develop, is totally conscious that his transfer to Germany coincides with the Bundesliga’s new TV take care of Fox, which can dramatically improve the league’s visibility in the US.

“Of course, when you play in one of the biggest leagues, more people are going to be watching you,” he stated. “It’s very exciting to me and I know that in America they are going to start showing more Bundesliga games on television. I think it is perfect that more people in America can watch me play every week.”

Given the dwindling variety of American internationals taking part in first-team soccer in high European leagues, Johannsson relishes the chance to be a task mannequin.

“I think it shows as well that if you do well for the national team and your club team, it is possible to play in the best leagues in the world like the Bundesliga,” Johannsson stated. “I hope a young player in America sees me going there and wants to do the same thing and realizes it is possible for them.”

Werder Bremen opens its season on Saturday with a DFB Cup matchup in opposition to 3.Liga membership Würzburger Kickers. Werder’s Bundesliga marketing campaign kicks off on August 15 at residence in opposition to Schalke.