Portland Timbers vs. Seattle Sounders

Will Johnson

(Thomas Boyd/The Oregonian)

Each morning at training, Will Johnson runs through drills, his face cast in iron determination.

Sometimes it’s a small team scrimmage, or a possession drill, or sometimes even an individual shooting drill where Johnson has no one to compete against, except himself. He takes on each activity with the same intensity, screaming in frustration when he makes a mistake.

It was the first thing Caleb Porter recalls noticing about Johnson when the Portland Timbers gathered for their first practice back in January. Porter noted that the most competitive players tend to be a bit "grumpy" day-to-day. And Johnson is no different.

“He just hated to lose,” Porter said with a smile. “Almost to the point that it was annoying. You had to be spot-on as a coach in making sure the score was right in every activity.”

That intensity prompted Porter to give Johnson the captain’s armband at the end of the preseason. The Timbers coach wanted an experienced leader who would push his teammates and bring healthy competition to practice each day.

As captain, Johnson prides himself on leading by example. No one works harder at practice or is more outspoken on the field. And this year, the midfielder has been rewarded with a career season. He’s scored eight goals and recorded five assists. In his previous six MLS seasons combined, Johnson had just 10 goals.

But it’s his ultra-competitive, hate-to-lose attitude that makes Johnson stand out and, Porter said, that helps drive his teammates. It’s an attitude Johnson has developed over a career of ups and downs that has taught him never to take any game for granted.

Will Johnson hugs his Timbers teammates.

It took only 45 minutes into the first game of the season for Porter to know he’d made the right choice in naming Johnson captain. With the Timbers down 3-1 to the New York Red Bulls at halftime, Johnson didn’t pout. He sprinted off the field with his head up, chest out, sending a message to his team. They should be angry, and maybe disappointed, but they weren’t going to give up. The Timbers came back to earn a 3-3 tie, and Porter said Johnson’s attitude fueled the second half transformation.

“The guy that wears the armband for me needs to be a guy that has a bit of a presence and a bit of an edge and a bit of a chip,” Porter said. “I think Will Johnson brings that.”

A natural

Johnson was only 14 when he decided to broach the idea with his parents.

He would take the unusual step of leaving his family and his high school in the suburbs of Chicago to go abroad and chase his dream of playing professional soccer.

A number of Johnson’s teammates had started to migrate from Chicago to Bradenton, Fla., to play with U.S. Soccer’s under-17 residency program. But Johnson wasn’t a U.S. citizen at the time and would be ineligible to play with the U.S. national team.

He had the audacious idea that he could sign a professional contract in Europe instead. And though it would force him to sacrifice his college eligibility, Johnson didn’t care. Already demonstrating laser-sharp focus, he wanted to play professionally and wasn’t willing to wait.

“I’m not sure if I would have had a career if I had gone to college,” Johnson said. “You might get caught up in the wrong stuff, you never know. I didn’t want to take any chances. Playing soccer was the only thing I wanted to do.”

Johnson was born in Toronto while his parents, both English-born academics with doctorates in physics, were on sabbatical in the city. Within a year, the family moved to Liverpool, England.

Soccer was a way of life for children in England and Johnson’s mother, Jackie, introduced her son to the sport at an early age. She recalls Johnson joining a local youth team at age 7, and scoring four goals in one of his first games. He was a natural.

“As a kid, when you’re good at something,” Johnson said, “you kind of run with it.”

When Johnson was 10, the family moved to Woodridge, Ill., a suburb of Chicago. There, he continued to play soccer, often competing up an age group against older and bigger boys.

Even then, Johnson recalls being fiercely competitive. He would compete all the time with his older sister and younger brother. And on the soccer pitch, matched against older kids, he was always determined to stand out.

“I remember when he was playing for the Woodridge Storm,” Jackie said, “a parent commented that he was different from everyone else, not because he wants to win, but he hates to lose.”

In 2003, after Johnson's sophomore year in high school, he was offered the opportunity to travel to England to play with the youth team of the Blackburn Rovers.

It would require him to put a college education on hold and leave his family and friends behind in Chicago.

Johnson’s grandfather had played professional soccer, as had his mother’s uncle. And Jackie and Charles Johnson, Will’s father, knew the opportunity was too good to turn down. They told their son, if he wanted to play professional soccer, he should go and chase his dream.

“It was very difficult,” Jackie said. “He was the first child to leave.”

"Keep fighting"

Johnson spent only a year in England before returning to Chicago and the familiarity of home. His mother said he had been homesick abroad, and the family was happy to be reunited with their son.

But Johnson’s burning desire to play professionally had not waned.

At only 18, Johnson signed a contract with the Chicago Fire. And a year later, he headed back to Europe to join Dutch club Heerenveen.

The first year in Holland was valuable, as Johnson had a chance to display his worth playing with both the reserve and first teams.

But at the end of the season, he decided to go on loan with De Graafschap, a club in the eastern part of Holland. De Graafschap, the winner of the second division, was fighting to avoid relegation. They were playing against the best teams in Holland, like Ajax, forcing the club to play a defensive game where the object was simply to avoid losing.

“When you’re a foreigner, the Dutch guys tended to stick together,” Johnson said. “When things got tough, you were kind of on the outside looking in a little bit. I couldn’t really showcase what I was doing, what I was good at. I had a coach that didn’t believe in me. I had to find a way to just get out of there.”

At the end of the season, Johnson traveled back to Heerenveen. But by that time Heerenveen had a new coach and new players. There wasn’t a spot for Johnson.

“You’re only as good as your last game,” Jackie has told Johnson. “That’s what people remember. People’s memories are very short. There isn’t any point in giving up. You should keep fighting and take yourself as far as you can go.”

So, Johnson found Real Salt Lake and returned to MLS.

“I was fighting for my career,” Johnson said. “So, my competitiveness has grown to another level since then. It’s something I’ll never forget because I could very easily be out of the game.”

A revival

Johnson joined Real Salt Lake in August 2008, signing for a measly $39,000 base salary.

In Utah, his career was revived and he became a regular starter on the squad that won the MLS Cup in 2009.

“He leads by example,” Real Salt Lake coach Jason Kreis told reporters this season. “He covers as much or more ground as anybody on that field. He wins as many or more tackles as anybody on that field. He's involved in decisive plays as many times or more times than anybody on that field.”

After last season, Real Salt Lake needed to make moves to meet the salary cap. And it became pretty clear to Johnson by the end of the season that he would be traded.

“It’s a total roller coaster,” Johnson said. “On one hand, you’re excited for a new challenge, on the other hand, you’re disappointed. Why wasn’t I one of the guys that, no matter what, they were going to keep? Those are things that run through your mind.”

It was the day before Thanksgiving when Johnson found out he was going to the Timbers.

Less than two months later, he arrived in Portland with his wife, Caroline, and their daughter, Arabella. Of all the moves Johnson has made in his life, he said this one was the easiest.

Said Johnson: “It feels like I’ve been here forever.”

Captain Will

Will Johnson celebrates his goal against Chivas USA at Jeld-Wen Field in May.

During the past nine months, Johnson has led a transformed Timbers team to its first-ever MLS playoff berth. In the locker room he is regarded as a veteran. Though only 26, he is in his seventh season in MLS and is the only player on Portland’s roster who has been a consistent starter on an MLS Cup-winning team.

"I think he's a guy that's been around the block," Timbers defender Jack Jewsbury said. "He's been on winning teams. He's spread that throughout this locker room. He's a guy with experience and someone that we needed."

It’s hard for Johnson to point to one reason his game has improved so much this year. He feels like he has more freedom in Portland to take shots and score goals. He knows Porter has confidence in him, and being captain fuels him even further. With experience, he continues to mature as a player.

But Johnson also thinks “Bella,” his 1-year-old daughter, is making an impact.

Johnson recalls returning home after bad practices early in his career. The disappointment would eat at him overnight until he could return to practice the next day. In his free time, he would watch all the games around MLS. Now, he doesn’t even watch the big ones.

“I’ve kind of mellowed out a bit when I’m not on the field,” Johnson said. “I can’t go home and be angry and disappointed when my 1-year-old is coming and smiling and running around doing hilarious things.”

Separating soccer from his home life has helped Johnson save the right intensity for the right moments on the field. The game is the peak, Johnson said. And he’s found that if he stays too focused and aggressive all week, he might have a letdown in the game. In trying to keep his team composed throughout the week, he can even seem quiet in the locker room, according to his teammates, before he lets loose on the field.

“A good leader is an extension of the coach, and I think he’s very savvy with the things he says and the way he manages our guys,” Porter said. “He’s smart with the psychology as well, with what he says and how high and low he is. That’s huge.”

On the field, Johnson seems to know how to bait an opponent. And he’s always at the center of any fight.

Recently, Johnson gave a postgame interview in the locker room with a cut on his forehead that he picked up in an argument on the field. And after being elbowed in the face against the Seattle Sounders a few weeks ago, Johnson faced a large scrum of reporters and calmly shrugged off the incident.

"I don't know," Johnson said. "We were just going at it."

As the Timbers head into the playoffs, trying to extend their already historic season, Johnson knows not to take any game lightly. He recalls playing for youth national teams growing up and all the players he has competed alongside. Very few are still in the game.

But through all the bumps and bruises along the way, Johnson is still here. He’s a competitor. And he takes pride in that.

“You have to be willing to be competitive, otherwise the game will just eat you up,” Johnson said. “You never know when your last game is going to be. So, I try to play every game like it’s my last.”

-- Jamie Goldberg