TORONTO — You’ll have to forgive Will Johnson if he feels as though his head is spinning and things are coming at him from a million different directions.
For starters, the Canadian midfielder is a key member of Real Salt Lake, and is trying to help the Utah club secure second place in the Western Conference as the MLS regular season winds down. He’s also preparing to play in a pair of crucial World Cup qualifying matches for Canada, including Friday’s game against Cuba at BMO Field.
And if that wasn’t enough, Johnson’s life irrevocably changed forever last week when his wife gave birth to the couple’s first child, Arabella Capri.
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Johnson did not travel with his MLS teammates for last Saturday’s 2-1 win over the Galaxy in LA, as the club gave him the weekend off to be with his wife and daughter. He also missed a few of Canada’s training sessions earlier this week before arriving in Toronto on Wednesday when he finally practised with the national team.
Becoming a new father was a life changing event for Johnson, who must now turn his attention towards opponents Cuba and Honduras in games that will determine whether or not Canada moves on to “the Hex,” the final round of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying.
“It’s really an exciting time. I don’t think anything can prepare you for (fatherhood). I had a great first week at home, I’m very happy that everything went well and I’m hoping to parlay that into a good five days with the national team,” Johnson said after Thursday’s training session.
His daughter is barely a week old, and under ideal circumstances Johnson would be at home helping his wife look after her. But duty calls, and as much as it pains the 25-year-old Toronto native to be away from his daughter for the first time, he’s firmly focused on the task at hand.
“(My wife’s) mom is there taking care of her. She has all the help she needs so as long as everybody is taken care of, it allows me to feel good about going away. No big deal on that front. I’m excited to get home to see how they’re doing, but they have all the help they need for now, so it’s not weighing on my mind at all,” Johnson explained.
Has fatherhood changed him at all? A little, but not much, though it’s still early days.
“No more screw ups (and) no more doing anything crazy because it can affect her, and it reflects bad on you and your family. I don’t know that it’s changed me much. I wasn’t a very wild person before, but I’m just thankful and feel very fortunate to have that little girl in my life,” Johnson said.
And Canadian coach Stephen Hart feels fortunate to have Johnson back after he missed Canada’s 2-0 loss in Panama last month through suspension. Without Johnson in the lineup to protect the defence from his central midfield position, the Panamanians had a much easier time of it breaking down the Canadian resistance.
Hart will be looking for Johnson to renew what he feels has been an effective midfield trio with Atiba Hutchinson and Julian de Guzman.
“Will brings us a certain amount of energy and physical presence to the midfield. He plays differently from Atiba and Julian in that he has the capacity to run deep. … It’s a good balance in the midfield,” Hart said.
Johnson agrees with his coach, believing that they all bring something different to the table and that they complement each other quite well.
“We’ve been playing together for a while so we know each other’s tendencies well,” Johnson explained. “I try to be more defensive … Atiba is little more technical, a little more of a playmaker in this team and Jules gets the ball off the back four, so the three of us link up the back four to the front three.”
For Johnson’s part, he’s just anxious to play for Canada after being forced to sit out the Panama game due to yellow card accumulation. He described having to watch the match on television as an excruciating experience.
“Anytime you miss a game it’s tough, whatever the reasons are. It’s tough to watch (knowing) those are your teammates and friends; you want to be out there and help,” Johnson said.
Canada currently sits third in Group C with seven points. Panama is first (nine points), followed by Honduras (seven). Only the top two nations move on to the final round of CONCACAF qualifying where the best three countries in the six-team, round-robin group advance to the World Cup.
Canada starts training at BMO Field. #canMNT twitter.com/JohnMolinaro/s…
— John Molinaro (@JohnMolinaro) October 11, 2012
The more I talk to Will Johnson the more I am impressed with him. Very articulate & thoughtful guy. Think he’d make a good coach. #canMNT
— John Molinaro (@JohnMolinaro) October 11, 2012
After the Cuba contest, Canada travels to Honduras for a game on Oct. 16 that it will more than likely have to take points from in order to advance to the next round. With that in mind, Canada needs to earn a win over Cuba to have a realistic shot at the Hex.
Canada last qualified for the Hex in 1998, so even though there’s still some work to do, Johnson likes the position the team is in.
“We’re four games in, and we’ve got a very good chance. Everything is in our own hands to get through to the next round,” Johnson stated. “If you would have offered that to us before this whole thing started we would have taken it. So here we are and we’re in a good spot.”
The natural inclination is to look ahead to Honduras, especially with Cuba already eliminated from contention after losing all four of its games. But Johnson maintains Canada can’t take the Cubans for granted, and must remain focused on them, and not think about the final match in Honduras.
“We’re professionals and we know what to do. If we want to get to the World Cup these are the kind of games that you have to win, no matter what’s ahead or where we’ve been,” Johnson proclaimed.
“The experience and professionalism in the squad has to come through and you have to win games like this at home, otherwise we have no chance of accomplishing our goals.”