D.C. United have a chance to complete one of the most historic turnarounds in Major League Soccer history this season, going from bottom to the top. However those chances took a hit on Saturday night as United were defeated 3-0 by Real Salt Lake.
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One of the biggest sticking points was the play of Eddie Johnson and his intentional kicking of a ball at a down opponent late in the match. Johnson went off on a fan who tweeted him about how other D.C. players played hard when things weren’t going well, telling him “I’m not here to please your town buddy.”
To say Johnson is an emotional player may be an understatement, and his reaction to the situation on the field and to fan criticism off of it were just the latest example of a man with a short fuse.
It’s something that Johnson acknowledged following practice on Tuesday, telling Steven Goff of the Washington Post that he recognizes what he did in both cases were wrong.
“Sometimes you don’t think before you react,” Johnson said after practice at RFK Stadium, according to Goff. “Being too emotional, which I am, it’s something I have got to get better at. Hopefully the fans accept my apology.”
He also decided to respond to a fan wanting to trade Johnson for Jozy Altidore with approval:
@DCU_Chief @sotoudeh @JozyAltidore perfect sounds good
— Eddie Johnson (@eddie_johnson7) August 10, 2014
It wasn’t the only incident this season or over the weekend either, as Johnson took exception to criticism from former Houston Dynamo striker Brian Ching.
Those two incident plus others in Seattle have led Johnson to stay away from Twitter.
“I think I banned myself, man. I had a couple of incidents too in Seattle [where he played in 2012-13]. I am a real emotional person. I’ve always been that way growing up. When you don’t have an older brother, you’ve always got to take up for yourself.”
Yes, because not having an older brother makes all only children mean, angry and emotional people? It sure sounds like Johnson needs a grip on reality as he personally struggles a bit through the 2014 MLS season.