Ryan Johnson (footballer, born 1984)

Ryan Johnson (born 26 November 1984) is a Jamaican footballer who plays as a forward.

Ryan Johnson
Johnson with the Earthquakes in August 2010
Personal information
Date of birth (1984-11-26) 26 November 1984
Place of birth Kingston, Jamaica
Height 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Position(s) Forward
Youth career
2002–2005 Oregon State Beavers
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2002 Cape Cod Crusaders 6 (2)
2005 Boulder Rapids Reserve 9 (12)
2006 Real Salt Lake 7 (0)
2006 Chicago Fire 3 (0)
2007 Östers 14 (2)
2007–2008 New Jersey Ironmen (indoor) 14 (2)
2008–2011 San Jose Earthquakes 99 (17)
2011–2012 Toronto FC 43 (10)
2013 Portland Timbers 29 (9)
2014 Henan Jianye 28 (4)
2015 Seoul E-Land 31 (1)
2016 Rayo OKC 4 (1)
National team‡
2006–2013 Jamaica 36 (8)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 8 June 2016
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 14 June 2011

Career

Youth and college

Johnson was born in Kingston, Jamaica and moved to the Boston area with his family while he was still an infant.[1] He played high school soccer and basketball at Melrose High School in Massachusetts, where he was a Middlesex League and Eastern Mass League soccer all-star. He attended Oregon State University on a sports scholarship and played college soccer there from 2002 to 2005,[2] where he scored 18 goals and assisted on 30 while appearing in 76 matches. He also spent two seasons in the USL Premier Development League, playing for Cape Cod Crusaders and Boulder Rapids Reserve.

Professional

Johnson was drafted in the third round, 26th overall, by Real Salt Lake in the 2006 MLS SuperDraft. On 25 July 2006, after only appearing in 7 matches with Salt Lake, Johnson was traded to Chicago Fire in exchange for Jack Stewart.[3] In the remainder of the 2006 season, Johnson played 3 matches for the Fire and failed to agree on a new contract with the team at season's end.

In early 2007, he was on trial with various teams in Scandinavia and eventually got a short-term contract with Swedish side Östers IF (then at Superettan), that stretched from March 2007 to July 2007. Because Östers' had a surplus of centre forwards at the time, they chose not to extend his contract any further and instead loaned Anatolij Ponomarev from GAIS. In 2007, he was on trial in FK Bodø/Glimt where he played one game against Leknes FK. He scored the last goal in the 8–1 win.

After a short stint playing indoor soccer with the New Jersey Ironmen, Johnson signed with San Jose Earthquakes for the 2008 MLS season. At the end of the 2009 MLS season, Johnson was named team MVP as the team's leading goalscorer.

On 14 July 2011, San Jose traded Johnson, an international roster spot, and allocation money to Toronto FC for Nana Attakora, Alan Gordon and Jacob Peterson.[4] On 20 July Johnson made his debut for Toronto in a 1–0 home loss to FC Dallas.[5] Three days later against Sporting Kansas City Johnson scored his first goal of the season for Toronto and assisted on a goal by newly acquired Danny Koevermans. The game ended as a 4–2 away defeat.[6] On 2 August, in the return leg of the preliminary round of the CONCACAF Champions League, Johnson scored a superb volley in the 37th minute, followed by a goal in the 47th from a misplaced pass by the Real Esteli F.C. keeper. The two goals put Toronto FC into the group stage for the second straight year on an aggregate of 4–2.[7]

Johnson continued his goal scoring form at the beginning of the 2012 season after scoring in both legs of the Champions League Quarter finals against Los Angeles Galaxy he scored a stunning goal against Seattle Sounders on 17 March. Johnson's goal against the Sounders earned him goal of the week.[8] Johnson was awarded the George Gross Memorial Trophy as the 2012 Canadian Championship's best player.[9]

Johnson was traded with Miloš Kocić to Portland Timbers on 12 December 2012 in exchange for Joe Bendik, a first-round pick in the 2013 MLS SuperDraft, and allocation money.[10]

On 27 February 2014, Johnson transferred to Chinese Super League newcomer Henan Jianye.[11]

The start of the 2015 season saw Ryan join new Korean K-League side Seoul E-Land FC under the tutelage of former Vancouver Whitecaps FC manager Martin Rennie and his assistant, ex-West Bromwich Albion and Celtic FC's Dan Harris.

In March 2016, Johnson signed for North American Soccer League side Rayo OKC.[12] Johnson was released by Rayo OKC on 26 May 2016.[13]

International

Johnson made his debut with the Jamaica national football team on 12 April 2006 in a friendly against the United States, playing the first 70 minutes. He was rewarded for his outstanding 2009 MLS season with a recall to the Jamaica national football team in January 2010 for a friendly match versus Canada and a February 2010 match versus Argentina. He scored his first national team goal in a 2–1 loss to Argentina in Mar del Plata on 10 February 2010. Johnson continued his strong performances with the national team by scoring the winning goal versus Costa Rica in September 2010.

International goals
# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competitions
1 10 February 2010 Estadio José María Minella, Mar del Plata, Argentina  Argentina 0 – 1 2–1 International Friendly
2 5 September 2010 Independence Park, Kingston, Jamaica  Costa Rica 1 – 0 1–0 International Friendly
3 29 November 2010 Stade En Camée, Rivière-Pilote, Martinique  Guadeloupe 2 – 0 2–0 2010 Caribbean Championship
4 7 June 2011 The Home Depot Center, Carson, United States  Grenada 2 – 0 4–0 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup
5 13 June 2011 Red Bull Arena, Harrison, United States  Honduras 1 – 0 1–0 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup
6 2 September 2011 Quito, Ecuador  Ecuador 2 – 4 2–5 International Friendly
7 24 February 2012 Montego Bay Sports Complex, Montego Bay, Jamaica  Cuba 1 – 0 3–0 International Friendly
8 8 June 2012 Independence Park, Kingston, Jamaica  Guatemala 2 – 0 2–1 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification

Honours

Club
Toronto FC

Individual

References
  1. Dell'Apa, Frank (3 June 2006). "No Longer a State Secret". Boston Globe. p. C1. ISSN 0743-1791.
  2. Staff (31 December 2001). "FALL ALL-SCHOLASTICS; Boys Soccer; The Boston Herald presents the top stars from Eastern Mass. boys soccer". Boston Herald. p. 61. ISSN 0738-5854.
  3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 4 November 2014. Retrieved 4 November 2014.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. "Johnson Jumps To Toronto". MLS. 14 July 2011. Retrieved 30 November 2017.
  5. New-Look Reds Sunk By Strike From Shea from TorontoFC.ca, Posted 20 July 2011.
  6. Kansas City Doubles Toronto from TorontoFC.ca, Posted 23 July 2011.
  7. CCL Group Stage Awaits Toronto
  8. Toronto's Johnson tops Estrada for AT&T Goal of the Week
  9. Johnson Wins George Gross Trophy
  10. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 30 January 2013. Retrieved 13 January 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  11. 牙买加国脚成建业第5外援 at sports.163.com 27 February 2014 Retrieved 2014-02-28(in Chinese)
  12. "JAMAICAN INTERNATIONAL RYAN JOHNSON JOINS RAYO OKC STRIKE FORCE". rayookc.com. Rayo OKC. 24 March 2016. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
  13. "RAYO OKC FORWARD RYAN JOHNSON RELEASED FROM 2016 CONTRACT". rayookc.com. Rayo OKC. 26 May 2016. Retrieved 13 July 2016.
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