Johansson: Coming home to Sigi after beating the Germans? Perfect!

 

 

Adam Johansson will be one of the few Sounders who may play in front of an even bigger crowd this month than the 65,000 who packed into CenturyLink Field for the Cascadia Derby.

On Tuesday Johansson’s Sweden will face the mighty Germans in the 74,064 capacity Olympia Stadion in Berlin for a vital Group Three World Cup qualifier. Both sides currently have a 100% record although they have played just three games between them.

Before they meet on Tuesday, they both have an away game. Germany head to Dublin to play the Republic of Ireland. Johansson’s Swedes fly to the slightly less salubrious Tórsvøllur stadium in the Faroese capital of Torshavn which holds just 6000.

We asked Johansson about the joys of a multi-national club locker room when international events send varying loyalties pulsing through the clubhouse.

Prost Amerika: Obviously you have too wildly different games against two wildly different opponents coming up, the Faroe Islands and Germany. How do you prepare for two such vastly different opponents?

Adam Johansson: I think the first game we just have to win. We’re playing away. It’s actually harder than anything to play there. They play on turf. The weather is usually kind of bad; a lot of rain and a lot of wind. It’s going to be tough but we definitely need to win that game. We ARE going to win that game.

We are the favourites in that game. And then, we meet probably one of the best teams in the world. We meet Germany away. That’s going to be really tough but, I mean, if we can get a point there, that’s really good for us.

Prost Amerika: Are you looking forward to telling your Swedish teammates that you play in front of over 60,000 people in MLS soccer in Seattle?

Adam Johansson: That’s very nice actually. They don’t know that much I think about the MLS yet but I spoke to a lot of them yesterday and last time when I was there, and they were surprised that we had that attendance. It’s magnificent to play soccer here.

Prost Amerika: Is it an incentive to you personally that if you beat the Germans Sigi Schmid will have to look you in the eye?

Adam Johansson: Ha ha. That would be nice actually. (laughs) Coming home from that. That would be perfect!

Prost Amerika: Has he said anything about it?

Adam Johansson: No he hasn’t. He just wished me good luck.

Prost Amerika: On the subject of banter, last week the Europeans beat the Americans in the Ryder Cup, did you have some fun with that?

Adam Johansson: I did. But actually I didn’t see it which would have been nice because I stayed with Parke. On the first day when they were playing, we were down a lot and Parke was really happy. It would have been nice to be at a hotel and see them win. We were on the road then.

Prost Amerika: Will you be talking to any of your Swedish colleagues about life in MLS and would you recommend it to them?

Adam Johansson: Yes. Definitely. I recommend it a lot. I have another Swedish teammate here now, Christian Wilhelmsson (at LA Galaxy), so I think it’s getting bigger and bigger.

Upcoming Group Three Fixtures and Current Table

Friday October 12th

Faroe Islands v Sweden
Kazakhstan v Austria
Ireland v Germany

Tuesday October 16th

Faroe Islands v Ireland
Austria v Kazakhstan
Germany v Sweden

GROUP THREE TABLE
POS	TEAM	P	GD	Pts
1	Germany	2	4	6
2	Sweden	1	2	3
3	Ireland	1	1	3
4	Austria	1	-1	0
5	Kazakhstan	2	-3	0
6	Faroe Islands	1	-3	0

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