Fabian Johnson: Two-Footed. Single-Minded.

Originally published in Eight By Eight magazine

When Fabian Johnson introduces himself, he uses two languages. The 28-year-old U.S. international pronounces his given name in German ("Fah-be-un") but falls back on English for the family name. When he's told that Johnson, via Scandinavia, is not an uncommon name in the north of Germany, where people pronounce it "Yohn-zon," he's surprised. Of course he wouldn't know this. Fabian Johnson was born and raised in the deep south—in Munich, where he also played his football from the ages of 4 to 21. He's Bavarian through and through.

Or is he? Ah, here we are on the fascinating subject of dual football nationality. It's an interesting issue, starting with the obvious problem of conflicting loyalties. And since players with two passports have to make a major choice one day, it's also an issue rife with what-ifs.

Consider that Johnson represented Germany at every junior level and was a starting member of the Under-21 side that won the 2009 European Championship. No fewer than six of the players who lined up alongside him that day went on to win the World Cup in Brazil five years later. Johnson saw action during that tournament too—but for the U.S. Men's National Team, not triumphant Germany.

"Of course I sometimes thought about what might have been," Johnson admits in an exclusive interview with Eight by Eight. "But we all have to find our own path. Who knows where I would be today if I hadn't made all those appearances for the USA? These games have given me a lot—they greatly helped my development. I wouldn't trade them for anything."

The reason Johnson could play for the USMNT is his family background. His father, Charles Johnson, is from Chicago. He served in the U.S. Army and was stationed in Mannheim, south of Frankfurt, where he met his wife, Sylvia. She has American roots as well—her father is a Bostonian. And so another what-if is that Fabian could have easily been born in the USA. "My mum and dad actually lived in America for a while before they decided to go back and settle down in Germany," he says. "I don't know why they didn't stay and instead came to Munich. I never asked them."

Charles was a good athlete. He played basketball for Bayern Munich, though apparently not—as you sometimes read—in the Bundesliga. "He was not playing professionally," Fabian says. "I don't know exactly at which level Bayern were playing at the time, but it wasn't the Bundesliga. This was long before they built their great team." (In 2010, Bayern's members voted to grant the club's hoops division more financial support. In 2011, the team was promoted to the Bundesliga and eventually won the national basketball title three years later.)

Rather than hoops, Fabian and his older brother, Stephan, were drawn to the classic German game—football. The Johnsons were not exactly your classic Bavarian family. "My parents spoke English when talking among themselves," Fabian says (in German tinged with a subtle Munich accent). "My father understands German very well now, but it's still easier for him to hold a conversation in English. So not least because English was the language around the house, I was always aware of the American element. Unfortunately, I didn't meet that part of the family when I grew up. We never went to America on holidays and they never came over to Germany." After a pause, he adds: "But I never wondered how German or how American I was. I didn't think in such categories."

The chance to play for the USMNT came at a crucial moment in his career. Shortly after winning silverware with the Under-21s, he'd left
second-division 1860 Munich for VfL Wolfsburg—where his highly promising career stalled. "It didn't work out at all for me in Wolfsburg," he remembers. "I didn't get into many games, and although I learned a lot, I was very unhappy."

A two-footed player, Johnson had been used in midfield for both club and country: on the left side for 1860 Munich, on the right flank for the Under-21s, where he played in front of TSG 1899 Hoffenheim's right back Andreas Beck. He was joining a team that had just lifted a sensational league title and had spent considerable money on experienced midfielders (the Dane Thomas Kahlenberg joined from AJ Auxerre, the Algerian Karim Ziani from Marseille). What's more, the club saw Johnson primarily as a fullback. He became a seldom-used backup man for the consistent and popular Marcel Schäfer and Sascha Riether. Consequently, he failed to make the transition from Germany's junior side to the senior team.

Germany's loss was U.S. coach Jürgen Klinsmann's gain. In the summer of 2011, Johnson left Wolfsburg to revive his career with Hoffenheim. Most people thought he was signed as a replacement Beck, who was rumored to be courted by Juventus. That deal fell through, but Johnson still made the team—as a wide man in midfield. "I was glad that the opportunity to join Hoffenheim presented itself," he says. "I was given a chance. I picked myself up again and won a place in the team." Only weeks later, Klinsmann got in touch with him.

"It wasn't as if he called and simply asked and I just said yes," Johnson explains. "I went over and spent 10 days in the USA with the entire squad—the players, the physios, the coaching staff. I liked what I saw and decided to play for the team."

Another tantalizing what-if: What if Johnson had opted to wait a few months before committing himself, just to see if—with his career finally back on track—he might become a part of the Germany setup after all? Was he tempted to hedge his bets? "No, not at all," he says. "The idea never crossed my mind. I just felt instantly comfortable during those first days with the U.S. team. I made my decision—and I'm happy with it."

Six months later, in February 2012, Markus Babbel then Hoffenheim's coach, pulled Johnson back into the left-back position, a role he would regularly fill until he left the club to join Borussia Mönchengladbach in the summer of 2014. It was, of course, the position that gave Germany coach Joachim Löw such severe headaches that he felt forced to play a center-back, Schalke's Benedikt Höwedes, there during the World Cup.

It's astonishing how quickly Johnson became an indispensable member of Klinsmann's team. Since making his debut in late 2011, Johnson has won no fewer than 42 caps. In December, he came in second in the U.S. Soccer Federation's Male Player of the Year vote. A month later, ESPN ranked him the best U.S. player, ahead of Michael Bradley and Geoff Cameron.

Playing for the USMNT is not always easy for Johnson. "The only real problem is the traveling," he says. "Going from Europe to America is usually OK, but getting back there is always the jet lag. It's very hard to get used to this. I take a sleeping pill because it helps me get back into my rhythm."

Another problem is that Johnson may be too versatile for his own good. Among U.S. fans, there is a constant debate over whether he is more useful at fullback or in midfield. When he joined Gladbach in 2014, his coach, Lucien Favre, was undecided for many months until he finally put Johnson into left-sided midfielder for good. Now, under Favre's successor, André Schubert, a new question has arisen: Is Johnson a defensive player or an offensive player? During the winter break, he appeared for the first time in the tradition-laden ranking of Bundesliga players conducted by Kicker magazine. The publication, often referred to as the "bible of German football," called his development "most astonishing" and noted he had suddenly become a consistent goal scorer. It ranked him No. 7 among the league's attacking wide men.

So what's the difference between his role at the club and for the national team? "Actually, that's hard to say," he replies. "Usually I don't really know which position I'll be playing before I meet up with the national team. It's only two or three days before a game that I learn my role. But that's the difference between a national team and a club side. You have a lot more preparation, a lot more time to work on tactical things at the club level. I just try to help my team. Whether that is at the back or in midfield is of secondary concern to me."

Two years ago, Jürgen Klinsmann defined the USMNT's ambition as "going into a semifinal in a World Cup." Even with an in-form Johnson, this now sounds like a very lofty goal for a team that came in fourth at the Gold Cup last summer, the U.S.'s worst showing at this tournament since 2000. "The year after the World Cup was rocky for us, and we didn't meet expectations," Johnson admits. "But now I see us headed in the right direction again." He hesitates a moment, then there is one more what-if. "In football, so much is possible," he says. "Although nobody expected us to survive what was a very tough group, we could have made the semifinal at the World Cup in Brazil. The Belgium game was very close. We missed two great chances in the final stages. If we had put them away, we would have been in the quarterfinals
already."

Perhaps realizing that he's coming dangerously close to replaying a tournament that's far in the past, Johnson abruptly stops crying over spilled milk. The man who is both German and American closes the matter with a very German-sounding thing to say: "We just have to work very hard. Talking won't get us anywhere."

This article first appeared in Eight By Eight magazine. Issue eight, The Summer of Football, can now be purchased via their shop. You can follow Eight By Eight on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.