BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. – Chicago rookie goalkeeper Sean Johnson trained with the first team in practice Friday, shortly after starting each of the team’s last two SuperLiga matches.
Johnson, who typically backs up start Andrew Dykstra, played with Chicago’s starters in a scrimmage against a mixture of Fire reserves and PDL players. Dykstra featured for the second team.
“I think that Sean is making a good work,” Fire head coach Carlos de los Cobos told MLSsoccer.com after Friday’s practice. “Normally Andrew is playing, but I think [Sean] needs time to play. [Whether he] gets time to play I’m not sure. I’m not thinking right now which player is starting the next match [Aug. 1 at LA]. But I believe in these two guys and I trust in these two guys.
“But Sean has a strong personality, he has very good communication with players in the field and this is a good thing for the team.”
Johnson performed well in the SuperLiga tournament, conceding one goal in his 180 minutes of action.
Fire technical director Frank Klopas indicated that he likes what he’s seen from the MLS SuperDraft fourth-round pick.
“In games I think he’s done very well,” Klopas said of Johnson, who is a Generation adidas player. “I think it’s too early to read into anything right now – it was just a scrimmage game in training and we still have a whole week of preparation [before the LA match], but I think the kid has done very well.”
Johnson, who played collegiately at UCF and has experience with the US Under-20 National Team, has yet to appear in an MLS match.
Sam Stejskal covers the Chicago Fire for MLSsoccer.com. He can be reached at sam.h.stejskal@gmail.com or on Twitter @samstejskal.
