Chicago Red Stars and U.S. Women’s National Team Defender Julie Johnston is right up there with Meghan Klingenberg of the Houston Dash and Becky Sauerbrunn of FC Kansas City as one of the best defenders in the National Women’s Soccer League. (Although she had a rough game yesterday with a call for defensive handling, and giving up the ball on FC Sky Blue’s goal)
Johnston has a chance to add a NWSL championship next month to the World Cup championship she accomplished this summer.
The Red Stars are in great position to get a higher seed in the NWSL playoffs.
I asked Julie Johnston how her life has changed since winning the World Cup with the USWNT.
“Besides having the title of being a world champion, I don’t think it’s all that much different,” she said.
“Now I have the next goal set and I think it would be really cool to go to the Olympics.”
Johnston’s coming out party was in this summer’s World Cup. Through the first 2/3 to 3/4 of the tourney, she was essentially the USWNT MVP, and was one of three U.S. players to be named a finalist for the World Cup’s most outstanding player award (it went to USA’s Carli Lloyd) And it won’t be long until all eyes are on Rio again. The party city extraordinaire hosted the men’s world cup last summer, and they’ll play host to the olympics August 5th-21st 2016.
Since the World Cup ended Julie Johnston has seen her the power of her celebrity grow significantly. Inspired and motivated by the 1999 World Cup Champions, Johnston is now an icon to today’s youth soccer players. Soccer is taking off in America and Johnston told us all about it.
“Our send-off tour was basically sold out, all three games that we had, which is absolutely unbelievable just to have a start like that and even now with the victory tour coming back, I’m not sure how the sales are going now but I know they were really doing really well during the tournament,” she said.
“The MLS is doing well, we’re going to be on television as well, it’s really a cool time to be a part of such a jump start to, I guess, the new era.”
I asked Johnston her favorite men’s side, and the answer was one of the two Spanish giants: “I really like Barcelona, but I think everyone who likes soccer likes them as well,” she answered.
Go here for part one of this Julie Johnston interview feature.
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and writes The Sports Bank.net, which is part of the FOX Sports Engage Network.Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes to the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. He also appears regularly on numerous talk radio stations all across the country. Catch him Tuesdays on KOZN 1620 The Zone.
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