FIRST TEAM
07/27/2012

Johnson: “We can show our quality”

Fabian Johnson has done quite a bit of travelling since the Bundesliga season came to a close. After the match in Berlin, there was a plane waiting for the 24 year old, to take him to the United States. In total, there were five matches for the US team to play, but in an interview with achtzehn99.de, the American reveals that he hasn't paid any less attention to the upcoming Bundesliga season because of it.

Hoffenheim has the fastest player in the entire Bundesliga. Do you know who it might be?

No (laughs).

I'll help you out. You're in first place at 35.5kmph…

Oh, that's a bit surprising. But I'm happy about that. I would have sooner suggested Robben or Ribéry.

You were the best goal creator for TSG last season with eight assists. Are you pleased with how last season went?

I think that it was a good season for me personally at Hoffenheim. I didn't get too many appearances at Wolfsburg, so I'm pretty happy with that amount.

You play your full-back role quite offensively. Is that a result of your own style of play, or something that the coach has suggested to you?

I think it's a bit of both. The coach wants me to press on the wings. Since I feel pretty comfortable going forward, I've not got any issues doing that either. But I've enhanced my own defensive capabilities too.

After the final game in Berlin, the full time whistle also meant the start of the World Cup qualification campaign for you and the USA. You had a friendly clash with Brazil as well. What was it like to meet top players like Neymar?

Obviously, the match against Brazil was awesome. It had everything: a sold out stadium, a great atmosphere and world-class opponents. Even though we lost, it was still an amazing experience. The World Cup qualification is going well for us; we're top of the table after a win and a draw, but there's still a long way to go until Brazil.

Because of your matches with the national team, you've joined in training with the squad a bit later than usual. Do you feel you're at the same fitness level as your teammates?

I've already balanced it out. I completed my own individual training programme while I was away, and I feel I'm at a good level of fitness. That will only improve in the coming weeks.

Your teammates are saying that this has been the hardest pre-season of their careers so far. You didn't take part in the training camp in Füssen, but what's been your impression up until now?

Every pre-season is hard, otherwise there would be no point. It's hard for me to say, because I wasn't in Füssen, but it's definitely tiring.

Things kick off again on the 25th of August against Mönchengladbach. What can the fans expect of the team?

We can show our quality. We haven't shown it enough in the past at home; far too often we've ended up conceding late goals. We have to cut that out, therefore we're training extremely hard so that, defensively, we can keep our concentration right until the end.

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