Until last winter, all that Fabian Johnson and Bruce Arena knew about each other was what they had heard from others. So when Arena was named coach of the U.S. national team two games into the final round of World Cup qualifying, one of his first trips was to Germany to meet with Johnson.
“Just to get to know each other and talk about the position where I’m feeling the most comfortable,” Johnson remembers of Arena’s agenda for their two winter meetings. “Those kinds of things.”
Turns out those were also the kinds of things Johnson wanted to discuss with the new coach.