Former US Men’s National Team player Eddie Johnson is taking toddler soccer star Nevada under his wing, and the 3 year old is set to start in Johnson’s Orlando youth training program in January.
Nevada’s mother, Martasia, shared the news with HuffPost, saying Johnson saw the viral video and reached out with an offer. “Now that this situation happened, he’s just gonna take [Nevada] under his wing because he has the proper program for him,” she said.
Johnson also spoke up for Nevada on his Instagram Stories. “They wanna dim his light,” he wrote, before telling Nevada directly that the people who thought they were taking his dreams away had instead made him the most famous 3 year old in the world.
Johnson knows the path from Florida youth soccer to the top of the game. He came up through IMG Soccer Academy in Florida, played in MLS, earned MLS Comeback Player of the Year honors and made the jump to England’s Premier League with Fulham. He also represented the United States at the 2006 World Cup. He now works in youth soccer development.
The offer comes days after Nevada’s i9 Sports game in Winter Park, Florida, ended with police on the field. Video posted by his parents shows him dribbling past players as old as 5 and scoring goal after goal before officers arrived. His father can be heard saying police were called on his son for being too good. A league official told officers Nevada had been pushing other kids and that his parents had caused a disturbance, which the family denies. Winter Park police called it a civil matter, with no arrests. The league refunded the family’s fall registration and has since said its local staff are receiving threats.
Nevada’s mother said the experience left her son scared that he did something wrong. “He still wants to play soccer,” she said. “He just doesn’t want to go back to that place.”
Soccer has been part of his life since before he could walk well. According to his mother, Nevada started dribbling a ball at 10 months old and trains with his father three hours a day.
Support has poured in from beyond the soccer world too. The family launched a GoFundMe to cover Nevada’s registration fees, training, equipment, uniforms and travel, and it had raised more than $20,500 as of Tuesday. Ms. Rachel, the children’s educator and YouTube star, also called on famous soccer players to show up for Nevada and give him great experiences. Eddie Johnson is the first former pro to answer that call with a spot on the field.
