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They call him “Johnny Futbol”. John Brooks is the name on fan’s lips after Brooks’ stunning game winning header against Ghana to lift the USMNT over their rivals 2-1 in the closing minutes. His celebration was that of disbelief, to be in that moment, the World Cup, game on the line, to score the game winner for your country, it is a shot that will be replayed over and over, and without a doubt, the best goal in Brooks’ career. So who is John Brooks? Where does he come from? How did he get here? Let’s take a look.
John Brooks was born January 28th, 1993 in Berlin, Germany. His father served in the United States Military, and is from Chicago, Illinois. Brooks grew up in Germany with his mother, where he rose through the ranks at his current club, Hertha BSC. Brooks scored in his professional début for Hertha, where they would go on to beat Eintracht Frankfurt 6-1 on August 10th, 2013. Brooks has made 79 appearances for his professional club, scoring five goals.
Brooks made his senior team début for the USMNT in July 2013, in the USA’s defeat over Bosnia 4-3. Even though Brooks has never lived a day in the USA, the country already means the world to him. He has a tattoo on his right elbow of Illinois, with a star over Chicago, where his father is from, and a tattoo of Germany, with a star over Berlin, where his mother is from and where he grew up. Brooks almost never made the final 23 man roster for the USA, and some even called him out, questioning why he over former captain Landon Donovan made the team. Brooks would silence those critics on a magical summer night in Natal.
The day was June 16th, 2014. The USMNT opened group play against their rivals Ghana, the team that eliminated them for the past two World Cups. Revenge was on the cards, but on the least likely of ways. The USA started of on fire, with Captain Clint Dempsey scoring in 35 seconds, 5th fastest in World Cup history. Then with a few minutes left to go in the first half, defender Matt Besler would pull up lame with a hamstring injury, where manager Jurgen Klinsmann would pull Besler off, and put in young, unproven, but hungry John Brooks.
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Ghana would tie the USA in the 82nd minute after controlling the game ever since Dempsey’s goal. Many thought it was time for the Americans to just hold on for dear life and hope for a draw, but John Brooks had something to say about that. In the 86th minute, Graham Zusi won a corner for the Americans, and history was about to be written. Zusi floats an amazing ball to the middle of the box, where John Brooks was left unmarked, and wide open for a game changing, and life changing header. Goal. USA 2, Ghana 1. It was absolute ecstasy for Brooks, who looked like he couldn’t believe what happened, overcome with emotion he simply collapsed to the ground in sheer happiness, sending the Ghanaian home with 0 points, and his nation with 3. Johnny Futbol was born.
Brooks became a hero within a matter of seconds, people said you couldn’t even dream to have such an amazing moment like that, but Brooks told reporters that he in fact, had a dream that he would score the winning goal for his team in the closing minutes.
Funny how fate works. Turns unknown and unproven players into stars within one flick of his neck, and now the USA have a new hero, and a defender for the future, in Johnny “Futbol” Brooks.