Johnny Cardoso, USMNT’s own Brazilian: ‘I represent a country my parents love’

In pure football terms, his story is as Brazilian as it gets.

Joao Lucas de Souza Cardoso honed his skills on the streets of his hometown and then on the glazed wooden slats of the indoor football field. His childhood hero was Kaka. He rose through the ranks of one of Brazil’s biggest clubs, eventually breaking into the first team as a teenager and securing a move to Europe.

It’s a story as old as time itself – a story whose next chapter will be written this summer, when he represents his country at the Copa America.

In a parallel universe not so far removed from our own, Cardoso is being cast as the great midfield hope of the Brazilian national team – a player who looks capable of playing deep-level games for the next decade.

Instead, when the Copa America begins this week, he will wear the white of the US men’s national team. That backstory isn’t as simple as it might seem at first glance.

The first clue is in the name: the 22-year-old is commonly known as Johnny, a nickname his father gave him when he was a small child. If that indicates a certain American sensibility (Carson, Cash… Cardoso), family history confirms it.

Cardoso’s parents moved to the US in the 1990s. They had no special ties to the country and no jobs on the horizon, just a sense that opportunities awaited them. “They had nothing,” Cardoso says The Athletics. “They went there in hope, looking for a new life. I think they spent a total of four to five years there.”

That was split between two separate spells. During the second, Johnny was born in Denville Township, New Jersey. Three months later, shocked by the terrorist attacks of September 11 and longing for a broader support network, the family left for Brazil permanently.

That might have been the end; Cardoso had American citizenship but grew up in Brazil. However, in 2019, he received a call from USMNT selectors inviting him to an under-23 training camp. He was 17 at the time. He felt a path open before him – the kind his parents had once started searching for.

“When the opportunity came up to play for the US, I didn’t think twice,” he says. “I represent a country that my parents love.”

Johnny Cardoso made his senior USMNT debut in 2020 (Brad Smith/ISI Photos/Getty Images)

Four years later, Cardoso is a regular in the senior team. His impressive performances for Spanish top team Real Betis have put him in talks for a place in Gregg Berhalter’s starting XI. Also on the radars of some of Europe’s top clubs.

If Cardoso does well at the Copa America, there may soon be some dissatisfaction in Brazil that such a talented player was allowed to slip through the net. Not that Cardoso will be trading in hypothetical figures anytime soon.

“I’m sure I made the right decision,” he says with a smile.

Given that he plays as a natural defensive midfielder – he has a rare combination of physicality, intelligence and grace – it is a surprise to learn that Cardoso only took up the position in his late teens.

In indoor football he was usually the pivot and held the ball up during the attack. After graduating to 11-a-side, he played on the wing or, more often, up front. He was good at it too and was therefore surprised when Fabio Matias – then Internacional’s under-20 coach and now assistant manager at Coritiba – told him, seemingly on a whim, that he should one day take on a deeper role in training go play.

“I was really annoyed,” Cardoso laughs. “It made no sense to me. I immediately went home and called my father. ‘Dad, Fabio let me play in midfield!’”

Cardoso Sr told his son to stay calm and talk to his coach the next morning. Matias’ explanation was… well, not much. “Trust me,” he told Cardoso. “This is going to work out well.”

Those words turned out to be prophetic. Inter won the Rio Grande do Sul under-20 championship that season. Cardoso, 17, led the team from just in front of the back four. Remarkably, he still finished the campaign as the team’s top scorer.

“It all happened very quickly,” he says. “I had spent all my youth as a striker, but in six months I became a defensive midfielder.”

Cardoso developed into a midfielder during his time at Internacional (Juan Mabromata/AFP via Getty Images)

It helped that Cardoso is a studious type. “I always read the game very well, which allowed me to adapt,” he explains. “It opened my eyes a little bit more, made me pay attention and learn. I watched videos of players who played in that position: Thiago Alcantara, Sergio Busquets, Rodri, Casemiro. I looked at their body position, when they played the first pass, how they protected the ball.

“Even today I always watch videos of it to see if I can learn something from it. They are top players, top players and that is the level I want to be at. You have to learn from the best.”

Cardoso made his senior debut five days before his 18th birthday. Over the four seasons that followed, he made 144 appearances for Inter, establishing himself as one of the best midfielders in South America.

It wasn’t all wine and roses, though. Brazil, with its fiercely impatient fans and presidents, can be an unforgiving place for a young footballer. Cardoso, like so many emerging talents before him, was booed a few times by his own supporters.

“It was very difficult at first,” he says. “When you progress to the first team, you think everything will be perfect, but there are certain expectations. In Brazil the pressure is so great. If you have seven good games and then one bad one, people want you out.

“At first I would be really down. After a match I received maybe a hundred messages of support and one nasty one, but it hurt me and made me sad. You start to think, ‘Is this really what I dreamed of?’ There was one period where the fans really chased me and that was hard to deal with.”

Fortunately, guidance was available. Cardoso had been working with a psychologist since he was fifteen; when things got tough, he had the perfect sounding board.

“That was essential for me,” he explains. “She taught me how to deal with all the pressure. When I was booed, I had to keep calm and remember that no one makes it to the first team without deserving to be there. I just kept that in my mind, trying to remember that everyone has ups and downs. It has made me stronger. And I’m still working on my mind today so that I can stay at a good level.”

When the time came to leave Inter in January, Cardoso had no shortage of options with Napoli, Brighton, Sporting Lisbon and Galatasaray all sniffing around. However, Betis have always been at the top of the midfielder list.

“It was a matter of feeling,” says Cardoso. “I just had the suspicion that this was the right choice. I thought I could adapt to the city and felt Spain would suit my playing style. I am a very technical player, coming from indoor football. I read the game well and Spanish football is very positional and very organized. I knew it would be easier to adapt here than in, for example, the Premier League.”

Cardoso celebrates his first Betis goal against Athletic Club (Joaquin Corchero/Getty Images)

Based on the evidence of the past six months, it was a wise decision. Cardoso did not expect to find his way into Manuel Pellegrini’s side straight away, but an injury to Argentina’s World Cup winner Guido Rodriguez gave him the chance to make an early impression. Since then he has been a regular in the starting XI and has put in a series of impressive, urgent displays.

“He is very organized and intelligent.” Pellegrini said in February. “He performed well from the first minute.”

Those comments came after an excellent performance against Athletic Club. There have been many more since then.

“It’s not easy to arrive in the middle of the season, but it went well,” Cardoso said. “I learn more here every day. I play at a higher level and spend every day with quality players. Being around guys like Guido, William Carvalho, Marc Roca, Isco… it’s priceless.

“I think I’ve gotten better since I got here. And I can still get better.”

Cardoso was called up to the senior US national team for the first time in 2020, for friendlies against Wales and Panama. He was the first player in over twenty years to be called up from a league outside North America or Europe.

When he arrived at training camp in Miami, there were no other players there. “I was the first to arrive and had to do a session on my own while Gregg and the whole coaching staff watched,” he recalls. “As if I wasn’t nervous enough already!”

Cardoso’s English wasn’t much better then. (It has improved since then, but he still takes classes and speaks with The Athletics in Portuguese.) He feared that a language barrier – and a cultural one – would arise between him and the other members of the squad.

Cardoso and his USMNT teammates with the Concacaf Nations League Trophy (John Dorton/Getty Images)

“I thought they might see me as an outsider because I didn’t grow up in the US,” he says. “But they welcomed me with so much warmth, which really made me feel at home. I feel more comfortable with every call. I get to know everyone and enjoy their company. It was really fun.”

Cardoso was disappointed to miss out on a place in Berhalter’s 2022 World Cup squad – he watched the tournament in Brazil – but has grown in stature in the two years since. He is looking forward to the Copa America and believes the USMNT can be held accountable on home soil.

“There are a lot of good teams in the league, but we have improved a lot,” he says. “We are confident in what we do. When we enter a tournament, we do it because we want to win it, and this is no different.”

When Cardoso was 11, he went on holiday to the US with his parents. By this stage he had a sister and the Cardoso clan arranged a mini nostalgia tour back to New Jersey. They visited the hospital where Johnny was born and their old home in Denville.

That journey is also part of the family’s American story.

“It was very special,” says Cardoso. “My parents have always felt a bond with the USA and playing for the national team has only strengthened that. We feel more and more connected to the US. It’s really cool.”

Cardoso is a fascinating, bright character. He speaks with a calm maturity that belies his youth. He may have grown up Brazilian, but his devotion to the US – “my country,” he calls it – is clear.

However, one obvious question still needs an answer. What if the US and Brazil cross paths at the Copa America? Wouldn’t this new American hero start to feel a little… conflicted?

“They are two countries that I have a real bond with,” says Cardoso, a smile spreading like a wave on his face. “But when the whistle blows, I will defend my country. I want the US to win at all costs.”

And what about his family? Will they know who to cheer for in the stadium? “Oh, they will support the US,” he says. “Otherwise they have to stay home!”

(Top photo: John Dorton/USSF/Getty Images for USSF)