The 26-year-old could easily have been lining up alongside the likes of Gylfi Sigurdsson and Birkir Bjarnasson at next summer's tounament but instead he chose a different path, one that he may now be regretting.
Born to Icelandic parents in Alabama (USA), the striker moved to Iceland when he was three, playing for a number of youth sides in his parents' homeland before enjoying a brief spell at the IMG Soccer Academy in the USA.
Johansson went on to sign his first professional contract with Fjolnir in his homeland, before earning himself a series of moves, leading his eventually to current club Werder Bremen.
During his time with Danish side Aarhus, the then-22-year-old, who had already represented the Icelandic U21 side, was forced to choose which country he wanted to represent at full international level.
His dual-nationality afforded him the choice, and whilst playing for the US was not something which the player had ever considered previously he admitted that "It would be very difficult to reject" the oppotunity should Jurgen Klinsmann make the call.
The decision was almost taken out of his hands when he was called up by Iceland for 2014 World Cup qualifiers against Cyprus and Switzerland but he was forced to withdraw from the squad through injury.
After this unexpected boost, the US made sure that they didn't miss out a second time, calling up Johannsson, who gratefully accepted and explained that by choosing the US "my chances of qualifying for the World Cup will be much higher".
Whilst he was partly right, the player made one appearance for the USMNT at 2014 World Cup, coming on after 23 minutes for an injured Eddie Johnson in a clash against Ghana, that was as far as his involvement went. That appearance will prove scant consolation when he considers the role he could have in the Icelandic team today, who after causing shock and awe at EURO 2016 have one again defied all odds to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
As they say, karma is a...erm blighter. Johannsson is certainly going to be in for an interesting summer, perhaps back home surrounded by his Icelandic family, watching his countrymen make history and thinking about what might have been.