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Jones facing injury setback

Jermaine Jones 1 (AP)

Jermaine Jones' chances of making his debut with the U.S. men's national team may have taken a major hit after word that he may need another surgery to address the shin fracture he had surgery for this summer.

Jones had attempted to training with Schalke 04 in recent weeks, but continued to feel pain in his leg, prompting Schalke officials to consider new options, one of which could be to perform another surgery. Schalke manager Felix Magath stated that a decision would be made in the middle of this week on what to do. If Jones undergoes another procedure, Jones would likely be ruled out for the rest of the year as a U.S. national team option.

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Jones is still awaiting clearance from FIFA to be eligible to play for the U.S. men's national team under the new rule that allows players to switch national teams after the age of 21. Defender Edgar Castillo was recently approved for his switch, but Jones delay is said to involve receiving clearance from the German Soccer Federation. Jones played in unofficial friendlies for Germany. Jones had been expected to receive clearance in time for the U.S. team's World Cup qualifiers vs. Honduras on Oct. 11 and Costa Rica on Oct. 14, but that may be moot now given Jones' injury issue.

What do you think of this development? Disappointed that Jones is looking like less of an option this year? Willing to wait as long as it means he could be in the mix for the 2010 World Cup? Anxious to see Jones wearing the USA kit?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. I don’t understand.
    On the one hand, he’s allowed to switch.
    On the other, he needs Germany’s permission?

    That doesn’t sound like being allowed to switch to me.

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  2. It would be an outrage to deny a spot to an american born/american developed player. (Portugal just nationalized a brazilian national for the portugese national team; this is a disgrace; same for Deco). It is especially disgraceful as we are trying to develop our own talent. Jones should at a minimum play in the MLS for 5 years before he is considered. Adu, Jones- enough of these foreigners.

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  3. “Instead of giving an opportunity to a real American like Rolfe,etc, we want to give a valuable spot to Jones? He aint even American. This is an insult to those who have sacrificed everything to develop American players born in America”

    How long have you been following US Soccer? This kind of thing is relatively common not only in this country but in many others as well.

    Jones would walk into the US lineup but if he’s not going to be available until sometime in 2010 I just hope he doesn’t turn out to be, relatively speaking another David Regis, a guy who comes in late in the cycle and probably helps disrupt team chemistry.

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  4. Instead of giving an opportunity to a real American like Rolfe,etc, we want to give a valuable spot to Jones? He aint even American. This is an insult to those who have sacrificed everything to develop American players born in America.

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  5. It’s like in 2006 how every USA fan was praying John O’Brien would heal in time for the World Cup because he was going to be the “savior”

    If Jones heals, fine. If not, the USA will move on.

    Posted by: BigB | September 14, 2009 at 11:40 AM

    ———————————

    Goot Point, because 2006 was a perfect example of success.

    TonyfromQuakeland has it right, J.Jones is a starter on this team if healthy. If not, fine we’ll go on, we’ll find another, but not one of his quality.

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  6. Too bad.. Adding him to the midfield would have been interesting. As much as I was for integrating him in quickly, I have admit he probably should be off the shelf for 2010 and knowing Bradley, he definitely will be.

    Of course come March if he’s starting in Bundesliga and killing it and MB is struggling….

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  7. disappointed. And clearly if he doesn’t factor in by 2010 it doesn’t really matter. What, should we be excited about the 2011 Gold Cup! OH MY GOSH, sheesh. I wish we could play in Euro + U.S.A. Cup 2012….
    Course I will watch the games anyway, hopefully he is entertaining.

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  8. Any chance that can still travel with the team or do light training with the US? there is only so much time… sucks that Edu and Jones went down at the same time. both should be there in january and with the team in the summer

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  9. I still believe in Jones as a player, I have seen him play for its club, Shalcke 04, hes a great aggresive player, well have to wait to see him playing for the Nats… he wont dissapoint us…

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  10. I’ve broken my leg twice before. Once a complete break, once a hairline. For major breaks, it takes about 2-3 months in a cast with screws and plates inserted in surgery. Then, it’s another 2-3 months of PT to get you into walking shape. And then to get into training shape (to counter the atrophy of your calf muscle and to) regain the quickness in your feet, it can take another 3 months. You can treat it agressively, but the timeline is still 6 months or more.

    But my hairline fracture took nearly as long. You believe that it will be a much simpler road because the pain/trauma is so much less and different. You get surgery to encourage the healing and the cast time is less. But after you take a good 2 months off to heal it, it still takes at least another 2-3 months for it to hurt less. And it will still “feel” weak and it will still hurt from time to time, even if it’s healed. According to my orthopedic surgeon, most hairline fractures that do not heal properly are because people are too aggressive in the first few months of treatment.

    I doubt the surgeon screwed up. I just think that Jones probably wanted to get back on the field so badly that he didn’t give it the rest it needed.

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  11. This sucks. But we still have Mo Edu coming back from injury. He is younger, more promising (Jones is in his upper 20’s), and will make the midfield deeper. It’s not like Jones is of Gerrard, Xavi-quality. He will be one of the best players on the team, but not a necessity.

    At this point, we just need to hope Jermaine can get into the January camp. If he can’t get into it, then the hopes of him traveling to South Africa, and building chemistry with the other XI is not looking good.

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  12. USA fans are coming across as lame.

    It’s like in 2006 how every USA fan was praying John O’Brien would heal in time for the World Cup because he was going to be the “savior”

    If Jones heals, fine. If not, the USA will move on.

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  13. Jones or no, we need to win our next game to qualify; that hasn’t changed. Jones needs to get his legs right, and then Bradley can call him into some camps for friendlies to see how he plays/gels with the rest of the team. Nothing’s really changed in that regard.

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  14. “Lets face it, we could really use his flamboyent pointing abilities in midfield.”

    Posted by: Rory | September 14, 2009 at 10:33 AM
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    Bravo, Rory. That cracked me up.

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  15. So, we now have an update on J.Jones. What about M. Edu? When’s he going to start training again and get back on the field for Rangers?

    Ives, any update on Edu?

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  16. We have time before the WC. Just because he didn’t play in Qualifiers does not mean he cannot make the final roster. We’ll have plenty of friendlies to get him into the team. Let’s just wish the guy a speedy recovery.

    It seems we’re missing out on Jones, but do we at least get Mo Edu back in time for 10/09?

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  17. It’s obvious that we need to go ahead and plan to not have him. We can’t build up all of our hopes on a guy who may or may not be ready to contribute to the team. If he manages to get healthy, great, he can come off the bench.

    We have other DMs who can play the position for us and hopefully we get to see Edu in October.

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  18. I’m really starting to wonder if Jones’ injury woes will get in the way of him being a impact player for this next WC. At least we have depth at this position.

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  19. I hope he gets better, Im still concerned about his clearence, I wonder why the German Football Federation is not answering the questions or whats going on with the procedure, I hope they dont want to retain Jones or wait for Jones to get healthy and doing something under the water.

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  20. People are saying he might just get the screws removed, so worse case scenario, not a huge deal, just some healing. Still expecting him to be starting in SA.

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  21. This is an absurd and extremely unfair FIFA rule. Play for the country you were born in. ata minimum it should be required you lived in the country for 25 years. Portugal recently nationalized a brazilian just days (!!!!) before their most important World Cup Qualifiers against denmark and Hungary. FIFA Fair Play? What (crap). France has half their team born in Africa. That aint no French team.

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  22. Dman: Yes, he will come off the bench…in time for the national anthem and the opening kick.

    This will make it harder to work him in before WC SA, which raises the threat of upsetting team chemistry. That’s my only concern.

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  23. Before we get all riled up, let’s wait and see what his doctors say mid-week. It just doesn’t make any sense to sit and speculate when nobody completely knows the situation.

    At this juncture, his benefit to the MNT is minimal. He’s most needed after qualifying for the WC, but if it doesn’t pan out, then I don’t think the MNT was ever “hanging hopes on him.”

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  24. This player will be important to us in SA, making sure he’s healthy by that time is the most important, whether it means him getting surgery or not. It is a worry if he is not able to get adequate time with the USMNT team, but itll probably be a minor surgery that will only put him out for 3 months a most. Which will be in plenty of time for the WC.

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  25. Bummer as I was looking forward to see him play and if the hype is warranted. But we better get ready for at least one or maybe 2 more starters to miss the WC due to injury. Happens every cycle.

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  26. ummm, it would been nice to see him in october but let’s face it, we’re going to qualify no matter what.

    I guess we have to implement him in the team during next year’s friendlies.

    Reply

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