FIFA has approved Jermaine Jones' application to switch from the German national team to the U.S. men's national team.
The announcement comes after months of speculation about the switch, but now the approval is a bit anti-climactic since the U.S. team has already qualified for the 2010 World Cup and Jones is currently sidelined after his latest surgery to repair a fractured leg.
Jones played for the German senior national team in three friendlies, but was allowed to switch national team thanks to FIFA's new rule allowing players with dual citizenship to switch national teams after the age of 21. Jones' father is American.
What do you think of this news? Glad to see the process finally completed? Will you be waiting for the Jermaine Jones USA patch on FIFA 10? Anxious to see him in a U.S. national team uniform?
Share your thoughts below.
I’d like to see something like this. Again we can change out players depending on the need, but this I think gives us the best chance to win:
———-Altidore———-
-Donovan———-Dempsey—
—–Torres—-Bradley——
———–Jones————
Bornstein-Boca-Onyewu-Cherundolo
Having Jones deep in the midfield would allow bornstein and dolo the opportunity to move forward and one of the central backs to slide out if someone breaks down the wing. It also gives us a very creative and pacey front 5 who could creat opportunities and chances. Bring Feilhaber in for torres bradley or dempsey if you see them fading and demerit in for bornstein if he can’t handle the job, sliding boca out.
Hell Yeah!
Agree…Donovan is best when he has space in front of him where he can run at defenders and create opportunities.
Way too many guys that like the center of the field. Flanks would be wide open.
I don’t know. I really liked Torres’ defensive play in this last game. He came in hard, didn’t foul, and won the ball. Plus he was great in distributing the ball, with crisp, decisive passes. If he plays like that all the time, he’ll be starting for a long, long time.
Tax evasion on overseas income is very serious. For those that follow politics/business news, you know that Obama/IRS have made a massive effort to collect taxes on American money stored in Switzerland and other countries.
I am certain his agent could tell us whether he has filed his taxes and paid the millions of $’s to the IRS, since he claims to be an American citizen. A quick phone call could determine the answer. Would we want a tax cheat to represent the stars and stripes? Who wants to bet Jermaine renounces his citizenship?
If I were Jermaine Jones , I would be very careful at the US passport control desk. The IRS could be waiting. Someone could have tipped them off that there is a multi-millionaire high profile athlete that has failed to even file taxes in the US for over 10 years. Can you say jail time?
US players playing overseas must pay US federal taxes. The US taxes world-wide income. Jones is claiming US citizenship status. Therefore he must pay back taxes assuming he hasnt paid in the 35-40% federal income taxes the last 10 years. He probably earned 10- 15 million $’s during this time. So, he probably owes about 5 million $’s in back taxes. With penalties and interest, probably closer to 10 million total restitution. This is a big fish for the IRS. Could also mean jail time if he never even bothered to file his tax form. This guy is in a lot of trouble; whether he plays for the US or not. If I were him, I would renounce my citizenship immediately or face the IRS wrath.
People, people. This is the correct lineup (with everyone we expect to be healthy for the World Cup).
—Dempsey-Jozy—
——Bradley—–
Torres——Donovan
——-Jones——
Boca——Spector/Dolo
–Onyewu-DeMerit—
^truth, LOL
I hope you are doing this just to get under our skin and are not actually this ignorant.
Would you like birth documents for all of the other USMNT players? Who knows? They might have been born in Canada…or even worse…Mexico! You probably don’t think Jose Fransico Torres is American.
The USMNT players that live/play abroad don’t pay income taxes to the US government! Should they not be able to play for the USMNT anymore?
Oh and please don’t disrepect his father who served YOU and our nation! Please go play in traffic.
what Isaac knows everything! Chris you better back off!
I guess you became a supporter of the US MNT in 2002? You could not have rooted for the Team in 90 with Wegerly on it. You could not have rooted for the team in 94 with Dooley on it, and in 98 Regis and Dooley were on the team. So I guess you withheld your support for at least those years and probably way before then. I am curious as to why you started supporting the US MNT?
You. Are. Dumb.
Statement: “Scams are perpetrated frequently to obtain the social welfare [sic] benfits in [sic] america. It would not be the first time that a US passport was obtained fraudulently.”
Response: This is true. The only problem with this line of argument is that the BRD now and then has and had more generous social benefits. *Poof* There went your incentive. He wasn’t born in Kenya.
Plus… Are you really suggesting that there was some sort of record fraud? In Germany? Don’t you remember your history? The reason we were able to prosecute at Neurmberg so effectively was because their record keeping was impeccable. The DDR’s Stasi had a file on damn near everybody, East and West.
Statement: “Since Jermaine has taken to ostensible steps to be part of the US, I would want him to prove it. Yes, DNA paternity testing.”
Response: The man holds a US passport. WTF more do you want.
Statement: “If I am chris Rolfes agent I would demand a DNA test. If I represent Logan Pause, Riley, Bradley, or any number of American born soccer players, I would file a lawsuit for DNA testing. But as a USMNT supporter, I would be against his selection even if he passes a DNA paternity test.”
Response: They’re not entitled to that, and neither are you.
If you want to argue that he shouldn’t be picked because he’s not good enough, fine. But if you want to spout off that he’s ineligible because he’s not American, then I repeat myself: FFS, go away birther.
This is definitely what I would like to see. Now if BB would only see it that way….. Dempsey really plays best up top. This leaves Donovan where he has been the most successful and would give Jones the room to get the job done.
Ummm, he did live here with his parents (Chicago and Mississippi) until they divorced, at which time he returned to Germany with his mom. Unless you think his father brought over a child that wasn’t his to make him a citizen, your argument makes no sense.
Haven’t seen Jones play, but it looks like US best players are generally midfielders. Ives, any thoughts on players that could possibly transition to fullbacks for the WC (maybe Bradley, Edu, Jones, Holden, …) similar to Spain to get more of the best players on the field and solve some of the defensive liabilities?
Taylor,
Before you get too excited about Rico’s dimensions, maybe you have heard of Claude Makalele, late of France, Chelsea, Real Madrid , etc., with a lot of medals behind him?
He is considered perhaps the prototypical defensive midfielder of the earlier part of this decade. He is 5’7″ and 152 pounds. Look him up on Google.
Tom, don’t waste your breath with this guy. He’s probably never been out of Springfield (except with his Aryan soccer team that pounded the German national age group champions; They probably ate at McDonald’s while abroad). Anyway, this is the same advocat who thinks the Sounders are in MLS just because David Beckham is here.