Just when you thought Jermaine Jones' recovery from multiple surgeries to heal a broken leg, now come words that problems with his rehab have reportedly led to a falling out with Schalke 04 manager Felix Magath.
According to German publication Bild, Jones expressed his unhappiness with Schalke's plan for his rehabilitation, stating he needs to rest more so as not to have another setback. Magath didn't agree and the two apparently had it out with Jones ultimately threatening to leave Schalke.
Just how true this whole story is remains to be seen, but what remains clear is that Jones is not making progress toward a full recovery anytime soon, making his potential involvement in the U.S. national team's March 3 friendly vs. the Netherlands appear more unlikely.
We'll keep you posted on any follow-up stories are the denials you might expect from a story like this.
What do you think of this latest news? Starting to wonder if Jones will ever come back? Hoping this is just a minor setback? Dreaming of a scenario where Schalke offloads Jones to Everton, where he recovers, befriends Tim Howard and Landon Donovan, and eventually cements his place on Bob Bradley's World Cup squad (okay, so maybe that's a bit of a stretch).
Share your thoughts below.
yeah, but we might as well file that scenario in th ebin where you’re as like to find the one about Torres discovering he was the lovechild of Senior Bradley and a Spanish barmaid thereby learning he is actually a US citizen….
Look… Bottom line is that he (when healthy) is a mainstay on a side that is ranked 2nd in a league that our captain and (arguably) most important player ‘failed’ to make it in… Twice. To me that goes to show you that he could at least do SOME GOOD on our team. I can definitely see him at least COMPETING for pt with a player the caliber of Ricky Clark.
Of course none of this doesn’t matter if he can’t recover. But, to say that he will NEVER play for the US would be discrediting the importance of top-flight talent and top-flight competition experience to a team that, frankly, hasn’t seen much of it at all.
Edu is far from proven. His Ranger’s career is 11 games so far and he won his spot because Barry Ferguson is a stupid alcoholic. Knee injuries are at least as tricky if not more so than whatever is ailing Jones. So, while I have great faith in Edu , it would be a lot better if Jones can get in the mix.
Jerome,
Where would you play Adu? He plays no defense, is not fast, is very weak and short. His best spot is if the offense revolves around him as it did in the Under whatever teams he played for but that is not how the senior USMNT is designed. Do you remember Justin Mapp? Great on the ball? Much of what the US does is based on quick ball movement. Everytime it went to Mapp all that movement died as he fooled around with the ball. Same thing with Adu, he controls the ball well but eventually, two or three guys overwhelm him and he loses the ball. Of course if the offense were built around him maybe this doesn’t happen so much. It is the same argument everyone has about Clint but he does many other things, like scoring important goals for the US so he gets a pass.
Until Adu develops other skills he won’t play for the US.
In the first Brazil game Casey came on at half time and 11 minutes later Sacha gets a red card. This means, in case you are wondering, that the US was then down to ten men. Casey is not a breakaway threat that a Davies was so in that situation his job is to help out defensively and be available for passes out of defense to relieve pressure. Thoses passes would then go to, most likely Donovan or Jozy. Jozy was short of fitness and Donovan was defensively preoccupied. This left Casey with not a whole to do offensively. They were, after all, playing a Brazil side that are pretty good at keeping the ball especially when they are up a man.
Your criticisms of Casey in this situation is unwarranted. If you get a truck to move furniture, you should not be upset because, in the middle of moving, you suddenly have to chase down a criminal with the truck and find it a bit clumsy to handle.
Oh and most managers can’t count on getting a red card 11 minutes after their subs. Your criticisms are very much shoulda, coulda , woulda and I think meaningless and ill informed..
This strikes me as all a little premature. Its true time is running out for the World Cup prep. However, Jones is , according to all indications a very savvy vet and an exceptional player. So, if he can come close to any kind of game fitness in the next few months I don’t see why he couldn’t make some sort of contribution to the USMNT.
As for Schalke, there is plenty of time to go yet in the season and teams have large rosters for a reason. If this is still going on in two months then you can think about writing off Jones.
Remember there is still plenty of time for USMNT starters to get hurt as well. Everyone has to drive a car right?
Too true.
Could USA use this guy? Sure. But there’s no point anymore wondering when he’s going to come back. It’s better to assume he won’t be ready for the World Cup and that it’ll be an added bonus if he does make it.
Wouldn’t it be “read” it here first? Who knows what will happen, but I would love to see the added drama of Jones playing against his former “employers”. That, plus Donovan’s Bundesliga history and the controversy from our last World Cup meeting with Deutscheland would make for a multi-layered blockbuster of a game.
Davies had a poor performance in the Italy game, missing a CLEAR free header chance that would have tied the game against the Azzuri. Anything new he brought to the game was stopped by the Italian defense.
That kind of led to Bradley trying something new with Casey. He brought him in against Brazil at the half and he set up Altidore on a quick combination that Jozy skied. He then headed a free kick from Donovan off the bar.
Casey spent the Spain, Egypt, and Brazil(2-3) matches coming off the bench to help the team hold the lead, which worked in all the games except the Brazil game(s).
You’re right that Casey probably should show more movement and help a bit more defensively , but when the USA needed a target who draws fouls, holds the ball and redistributes well, and has a nose for goal, Casey stepped in and fit the profile. Davies was great for occasions where the USA was going to get possession, pressure, and chances because he could constantly have the other team on their heels and occupy defenders. Casey was better against teams that pressured the USA because he was an outlet that would be open since there was little pressure on him, and he rarely lost possession with his back to goal. Altidore wasn’t quite ready to fit the profile of a target man. His movement helped, but he couldn’t hold the ball or redistribute the ball as well as Casey or Ching. He started to gain that ability as time went on though.
My Bad You’re right he came on at halftime for the Brazil game, the 1st one!
For some reason I thought he had started, but he still ran around like he was trotting around like it was a pick up MLS game?
He shouldn’t had been on the field! Feilhaber should of come on for Sacha & that way we would of played with 11 men the whole match, then take out Beasely for Davies would of helped a lot too!
Uh, the USMNT isn’t good enough where Jones–even if out of form and unhealthy–would be anything less than an upgrade.
Um….Casey was never a starter in the Confederations Cup. All of his appearances came off the bench.
I almost forgot, Connor Casey didn’t show a damn thing until the game in Honduras, why he was in the Confeds as a starter is beyond me!
Hell he looked like he was just jogging taking it easy in a meaningless MLS game back in Colorado vs Brazil and Italy,WTH?
Then he missed 2 clear clear chances, hell if he makes the point blank goal Jozy pretty much gift wrapped for him Charlie Davies would of had the perfect proof of affection and honor by scoring in the 9t minute, but no after Jozy showed how possesion and hold up should be played specially when you combined it with speed and the ability to turn and GO PAST A DEFENDER, something both Ching and Casey can’t do.
Oh and in San Jose, Costa Rica pretty much everybody in that game sucked really bad and didn’t play hard, except for the 1 guy who got the game under control and was maintaining possesion for the USMNT, Jose Francisco Torres, Bob took HIM OUT!
Instead of taking out Torres, should of taken out Pablo and put in Clark, Put Dempsey on the left mid where he plays at Fulham, 2 holding mids in Clark & Bradley, one that would of helped on offense box-to-box and then he could of put Donovan on the right or left to switch with Dempsey and Torres the CAM creative guy! Then if needed you could of brought in Adu or Davies for Jozy to get fresh legs or for Braldey, but we all know that won’t happen cause of Dad, and play a 4-4-2 which is what we should of played!
Aside from that we had very little defense options on the bench, but DeMerit for Beasley and move Boca to the left might of been better, Bob hardly get a lot out of players!
Dennis dude with all respect aside from the last 2 games in the Confeds and the game in Honduras, when have you seen Bob get all 11 players to play hard, not perform but play hard.
Sacha and Pearce were putting up all kinds of horrible appereances in Columbus and in El Salvador, Ching while known for being a hard worker was hardly working and having 2 assists and 1 goal in over a year and about 12 games in which he started about 8 or 9 of them that’s not very good, I don’t care how many times he “holds up the ball” and in Mexico he may have tried hard but he failed miserably, he couldn’t even trap the damn ball well enough to do his hold up thing even gave it to Howard before the 1st goal to tie the game. Demspey sucked really bad in Mexico, in Utah vs El Salvador and in T&T, in Chicago vs Honduras b4 the Confeds he thought he was in a Joga Bonito commercial and lost the ball on his way to cause the goal that saw us go down 0-1, and missed a point blank pass Feilhaber gave him in front of the goal!
At the Confeds he was lagging it too!
Bob makes really bad choices and the only time he really has looked good, in SA for the Confeds, it was because his usual favorites of Hejduk, Mastroeni, Ching, Sacha, Kljestan either got hurt b4 the trip ( Hejduk&Ching ) sucked so bad in qualifying & confeds that he left them off ( Pablo&Beasley) or got themselves redcarded and played horribly (Sacha)
The guy has repeatedly made horrible choices and bad timed subs, in the final vs Brasil once the tied the game there was no need for Sacha and Bornstein to come in, it should have been Torres for Clark maybe to keep possesion and hang on to the other sub until 1 of the forwards might need a sub or put in maybe Wynne to kill the wing with the speed, which would of helped Dempsey drift center!
Bob is a lot of things but his ability to get consistant effort from his guys is not 1! Even Landon was playing like crap until the last 10 minutes of the El Salvador game from the Mexico game in CLB!
Your source for…”Jones comes from a thug background, and some of his friends are probably up to no good”?
No idea about Jones recovery or how he might fit into the US squad. The clips I’ve seen do indicate he has great moments.
The US is NOT a team that will win based on the brilliance of its individual players, like Brazil, Spain, Portugal, even England. Rather the US must play as a cohesive unit that is hard to break down and rely upon opportunistic chances to score and hope that the talent we do have can get some goals against most teams.
I do believe that more than many other countries the US needs to work very well as a group. That means all 11 and the bench pulling together rather than just an organized back 4 and an attacker or two who can have a couple magic moments in a game. It is a credit to Bradley that he has managed several games in which all the players worked hard for each other and each player worked to help make his teammates better.
I do worry that any new player has the potential to damage that cohesiveness more than he can bring in offsetting talent. Still Bradley has shown he is pretty good at getting great efforts from players and he may be able to fit a new player in with little or no disruption to the team’s chemistry and by most accounts Jones is generally not a difficult player to handle.
Pretty much sums it up. Don’t really see the point in the continuing updates about why he may not be here…
I have a feeling he will play and I’ll be reposting this article after he is our most dominate midfielder come W.C. time to prove that the majority of you are fair weather fans. J.Jones in a Yank jersey would be a HUUUUUGGEE lift in the talent area. Let the man heal. He will be on the pitch come March….
Look man.
I know enough to know that Kluge was playing for Gladbach and never stood out amongst the other players there on a very average team.
Jones has always stood out (not always for good reasons).
Where are you getting this comment,”And counting on someone getting injured or losing form to get in the team is really sad for a player who thinks of himself as a leader.” from?
I’d like to know.
Sorry I didn’t know Schalke wasn’t second. Someone else wrote that, and I just went with it. I didn’t bother checking the table, because I don’t think one or two points will make a heap of difference at the end of the year.
At one point i saw Davies and Jones as possibly being key revelations for the USMNT if they were to progress out of the group stage.
Now I’m hoping Beasely (at right mid and CD up top) and Edu can cover 70% of what i was hoping to get from these two.
Well, you don’t know if they are 3rd or 2nd but you follow the Bundesliga enough to decide that Peer Kluge isn’t very good? And no one likes Schalke ;).
The Kicker rating (I’m guessing thats what you are referring to) is just based on the grades the players receive from the Kicker for each game they play more than 10 minutes (could be 5 minutes I’m not sure), it isn’t very objective and especially player from lower ranking teams aren’t that good represented if your team plays bad it is usually hard to look good ;). By the way Jones wasn’t even ranked in the two seasons before last.
And it isn’t my theory that Peer Kluge might be a replacement for Jones the Kicker wrote that Magath (the Schalke Manager) would want him for exactly that
http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/bundesliga/startseite/518493/artikel_Kluge-als-Kopf-im-Mittelfeld.html
And if not sad how would you call it to hope to get in the team because your team mate get injured?
I think I would rather read John O’Brien articles than Jermaine Jones…
Prediction: After a multitude of SBI commentators’ ‘predictions’ that “Jones will never play for the U.S., Jones returns for his club, plays well, gains a lot of hype from SBI commentators (a la Beasley, Dempsey, Bradley, Bradley, Donovan, Altidore, and every other U.S. player or coach who ever fell in and out of favor for SBI commentators) and eventually debuts for the U.S. in a major competition and performs well enough with great days and bad days in a Yank uniform.
Silence the reactionary hoard.
Kluge isn’t very good. Jones was rated one of the top midfielders in the BL last year. Was Kluge?
Sorry about not knowing if they were second or third.
I don’t like Schalke.
But I’m a USMNT fan, so I know about Jones.
These are all just opinions.
Sorry if I offended anyone, but J-S, I think you’re confusing your opinions with those of Jones.
Your comment…”And counting on someone getting injured or losing form to get in the team is really sad for a player who thinks of himself as a leader” isn’t fair.
All those in favor… AYE
Well he went back to trainning about 2 weeks ago so one month of trainning and one month with the reserves should be enough don’t you think?
I am no longer counting this guy for the US this summer, Edu is already back and healthy enough to go 80 minutes, by the time Jones hits a soccer field Edu will be match ready and probably match fit! This guy was the best player on the field last season from late Jan till the end of the season, it was impressive how much he would dominate the midfield, if they had him I think maybe Rangers might of had a chance at going thru on Champions League, I think between SPL, Scottish Cup and Europa League, I think will be ready and should easily start over Ricardo Clark if Bob sticks to his usual 2 DM lineup, otherwise I think Bradley Jr will team up with Feilhaber for more of a posession type game and better offensive flow, I can see a repeat of that magic he had vs Spain in the 2nd goal.
Mids going to SA next summer should be Demspey, Bradley, Holden, Clark, Edu, Torres, Donovan, Feilhaber and if he only takes 3 forwards or 7 defenders he might take someone else, I really hope he leaves Robbie Rogers out of it, that kid can’t cross worth $hit!
I think the wildcard here is DaMarcus Beasley
Jozy is the only locked forward, and I think Cunningham, Findley, Casey and Ching will battle for the other 3 spots, too bad Cooper seems to be losing ground at the wrong time being injured.
Personally I think I’d rather take Findey and Cunningham and use the other spot for say another mid with speed or another defender but who knows, I think if he keeps playing this way and he does well in Europa we’ll see DMB at South Africa
It seems to me that Bob Bradley wants Jones on the team. Bob Bradley has a very pragmatic streak in him that I think is often overlooked. Bradley may not be the most creative coach, but he will play the best players.
When we lost to Brazil, my initial reaction was: ‘next year we will have Jermaine Jones’. Anyone else?
me thinks so, too
They are not third they are second. And counting on someone getting injured or losing form to get in the team is really sad for a player who thinks of himself as a leader. The experience part might be true but that Schalke wants to buy Peer Kluge (29) who is pretty much the same kind of player don’t really says that Schalke is planing with Jones.
I thought that’s why we were getting Ivan Klasnic back…
As much as I like using the P-word, it’s still a long ways off. Going in 2nd at the break sure is nice though, it sure beats sweating relegation.
Good luck getting the LA chapter going, I’m sure that they’re are more fans all across America, it’s just a challenge to get organized. Click on my name for an English (England based) St Pauli fan forum, it’s a good way to stay connected to the club, I find.
LMAO!!! AHHAAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA
“heard” it here first
From what I could gather, Jones says he’s not ready, and Magath says he’ll listen to the doctors. Don’t know who predicted the February return, Doctors, Jones or Magath. Doesn’t sound like a good relationship.
dude..pleeeease get over yourself. you are extremely annoying
perfect reason that we American fans get no respect talking football in pubs… We don’t need Jones?? Yea, we don’t need Jones like the yankees don’t need Texiara. Was he a godsend?–no. Was he A-rod?–no. Did the Yankee’s still f’ing need him?— Hell yes… it’s spell T-A-L-E-N-T and we don’t have a lot of it and need to take it from where we can… you imbicile
ooo so you rather have players like Ching or Casey on the squad up-top. Ok i get it i guess The World Cup is not about making a difference but i guess who runs around like a robot more…
John O’Brien 2006, even if he does come?
Sounds a bit like posturing ahead of the transfer window to me. NM
C’mon guys, we live in a world of Ron Artest, Ochochinco, and TO’s. I believe that a German raised athlete disagreeing with his coach is child’s play to our lockerroom dramas. Until I see him slap Bob and take over the team, I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.
I really don’t care about this guy at all. We don’t need him he may just be a disruption at this point.
I thought we had moved past the point were we had to find foreign born players that we could hang a jersey on in order to compete. If not, then perhaps we need to find out why we can’t develop enough talent here.
Look guy.
Someone who has no knowledge or expertise in a particular injury isn’t going to ‘boss’ around experts about what is the best option.
The OP was correct in that a coach has no place in an athlete’s rehabilitation. Most manager’s are smart, and realize they play a minor role in rehabilitation.
This is not the first time Magath has had a row with players over injury rehabilitation.
You’re real adamant the bossman does it all, next you’re going to tell me they file the clubs tax returns.
Easy Answer i want you to know that for christmas i will be asking santa to drop your computer from his sled at 20,000 feet thus allowing me to enjoy the comments section without the equivalent of an angry drunk interrupting every 3 minutes. happy holidays everybody!
They are in third because teams have been underestimating them, they have a solid coach that the fans can get behind, and teams haven’t figured them out yet.
As the season wears on, they will have problems due to the inexperience of the kids they’ve been playing.
Some of those kids are bound to get injuries and/ or lose form.
If Jones is fit, he will certainly get into that team. They will need his experience.
I’ve seen something about a supporters club in NYC. That’s awesome. In LA I ran into a guy with one of the old (2001?) Weltpokalsieger-besieger T-shirts. Of course, we exchanged numbers. (That’s how insane the St Pauli cult is!)We are now the unofficial LA chapter.
I agree that Ebbers and Hennings are doing an excellent job in the second league. But if we can get promoted it will be good to have a player with a bit more talent. And it’s always better to get a player now, then to hire some mercenaries in the event of promotion.
Viva St. Pauli!
Non Sequitor: Bocanegra didn’t get of the bench today.
Yea it ain’t gonna happen for him on our national team. Guys, get over it
Well there also has to be concerns around the fact that this drama is unfolding. Will he bring negative drama to the US Men’s National team as well?
Completely agree with you.
I’ve got him penciled in.
Magath is a control freak. At any other club, this would probably be a non-story because we would never hear about it.
All over top leagues there are players that have to deal with injuries like this. But the teams are classy, and nothing gets in the press.
The big problem is that Jones is doing his rehab in Frankfurt. In my opinion, this is probably the source of friction.
Jones comes from a thug background, and many of his childhood friends in Frankfurt are probably up to no good.
Dangerous people+millionaire celebrity=danger
Keep in mind Schalke also have a player called Christian Pander who has been dealing with a chronic injury for the past 2 to 5 years. When he’s fit, Pander is the best ‘pure’ left back in Germany.
I’m sure Magath knows that if he can somehow get both of those guys fit, he can have a chance at the title.
That’s got to be frustrating for a guy like Magath.
Another forward? While it’s cool, but I think Ebbers and Hennings have been doing a sufficient job… Scoring goals isn’t our problem, I’d rather a defender.
If you’re ever in NYC, look up the supporters club we’ve got going on for St Pauli and have a beer with us.