While Charlie Davies and Oguchi Onyewu are making quality progress toward recovery from serious injuries, one potential U.S. World Cup player is not.
Jermaine Jones is still on the sidelines for Schalke 04 and there is still no timetable on his exact return. Schalke 04 press officer Thomas Spiegel told ESPN.com that Jones is no closer to returning to action.
"Unfortunately nothing has changed regarding Jermaine Jones," Spiegel told ESPN.com. "He's still injured and doing his rehabilitation."
Jones has struggled with pain in his surgically-repaired leg, which had a metal plate implanted before persistent pain led to having the plate removed. Jones delayed rehab, coupled with a reported rift with Schalke 04 manager Felix Magath, leaves his future in doubt even if he is able to regain health.
Here are some other stories from Wednesday:
UNITED WINS MANCHESTER DERBY
Carlos Tevez managed to score yet again versus his former club, but Wayne Rooney provided a reminder of who truly is the best striker in Manchester.
Rooney's 90th-minute header gave Manchester United a 3-1 victory and 4-3 Carling Cup semifinal victory over Manchester City on Wednesday. Manchester United will now face Brad Guzan, Brad Friedel and Aston Villa in the Carling Cup Final on Feb. 28.
Here are the highlights:
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ESPN ANNOUNCES WORLD CUP SCHEDULE
The United States-England World Cup opening match will be shown on ABC at 2pm on June 12 as one of the marquee matches highlighted in ESPN's World Cup schedule, which was released on Wednesday.
South Africa and Mexico will kick off the World Cup on June 11 on ESPN. The U.S. team's other matches are Slovenia (June 18, 9:30 a.m./ESPN) and Algeria (June 23, 9:30 a.m./ESPN).
The World Cup Final will air on Sunday, July 11 on ABC at 1:30pm.
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MLS ODDS & ENDS
San Jose is set to break ground on a new practice facility. The news comes after the Earthquakes re-signed forward Chris Wondolowski.
Chivas USA changed the date of its home opener from Sunday, March 28 to Friday, March 26. Chivas USA faces the Colorado Rapids at Home Depot Center.
FC Dallas has waived back-up goalkeeper Ray Burse.
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AWARD TIME
For those of you who may not have heard, the folks at Soccerlens have nominated me as a finalist for the Best Football Writer award. It's a flattering honor to even be among the nominees and SBI readers are more than welcome to cast your votes for me (or for any of the finalists you prefer).
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What do you think of these developments? Starting to lose hope of seeing Jones play in the World Cup? Think Wayne Rooney is the best player in the world right now? Looking forward to watching the entire World Cup in HD?
Share your thoughts below.