Photo by ISIPhotos.com
To say there's a German influence on the current U.S. national team is a bit of an understatement these days.
Along with Bundesliga veterans Michael Bradley and Landon Donovan, the national team has also welcomed German-born players Jermaine Jones, Timmy Chandler and David Yelldell into the fray in recent months. The result has been a current U.S. camp where German can be heard being spoken on the field on a regular basis.
"It's like being on the German national team," Donovan joked before Monday's training session in Nashville. Having honed his mastery of the German language during stints with Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern Munich, Donovan said it was good to get practice speaking the language with his new teammates.
Apparently he was getting too much practice speaking German, which led Jermaine Jones to complain recently.
"Why don't you speak English anymore," Jones told Donovan at a recent practice. "I'm trying to learn."