Photo by Winslow Townson/USA Today Sports
By RYAN TOLMICH
An injury suffered in Sunday night’s MLS Cup rematch has ruled Jermaine Jones out of the U.S. Men’s National Team’s upcoming friendlies.
The New England Revolution midfielder departed with a groin injury in the 35th minute of Sunday night’s 2-2 draw. As a result, U.S. Soccer announced Monday that Jones will not take part in the team’s upcoming friendlies, including a matchup with his native Germany, although no replacement will be named for the veteran midfielder.
Jones is just one of numerous USMNT regulars set to miss out on the friendlies, as Jozy Altidore and Alejandro Bedoya will be absent due to injury, while Clint Dempsey will remain home to await the birth of his fourth child.
The U.S. squad, which was announced on Sunday, is currently gathering in Amsterdam ahead of a June 5 matchup with the Netherlands before taking on Germany in Cologne five days later. With the Gold Cup looming, the pair of friendlies are the team’s last trip abroad before this summer’s tournament. The U.S. will take on Guatemala on July 3 in Nashville in what will be the team’s final pre-tournament tune-up.
Here is a closer look at the updated roster following Jones’ removal:
GOALKEEPERS: Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake), William Yarbrough (Club Leon)
DEFENDERS: Ventura Alvarado (Club America), John Brooks (Hertha Berlin), Timmy Chandler (Eintracht Frankfurt), Brad Evans (Seattle Sounders FC), Michael Orozco (Puebla), Brek Shea (Orlando City SC),DeAndre Yedlin (Tottenham Hotspur)
MIDFIELDERS: Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Michael Bradley (Toronto FC), Mix Diskerud (New York City FC), Miguel Ibarra (Minnesota United FC), Fabian Johnson (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Alfredo Morales (Ingolstadt), Danny Williams (Reading FC)
FORWARDS: Juan Agudelo (New England Revolution), Aron Johannsson (AZ Alkmaar), Bobby Wood (1860 Munich), Gyasi Zardes (LA Galaxy)
What do you think of the U.S. squad without Jones? Who do you see taking Jones’ place in the lineup? What kind of lineups do you expect Klinsmann to utilize?
Share your thoughts below.
Judging from the list given to the USMNT kit guy posted on Twitter, Jordan Morris was called in as a replacement.
On a more serious note, it doesn’t matter who Klinsmann plays or what the result is, for most here he is the soccer messiah we’ve been waiting for and will take us to the semis in Russia 2018. It does not matter! Ohh man, how I miss the good old Bradley and Arena days of bunker and counter (at least it was a s or more effective). We beat Mexico at a relevant tournament to reach the last eight in a WC, gave Germany a hell of a game and almost made it at least to extra time with a chance to make it to the semis; we beat Spain in the middle of their dominant spell in world stage to reach the finals of a major tourney for the first time. Now, I just kick back, open a cold one and watch to see the circus perform hoping they will play trick I may like. Thank you.
Really surprised Evans is still going. He has had chronic calf problems and left game with “tightness ” in left calf. With his bad luck injury-wise sounds like he should stay home and rest.
why not get dax mccarty a look.
of all times we could really use some roster supplements. you don’t just drop Jones, Dempsey and Bedoya; after ruling out Cameron, Garza, Jozy and not name a replacement before facing two of the best teams in the world!
id add Kitchen, Shipp and Zusi. all in good form. not going to be game changers vs Germany but should be there.
iv never been the type to over hype most MLS players but there are a significant group of quality players in their primes in MLS that Jurgen has completely ignored. for the longest time i was okay with that realizing that they were not at this level; but right now this roster could use some help!
Why would you take MLS players with two matches this week (Kitchen and Shipp) when they are never going to play? Why anger their teams unnecessarily? (Same reason Hamid isn’t there, I think)
My first 11:
GK: Guzan
D(R-L) Chandler, Alvarado, Brooks, Shea
DM: Bradley
LM: Morales
RM: Johnson
AM: Diskerud
F: Agudelo and Johannsson
love this. book it JK
J. K. is clearly rolling with this:
My first 11:
GK: Yarborough
D(R-L) Orozco, Alvarado, Brooks, Shea
DM: Beckerman
LM: Morales
RM: Williams
AM: Bradley
F: Agudelo and Johannsson
This seems to be the most logical lineup making me wonder why people are so mad about the call ups. with full strength you’d just insert jozy and clint for AJ and Juan, insert Bedoya for Morales and Yedlin for Chandler and there’s a strong lineup.
I actually think the player we will miss the most is Bedoya. There is a real deficiency in wing play on this roster and in our pool in general. We were always going to have trouble attacking these teams, but there is a lot of pressure on Fabian Johnson now, as we will almost certainly have to attack down whatever side he is on. Wonder if Klinsmann will concede the other flank and play another defensive midfielder like Williams. Mixed results with this kind of plan in the past, but seems like the best bet to keep from being overrun. Huge opportunity for AJ or Agudelo. The defense is talented, but awful young to face this level of competition.
Not only that, but I love seeing FabJo playing fullback behind Bedoya. Bedoya’s interchange play is so good, and it really helps Fabian get into dangerous attacking positions. They work great together.
Bedoya really is one of those players who makes everyone around him better, with his ability to help retain possession with good quick accurate passing, and with his ability to regain possession by doing hard work defensively. Not having him really does hurt.
I think this roster is still somewhat experimental. It will be more interesting to see who is called in for the Gold Cup. Assuming good health, I’d expect Cameron, Garza, Omar, perhaps Zusi to be included, and Ibara, Wood, Evans, maybe Orozco not to make it.
It will also be interesting if any of the U-20 or U-23 guys are included – Morris, Green, Zelalem, Hyndeman, etc., etc.
I wouldn’t want any U-23 until they beat France U-20 or CR U-23.
Some under 17’s player for 5 to 10 minute cameo.
sorry ppl, freaking auto correct murdered my first comment! The squad is already shorthanded to begin with so in you guys opinion why is a replacement not being brought in? This roster could have been a whole lot better/deeper even with the rash of injuries and considering who our competition is this could get ugly quick, and I’m usually a pretty optimistic guy!
The squad isn’t shorthanded in terms of players being there, with 22 people called in that is more than enough for the two friendlies. Also, I believe that Jones and Agudelo were only going to play in the first game and then return to the states anyways.
While I think JK has said the experimenting is done, the gold cup roster needs molding and wants to see if some of the people he has been testing can handle the pressure so it isn’t entirely meant to be our top team but moving towards the formation of the Gold Cup Roster.
Why do you think Klinsi brought in Beckerman? He always has a plan B, except during World Cups when he loses his only 1/4 decent striker to a hammie.
I just don’t understand a lot of these callupsand we’ll was the lack of callups to boot smh….to continue to call up Ibarra, to only keep him on the bench serves what purpose?? JK can’t seriously think he can consistently contribute to the team at the moment because we’ve all seen him in games use a lot of pace but little else. To not take brad Evans to the WC but now all of sudden he’s back on the picture is a head scratcher and how is Feilhaber not on this roster?? We may really get embarrassed in these next two games and if that’s the case Sunil needs to co solder some changes!
Will there be a replacement?
The article states that no replacement will be called in
Most likely too hard to get clearance from a team for a game that is only 4 days away AND you’ve already got plenty of back-ups for whatever role he was planning on playing.
He faked that $%!#. He is just tired of Klinsmann and his “experiments.” Cue Klinsi fanboys.