Jermaine Jones was a player who truly made a name for himself in American soccer during the back end of his career. The German-born defensive midfielder lived in Chicago and Mississippi during his childhood. His career, though, started and mostly took place in Germany. He spent most of his time at Schalke 04, making 129 appearances for the club. Jones made 3 caps for Germany, before declaring for the United States and joining the federation in 2010. He starred for the US in the 2014 World Cup, the place where many fans first learned his name. He had his big moment in the match against Portugal, in which he took a touch before ripping a curling strike into the bottom corner. He played every single minute of the 2014 United States World Cup run.
The manner in which he joined Major League Soccer was a very unique one. Due to the single-entity structure of the league, Jones was virtually signed by MLS. After New England and Chicago expressed interest in signing him, and had the means to do so, a blind draw was held on a video call. New England won the draw, Jones later claimed it was rigged, though the officials involved have denied those allegations. Regardless of where Jermaine wanted to land, he was assigned to the New England Revolution, and immediately played a massive role.
The Revs landed Jones on a Designated Player deal, the fourth DP in club history. He debuted on August 30th, 2014, in a match against Toronto FC. Fresh off the World Cup, this signing was massive for the market and brought tons of eyes onto the Revs. In his next three matches, the CDM registered an assist in each. He showed his ability in his first assist against Sporting Kansas City, settling the ball and playing a long switch to Teal Bunbury for a deflected goal. In the next match against Chicago, Jones received the ball back to goal, before knifing through four Fire defenders and playing a perfect through ball for Charlie Davies to run onto and score. Davies celebrated with a nice jig, then a layup, as if to say the pass was so good all he had to do was lay it in. In the next game against Montreal at Gillette Stadium, Jones notched a secondary assist in one of the most well-worked goals a team can score. Lee Nguyen set a no-look layoff for Jones, he chipped it onto the head of Davies, the flick on fell back for Nguyen, where he was able to scoop it into the back of the net. On September 26th in Kansas City, Jermaine Jones registered his first goal for the club, taking his space and launching a game-winner into the bottom corner from distance. In the following match, Jones headed down a free kick that found the back of the net.
The New England Revolution finished second in the Eastern Conference in 2014, only behind DC United. They finished the season with an incredible 8-1-1 record after the arrival of Jermaine Jones, his presence in midfield changed the entire team. In the first round, the Revs played Columbus. In the first leg, Jones played Nguyen, who made a long darting run to score, giving Jones an assist. The Revs won the series 7-3. Next up was the New York Red Bulls. In the 85th minute of the first leg at Red Bull Arena, Bunbury squared a ball to Jermaine Jones, who was able to slide it into the net and take a 2-1 lead. They pushed onto MLS Cup 2014, a date with LA Galaxy. Jones played his heart out, just like he had since his arrival, but the Revs were beaten by Robbie Keane's late strike in their fifth MLS Cup loss.
In 2015, after such a magical run, Jermaine Jones returned to the Revs for the final year of his contract. Jones was pushed into a much more defensive role during this season, even playing at center back for a good portion of the matches. He did not register any goal contributions in this different role. The Revs finished fifth in the Eastern Conference. They were slated to play DC United in the knockout round. After a 92nd minute PK was not called after Jones touched it off the arm of Sean Franklin, he lashed out at the referee, Mark Geiger. His last ever action as a member of the Revolution was receiving a red card, though it was as a result of passion for his team.
After Jones did not come to an agreement to sign further with the Revs, he was traded to the Colorado Rapids. Just 21 minutes into his Rapids debut, he scored a first-time shot in a winter wonderland. The Rapids played Jones in a much more attacking role, sort of as an attacking midfielder. Twenty minutes into the second match versus Seattle, Jones headed home a free kick from a deep area. Two matches later, Jones stepped into a shot, swerving it into the side netting against Real Salt Lake. It was a flying start in burgundy. In June, Jones was away from the club at the Copa America, in which the United States made it all the way to the semi-finals. Jones returned to Colorado for one game, which was one of his last, as he suffered a long-term hamstring injury. He returned in time for the playoffs, with the Rapids finishing second. They made it past the Galaxy in penalties, setting up a series against Seattle. Jones provided an assist to Kevin Doyle for the first goal of the series. Colorado would not score again and Seattle went onto win MLS Cup.
In December, the LA Galaxy traded for Jermaine Jones, giving up SuperDraft capital to get him. On April 17th, 2017, Jones opened his Galaxy account against Montreal. Jones ran in all the way from the center circle, then slotted it into the back of the net. Unfortunately, he suffered a knee sprain that saw him miss the middle months of the season. He retuned in the summertime, providing four assists on the year. The Galaxy finished dead last in the Western Conference. Jones left the club, next playing one match for Ventura County Fusion of the USL Premier Developmental League, now USL League Two. He finished his career indoors, scoring 10 goals in 5 matches with the Ontario Fury. On February 20th, 2020, Jermaine Jones retired from professional soccer.
Nowadays, Jermaine Jones serves as the USMNT U19 Assistant Coach. He spent his time post-retirement getting all the certifications necessary for coaching. Jones has also spent some time as a TV analyst. One can only imagine how high Jermaine Jones would be on this list if he spent more time in MLS, and had spent less time sidelined with injuries. He was undoubtedly the top #6's in the league each time he stepped onto the pitch. His impact was immeasurable, especially during the magical cup run during his first year with New England. For all of these factors, Jermaine Jones finds himself at #66 on the list.
YEAR | CLUB | MINUTES | GOALS | ASSISTS |
2017 | LA | 1,588 | 1 | 4 |
2016 | COL | 725 | 3 | 2 |
2015 | NE | 1,312 | 0 | 0 |
2014 | NE | 613 | 2 | 4 |
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