Jermaine Jones takes to Instagram ... 'It's the truth'
- by Paul Kennedy @pkedit, Oct 14, 2017
Jones said there was no point talking about what went wrong in qualifying. And he said he had nothing against MLS. But ...
He doesn’t want another MLS coach as the USMNT coach. "I prefer to get a coach in with a name and a strong personality.”
He doesn't want a USMNT coach picking players who won't move to Europe. "We make it too easy for the younger generation."
MLS players aren't ready to play on USMNT. "It’s tough to bring some players in from MLS, and you have to teach them the easy soccer thinking."
USMNT with an MLS-dominated team isn't the same in the Hex. "People lose the respect for you. It gets tougher and tougher to play in Concacaf qualifying."
And then there's his story about how Juergen Klinsmann had him call Jordan Morris to try to convince him sign with Werder Bremen instead of staying at home with the Seattle Sounders ...
"He said, 'You know what, I want to go home, my dad is a doctor in Seattle, and my mom, they bought me and my girlfriend a dog' and kinds of stuff.” Jones, with a confused look, looked into the camera again and said, "I was, 'Really? Why you go the easy way when you have the chance?'"
30 comments about "Jermaine Jones takes to Instagram ... 'It's the truth'".
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Jordan Morris grew up in Seattle. His father is the Sounders' team doctor
So? The hard choice is to go abroad like Pulisic, who has thrived. MLS is not the answer for US but is for the rest of CONCANCAF players.
I'm not fan of Jermaine but he is spot on.
Jordan Morris is going to be Landon Donovan 2.0.
We can only hope but odds are he will never reach Landon's level. Some people are still mad at Landon for not playing in Europe but the fact is he reached a very high level without doing so. I agree we are better off with our young players spending some time in Europe but Landon is not the person to cite as an example of that. If we had a squad full of guys as good as LD, there would never be a chance of us not qualifying for the world cup.
The greatest USA player ever? We could only hope Morris becomes 1/2 the player LD was with the USMNT. However, I sincerely doubt that will happen. Otoh, I do think it helps U.S. players to ply their trade in Europe.
The Landon comment is the truth. Landon Donovan is the reason why American-born players don't want to jump to Europe. They can start on an MLS team today or have to work their butts off on a reserve team in Europe like Donovan did. Maybe Donovan would have eventually cracked into the lineup, maybe not. He didn't want to stick around long enough to find out. Now kids like Morris want to be the MLS-Superstar-Landon-Donovan, not the Leverkusen-who-is-Landon-Donovan.
I don't know about that. Pulisic just turned 19 and makes $8m a year. That's more than anyone in MLS has ever made, including Landon. Kids today don't like money?
Not in MLS.
Good for Jermaine yes he is right. I used to tell my players your only as good as your last game. You have to put them under pressure to get the most out of them.
When the Metrostars first started there was a flank player that had three good games in a row. I swear he was never that good again. He was looked at by the national team.
he was traded to another team then another team then another team he became a your eyes man player. Played for ten years at least in the MLS. I always thought how is this guy still playing in the mls. Then our national team was short a flank player for a game. He is back on the national team talk about dead wood.
yes we need a foreign coach not an American coach. Who it is I don’t know. Some of the guys I liked are probably with other clubs now or they are dead.
The 2002 team that made it to the World Cup quarterfinal where it outplayed Germany and lost primarily due to lousy officiating had lots of MLS players. And the MLS was much weaker then.
Which is the irony, isn't it? That 2002 team of 23 had 11 playing outside MLS, but the MLS players had a lot to prove and were'nt making millions at the time. In fact, a good showing in 2002 enabled the half of the team that wasn't in Europe to play over there:McBride (everton, fulham), Mathis (Hannover), Beasley (PCS, Rangers, Hannover), donovan (leverkusen, bayern, everton), Wolff (1860).
The USMNT quality, circa 2002, was superb compared to the last two WC squads.
Wow, JJ. Although you are entitled to your opinion like anyone else, but to end it in "it's the truth" in a Trumpesque way is laughable and questionable at best. i forgive you on that fault, but what I find out of character is to act as Jurgen Klinsmann "German" informant /persuader to convince another footballer against hus decision which most likely was an unrequested advice. Last, to spill the beans on what it should be a private moment to simply prove your point is low and quite disgusting. I hope you were man enough to talk to Morris if it was okay with him to divulge such event before doing so. That in itself is an act of a gossipy person and one not to be trusted with.
News flash: professional soccer players are not normally endowed with the largest of hard drives.
Football Forever. He is entitled to his opinion and his comment sounded more sincere than all the other rants I’ve seen. It is the truth that no one really wants to touch on because everyone is trying to push the MLS to be better than it currently is. Foreign basketball coaches want their players to play in the NBA because it’s the highest level of professional basketball. MLS is not the highest level of soccer period. Your comment is actually more Trumpesque by deflecting the point of the statement and focusing on his supposed character.
Football Forever. He is entitled to his opinion and his comment sounded more sincere than all the other rants I’ve seen. It is the truth that no one really wants to touch on because everyone is trying to push the MLS to be better than it currently is. Foreign basketball coaches want their players to play in the NBA because it’s the highest level of professional basketball. MLS is not the highest level of soccer period. Your comment is actually more Trumpesque by deflecting the point of the statement and focusing on his supposed character.
@R2 Dad "News flash: professional soccer players are not normally endowed with the largest of hard drives"
I thought it was more clever than a personal attack, but you do you.
Another point most people don’t realize is that our players want to go to Europe and play and the teams are actually interested. It the current MLS teams that are now making it more difficult for them to make the move. Pulisic has an EU passport so they couldn’t rally impact him. I know of other players that their MLS clubs literary blocked their moves or made unreasonable demands that scared the team off.
Perfectly said
Why should be expect anything else from a Euro? Can't expect him to understand an American player. We failed to qualify for the first time since 1986 with the players chosen and developed by a German Euro who left our best player off the World Cup roster last time. Jermaine, see how well that worked out? Bruce could not correct enough of the problems caused by Klinsmann. Rather than blaming US players, perhaps you should take a long look at yourself and realize that you never made the team better.
Small detail you're conveniently forgetting: JJ was the best player for the USMNT at the 2014 World Cup. What was he supposed to do, replace Jozy when he got injured?
J.Jones doesn't mince words, and yet, bloggers continue hoping that the great American player will arise from the MLS. It won't happen for the next 10 years or longer, guaranteed So why take it out on Jone who tells it the way it is based on his experiences. No doubt, L.D. was a solid player, the best ever developed in the U.S.A. He had his moments in the WCs, but he never realized greatness. As for Morris, good player, will never reach LD's accomplishments. He lacks passion and drive to excel which are the primary ingredients of great players.
I don't have a problem with his expressing his opinion but I don't think he should have mentioned the phone call with Jordan Morris. I doubt Morris expected what he said to be made public.
I don’t see the comment as that bad. A lot of people were curious as to why Jordan Morris did not go to the bundesliga. At the end of the day is was a decision by Jordan regardless of anyone else’s opinion.
Mary Stock, MNTs Bundesliga Boys (YouTube) Jermaine has a good head and is right on. I am excited about a new coach. I have two in mind. Both in Europe. It's just too big a step up a mile for an MLS coach. I have already started pulling stuff together. But first we have to address a huge issue and do something about it: Why this team constantly has to have crises before they can perform decently (after the honeymoon 6 months - a yr. with a new coach}. My conclusion is that this team should be broken up. They will continue to operate this way as long as they are on the team. That we should start anew with the young guys. And aim for a whole new training regimen that will announce them to the world as a completely different, powerful team when we're through. Pulisic, McKennie, Sargent, Weah (see what he did in the U_17 WC today) and several in the UK. Incl. of course, Yedlin. Bobby Wood. Fabian is retiring. I know we need a few older ones. Jermaine is absolutely necessary. B/c he's so good teaching the younger ones. But the others must go. Pick some older ones like Williams who is now with Huddersfield and w/ an amazing powerful coach. They won't be tainted w/this crisis psychology. In 2022 we will have some 21 - 24 year olds that can really play.
Mary S., I feel your pain; but unless the potentially gifted can prove their metal after the U-17/U-19 & U21 competitions, either that potential blossoms or disintegrates.
Mary Stock, MNTs Bundesliga Boys (YouTube) I don't get your meaning. Talking about "either that potential blossoms or disintegrates." That happens with every player of any age on the pitch. They are always being evaluated and changed if they're not up to the standard the coach wants. Just a few weeks ago, a 20-year-old, Ousmane Dembele, was sold by Dortmund to Barca for $105 million plus $45 million in variables. That price could go up to $175 million. His job now? NOT to be the replacement for Neymar. It's to START LEARNING to be the replacement for Newmar. Dembele and the management at Barca have been specific about that. He's still learning. Yes, the USMNT CAN start young! Dortmund did. And they're sitting on a pile of money b/c of it. They also started young with Pulisic at age 17 on the first team. Both of them have turned out very well on the pitch and in the bank (Pulisic makes $8 million at age 19.)
Part of the issue is we are prioritizing playing veterans and winning meaningless games over developing a player pool. Germany had the largest number of starters for the euro qualifiers and still went undefeated. They won the confederates cup without any of their veteran players. The US on the other hand were so focused on trying to beat Jamaica and win the gold cup versus using the tournament as an opportunity to expand its player pool.