FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Jermaine Jones can’t help but notice the similarities.
Last year, Jones debuted for the New England Revolution in late August, making a 25-minute appearance off the bench in a 3-0 win over Toronto FC. That victory moved the Revs to 2-0-1 over a three-game stretch after dropping nine of 10 through the summer.
This past Saturday night, Jones made his return to the field after missing nine games following bilateral sports hernia surgery, making a 14-minute appearance off the bench in a 3-1 win over Toronto FC. That victory moved the Revs to 2-0-1 over a three-game stretch after losing five straight through the summer.
Kind of eerie, right?
“It’s crazy,” Jones said on Tuesday morning. “You have the same situation like last season.”
New England hopes the similarities don’t end there; with Jones leading the charge, the Revolution’s late-summer turnaround morphed into a remarkable 9-1-1 stretch to close the 2014 season, which of course ended with a trip to MLS Cup. A similar run to close this campaign would be very much welcomed.
But for now the Revs are simply focused on getting Jones back into the mix after a lengthy layoff. The 33-year-old midfielder felt no ill effects following Saturday night’s late cameo, and now has two more weeks to continue building his strength and fitness ahead of New England’s next game on August 15.
“I feel good,” Jones said. “You know how it is – if you’re out for a long time, when you start to come back, the hype carries you and you don’t feel so much tired.”
“We wanted to get him close to 20 minutes in a scenario where he was going to be comfortable,” said Jay Heaps, who noted that leading by two goals and up a man was “an ideal situation” for Jones to make his return. “I think he was able to do that.
“Now we really want to push him this week and next week to make sure that he’s ready and we can get as many minutes out of him as we can on the fifteenth.”
Jones had praise for the Gillette Stadium faithful who welcomed him back to the field – “to come back in a home game, the first time after injury, it’s amazing,” he said – and the medical staff who helped him return to action right on schedule. Now the focus shifts to finishing the season strong.
Just like last year.
“We hope that everything works out like last season,” Jones said. “The team is good. The team has a lot of quality. But they have to believe.”
