FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Three days after Jermaine Jones limped off the field in the early stages of the New England Revolution’s 2-2 draw with the LA Galaxy, head coach Jay Heaps said the club is still assessing the extent of the veteran midfielder’s left groin injury.
The ailment prevented Jones from joining the U.S. National Team for a pair of upcoming friendlies against the Netherlands (June 5) and Germany (June 10), so it’s fair to assume he’ll be unavailable for Saturday’s trip to the Pacific Northwest to face the Portland Timbers.
But beyond this weekend, the Revs are taking a wait-and-see approach.
“In terms of Jermaine, we’re seeing how things kind of play out,” Heaps said on Wednesday morning. “But we feel that we have a good, strong midfield and we’ll continue to move forward.”
Coping without Jones won’t be a new challenge for the Revs, who were without the World Cup veteran for the first five games of this season as he recovered from sports hernia surgery. Jones then spent another five games deputizing in central defense, offering plenty of opportunities for the deep-lying midfield trio of Scott Caldwell, Andy Dorman and Daigo Kobayashi to form strong partnerships.
And while the injury was unexpected, Jones’ potential absence was not – it was always assumed that the 33-year-old could miss a significant stretch of the summer while with the U.S. National Team for the CONCACAF Gold Cup, and that’s a scenario the Revs have anticipated.
“Soccer’s a different sport than football where you have 53 guys; when one guy goes down on a 25-man roster, you feel it,” Heaps admitted. “But we’ve been without him for substantial stretches this season with his injury earlier. So we’re prepared for this.
“We also have some good depth and some players that are going to get a lot of time, especially with the Gold Cup coming up.”
Juan Agudelo, who’ll also be unavailable on Saturday night in Portland while on U.S. National Team duty, is another player who could potentially miss time during the Gold Cup. But with a bevy of players waiting in the wings, every opening simply means an opportunity for someone else to make their case.
“We have a deep team and I know guys are champing at the bit to get on the field and make an impact,” said Charlie Davies. “We have to rally around those guys and support them and give them the confidence they need to have success on the field.
“Jermaine will be supporting the guys in the locker room and telling them what they need to do to be ready and have success. We’ve just got to continue to keep working hard and guys know that now we have to step it up even more.”
