How Acquired: Signed with the Revolution as a Designated Player on August 24, 2014
2014: Made 10 appearances, including seven starts after signing with the Revolution on August 24. He started seven of those contests and scored two goals while adding four assists in that time. Jones made his Revolution debut on Aug. 30 on the road against Toronto FC, coming on for Daigo Kobayashi in the 65th minute. His first start for the club came just four days later when he played the opening 45 minutes of the Revs’ 3-1 win over Sporting Kansas City. He assisted on a Teal Bunbury goal in that game, beginning a run of three straight games with an assist as he also set up the game-winning goals against Chicago on Sept. 7 and Montreal on Sept. 13. Jones scored his first goal for New England on Sept. 26, scoring an 85th minute game-winner that gave the Revs a 3-2 win over SKC at Sporting Park, the club’s first-ever win at the stadium. Jones scored another game-winning goal a week later, heading home a Chris Tierney free kick in the 67th minute of a 2-1 home win over Columbus. The Revs were 6-0-0 in the regular season when Jones had a goal or an assist, with his final assist of the year coming at Houston on Oct. 16 as the Revs came from behind to win 2-1. In the postseason, Jones started all five of the Revs’ matches, adding a goal and two assists. He set up Lee Nguyen’s game-winning goal in the first leg of the Eastern Conference Semifinal Series against Columbus and then assisted on Teal Bunbury’s goal in the first leg of the Eastern Conference Championship against New York. Jones would score the game-winning goal in the 85th minute of that game, sliding in at the back post to finish a Teal Bunbury cross to give New England its first-ever win at Red Bull Arena in all competitions. He played the full 120 minutes in MLS Cup, taking a team-high four shots while being fouled six times.
CLUB CAREER OUTSIDE OF MLS
Prior to joining the Revolution, Jones played 14 seasons in Europe, playing primarily in Germany with brief stops in England and Turkey. He made his professional debut in 2000 with Eintracht Frankfurt where he made 93 appearances with the club’s first team in four seasons, while also spending time with the club’s reserve/Under-23 side. Frankfurt were relegated to the 2. Bundesliga following the 2000-01 season, but Jones helped the club return to the Bundesliga ahead of the 2003-04 season. After that year, Jones signed with Bayer Leverkusen, where he made his UEFA Champions League debut against Dynamo Kiev in the group stage. He split his time between the Leverkusen first team and reserves before returning to Frankfurt on loan in January 2005, six months after leaving the club. After tallying three goals and five assists in 14 games to help Frankfurt return to the Bundesliga, Jones rejoined the club on a permanent deal ahead of the 2005-06 season, helping his side reach the final of the German Cup and earn a berth in the following season’s UEFA Cup. Ahead of the 2007-08 season, Jones joined reigning Bundesliga runner-up FC Schalke on a free transfer and spent the majority of the next seven seasons with the club. He helped them qualify for Europe in every season but one, reaching the Champions League five times and the Europa League once. Jones played in nearly 200 games for Schalke in all competitions, despite missing most of the 2009-10 season because of a shin injury. He scored 10 times for the club while adding 18 assists, including a career-best six in the 2012-13 Bundesliga season when Schalke finished fourth. Schalke reached the quarterfinals of the Premier League in In addition to his time with Schalke, Jones spent six months on loan in the English Premier League with Blackburn Rovers in 2011, making 15 appearances for the club, as well as in Turkey with Besiktas, playing 10 times for them at the end of the 2013-14 season.
U.S. NATIONAL TEAM
Jones has been capped 50 times by the U.S. National Team, scoring three goals and adding four assists for the Red, White and Blue. The son of a U.S. serviceman, Jones petitioned FIFA to switch from representing Germany, who he began his international career with, and became eligible to represent the U.S. after his documentation was approved by FIFA on Oct. 20, 2009. He made his international debut for the U.S. on Oct. 9, 2010 in a friendly against Poland in Chicago, tallying an assist on a Jozy Altidore goal in the 2-2 draw. Jones scored his first goal for the U.S. in a 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup Quarterfinal against Jamaica, on June 19, 2011. He also scored in a friendly against Scotland on May 26, 2012 before tallying the first World Cup goal of his career, scoring midway through the second half of a 2-2 draw with Portugal on June 22, 2014 in the group stage of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. He played every minute of the four games that the U.S. played in that tournament, also collecting an assist on Clint Dempsey’s goal against Ghana. Jones helped the U.S. reach the Gold Cup Final in 2011 and qualify for the 2014 World Cup, starting seven of the 10 games that they played in the final round of World Cup Qualifying, tallying one assist in those matches. Since the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, Jones has played three times for the U.S., appearing in central defense each time.
GERMANY NATIONAL TEAM
Collected three caps for Germany, appearing in three friendlies in 2008. He made his senior international debut on Feb. 6, 2008 in a 3-0 road win over Austria, coming on late in the second half. He made another substitute appearance on May 27 of that year against Belarus before starting for the only time in friendly defeat to England on Nov. 19. Jones also spent time with the German Under-21 national team before making his full international debut.
