New England Soccer Today

Jones Here (Finally)

Photo credit: Chris Aduama/aduamaphotography.com

Photo credit: Chris Aduama/aduamaphotography.com

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – After missing the first five games of the season, Jermaine Jones made his 2015 season debut on Saturday, starting against Columbus in a 0-0 draw.

Jones paired with Scott Caldwell and Lee Nguyen in the midfield and played 45 minutes before being replaced by Andy Dorman at halftime.

It was predetermined 45 minutes,” Revolution head coach Jay Heaps said. “The idea is to get him a full warm up and get him through a normal warm up with our guys rather than bringing him in with only the 15 minutes at halftime to warm up. We thought long and hard about it and worked with our medical staff and we thought that was the best way to get him 45. He did good. I thought he came through alright and now it’s about progressing him for more minutes.”

Jones missed the start of the season after undergoing surgery at the beginning of February to address a lingering sports hernia injury that he had been dealing with since prior to joining New England last season. Jones had three goals and six assists in 15 games played last season.

Jones played two games for the U.S. Men’s National team in January against Chile and Panama before having surgery on February 10th. Jones re-joined the Revolution in late March and traveled to Colorado last week but didn’t play.

“Long time now that I’m out from playing but its always nice to be back on the field,” Jones said.

Jones had one shot in the game, but it was blocked. In the 32nd minute, Nguyen whipped in a corner that bounced around in the area before falling to Jones and he took a crack at it, but it was blocked by a Columbus defender.

Earlier in the game, Jones quickly made his presence known, muscling off Columbus’ Federico Higuain and dispossessing the 30-year-old Argentinian. In the 12th minute, Jones continued his physical play but this was was whistled for his late tackle on Tony Tchani and was issued a yellow card.

“That happens when you talk too much,” Jones said postgame with a smile. “It was just trash talk in the game. I take the yellow. I like the games, he’s a good guy, he’s a good player so I enjoy playing against Columbus.”

When asked how he thought he performed in the game, Jones said, “I know that I can play better. It was the first game in three months but now we have a week to train.”

Jones completed 78.6% of his passes, which was third among starters. The Revolution improved to 11-2-3 overall with Jones playing.

Jones will have a chance to play more minutes next Sunday when New England travels to Philadelphia to take on the Union at 5p.m. ET.

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