{"id":15633,"date":"2012-09-26T10:06:58","date_gmt":"2012-09-26T14:06:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=15633"},"modified":"2012-09-28T11:15:51","modified_gmt":"2012-09-28T15:15:51","slug":"cobi-talks-usmnt-cameron-feilhaber","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=15633","title":{"rendered":"Cobi Talks USMNT, Cameron & Feilhaber"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Former U.S. National Team midfielder Cobi Jones was in Boston last week to discuss sports injury prevention. (Photo: Sports Injury Prevention Program sponsored by DePuy Mitek)<\/p><\/div>\n

Few people know the national team scene better than someone who\u2019s accumulated over 150 caps in his international career.<\/p>\n

Former U.S. Men’s National Team veteran Cobi Jones was in Boston last week\u00a0on behalf of\u00a0Sports Injury Prevention Program sponsored by DePuy Mitek<\/span><\/a> to conduct a free clinic with area youth to highlight the importance of injury-prevention. Jones is one of many national team personalities – including Alex Morgan, Alexi Lalas and Taylor Twellman – to lend his expertise to parents, coaches and young athletes in conjunction with the program.<\/p>\n

While he was in town, the former national team stalwart offered his take on the current state of affairs with the national team, especially in the wake of the squad\u2019s qualifying scare in Jamaica earlier this month.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the game in Jamaica may have been a little bit of an eye-opener for Jurgen,\u201d Jones said via phone last week. \u201cWith respect to qualifying in CONCACAF, it\u2019s a very different animal than (it is) in Europe. There aren\u2019t always quality fields, quality stadiums, or quality hotels. Wherever you go, it\u2019s kind of a free for all at times.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Jones admitted he wasn\u2019t \u201cworried\u201d about the U.S.\u2019s qualifying trek in the wake of their stunning\u00a02-1 loss in Kingston, he did point out that it may signal that Klinsmann may have much more work ahead of him.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith such a limited amount of time, you really need to get a solid 16-17 player core,\u201d Jones said. \u201cYou don\u2019t want to keep bringing in and bringing out different players, especially as you\u2019re going through this process.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the players whom Jones believes should remain a part of that core is a name familiar to local soccer fans.<\/p>\n

According to Jones, one of the bright spots of the national team in recent months has been Attleboro, Mass. native Geoff Cameron, who’s recent performances against Mexico and Jamaica has established a spot for him on the squad.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he\u2019s settled in there well,\u201d Jones said. \u201cHe has all the aspects that it takes and I think he\u2019s proven himself many times and will continue to prove himself to be one of the best the U.S. has (in the back).\u201d<\/p>\n

Cameron, who was drafted by Houston out of Rhode Island in 2008, spent six seasons with the Dynamo before he was transferred to Stoke City in July.<\/p>\n

But during his time in MLS, the Cameron was called upon to fill a variety of roles \u2013 something that Jones believes has made him a better player.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be able to move around in a variety of different positions, it means that you have a good understanding of the game, tactically,\u201d Jones said. \u201cNow, wherever he ends up permanently, I think he\u2019ll do a good job because he has the understanding of what every other position on the field has to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones can also relate to Cameron\u2019s current situation as an American in a new league and new country.\u00a0The former UCLA Bruin played for Coventry City\u00a0in 1994-95,\u00a0and offered some insight\u00a0on what it takes to\u00a0make\u00a0a smooth\u00a0adjustment.<\/p>\n

\u201cSettle in a quickly as possible into the culture and let it be home for you,\u201d Jones said. \u201cThat\u2019s the most important thing. Make sure you understand that that\u2019s home. The best way to succeed is to\u00a0immerse yourself in the culture, and get your mentality set that this is your life now.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Jones certainly believes that Cameron has a promising future in front, he also commented on another player who once played a major part in the national team\u2019s plans.<\/p>\n

Two years ago, current Revolution midfielder Benny Feilhaber was a regular call-up during the Bob Bradley regime and was a member of the 2010 World Cup roster.<\/p>\n

However, once Klinsmann succeeded Bradley in July 2011, Feilhaber has only seen a single call-up, a Jan. 21 friendly against Venezuela in Glendale, Ariz. Making matters worse, Feilhaber, who’s only recorded a goal and\u00a0two\u00a0assists in 26 games this season,\u00a0has been\u00a0left off the starting XI\u00a0in four of the Revolution’s five games.<\/p>\n

With that in mind, Jones alluded to what a player in Feilhaber\u2019s current situation may need to do to get back on the radar.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny player is better served (being) on a team that\u2019s successful,\u201d Jones said. \u201cThat’s\u00a0just\u00a0a fact of the game. When the team is successful, and the team is winning, people are going to be like \u2018why are they winning?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, if you have a team that\u2019s less successful and is losing a lot of games, then no one\u2019s going to pay attention, they\u2019re going to be like, ‘Yeah, OK, they must not be that good.’ That in turn will make people think those players must not be that good. It\u2019s really important to be part of a winning organization.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the U.S. already in the midst of World Cup qualifying, Jones believes that time may be running out for\u00a0Feilhaber\u00a0to re-establish himself on the national team scene before Brazil ’14 arrives.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s definitely got to look at his options,\u201d Jones said. \u201cYou\u2019ve seen it with some other players in the league that make moves to get somewhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former U.S. Men’s National Team stalwart Cobi Jones caught up with NEST to give his take on the current state of the national team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15657,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Cobi1.png?fit=466%2C257","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15633"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15633"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15633\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15666,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15633\/revisions\/15666"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}