Jones Back In the Starting XI
- Updated: August 16, 2015
Photo credit: Kari Heistad/capturedimages.biz
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – For the first time since May 31st, Jermaine Jones was in the starting lineup for the New England Revolution.
After making his return two weeks ago against Toronto as a second-half substitute, Jones got back into the starting eleven against Houston.
During the week, Jones set a target of playing 60 minutes but was forced to come off at halftime because of multiple weather delays and restarts. Bad weather forced Jones and the rest of the players off of the pitch in the 13th minute. After a 109-minute delay, the players came back on the pitch for a 15 minute warmup and then got underway again.
At halftime, another storm rolled through the Foxboro region and the usual 15-minute halftime was delayed for another 61 minutes. After that long delay, Heaps and the staff determined it was best for Jones to be subbed off. Kobayashi replaced him out of the break.
“First and foremost Jermaine was a tough one to have, a guy who is up and down, we were going to manage his minutes anyways, but to have to take him out, I think he probably could’ve played more minutes,” Revolution head coach Jay Heaps said. “But there was a risk in having him shut down and warm back up and shut down and warm back up, so we played that one safe.”
During his 45 minutes of play, Jones had 33 touches, completed 65.5% of his 29 passes with one key pass, a pair of accurate long balls, drew a foul and had a clearance.
“Amazing,” Jones told NESoccerToday.com what it was like to be back in the starting lineup. “It was nice to be out on the field, starting but we decided at halftime to come out. With the first warmup and then the second warmup and then there was too much risk with the third warmup. I was happy to come back and get 45 minutes.”
It was a strange game for Jones to return, only getting about 13 minutes of play before having to wait out the first round of storms. He finished the first half but after another long break, it was decided another warm up plus more minutes would be too much of a risk.
“It’s tough,” Jones said. “We went on bikes, we went in hot water to try and keep the body warm. It’s not easy. I think the game was over four hours so it was crazy but we got the three points and that’s important.”
“It’s very good,” Revolution defender Jose Goncalves said of getting Jones back to the starting lineup. “It’s good for him that he played, it’s good that he has more games in his legs. It’s good that he stays fit because he’s an important player on the team, he can play a very good ball, he’s very dangerous. It’s good to get everyone back.”
Jones will get another long break as the Revolution are on yet another bye this week. With the break, it’s likely Jones could be completely fit for New England’s next game on August 29th in Philadelphia.
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