{"id":31536,"date":"2015-02-08T18:24:03","date_gmt":"2015-02-08T23:24:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=31536"},"modified":"2015-02-08T18:26:14","modified_gmt":"2015-02-08T23:26:14","slug":"jones-nguyen-see-action-for-usmnt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=31536","title":{"rendered":"Jones & Nguyen See Action for USMNT"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Jones-1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Jermaine Jones earned his fourth straight start at center back while Lee Nguyen came off the bench in the 79th minute during the United States\u2019 2-0 win over Panama in Sunday\u2019s international friendly at the StubHub Center.<\/p>\n

With Sunday’s match marking the conclusion of the U.S.’s winter camp, Jones and Nguyen\u00a0are expected to\u00a0join the Revolution for preseason preparations later this week.<\/p>\n

Here are some quick hits about the Revolution\u2019s representatives.<\/p>\n

-At this juncture, any performance in which Jermaine Jones doesn\u2019t attract scorn for his work at center back can only be viewed as a success. Even so, Sunday\u2019s outing\u00a0was Jones\u2019 best showing on the backline to date. Yes, it probably helped that he wasn\u2019t the sole center back in\u00a0a 3-5-2 formation. And, OK, maybe it was only Panama,\u00a0which featured a healthy dose of poor finishing in the final third. Regardless, Jones seemed to have a better rapport with Matt Besler, and the pair did well to keep their adversaries from breaking through the heart of the defense. He also resisted the temptation to get forward on a whim. He got a sniff at goal in the 60th minute when he\u00a0shed his mark and snapped a Michael Bradley free kick on goal that flew right into Jaime Penedo\u2019s mitts. Overall, it was a sound performance for the Revolution midfielder, who seems to slowly growing into his new role.<\/p>\n

-What did this camp prove as far as Jones’ future goes? For starters, he shouldn’t be deployed as the sole center back in a 3-5-2. That just can’t happen again. As a player who’s still learning the nuances of his new position, his\u00a0performance against an enterprising\u00a0Chile selection was\u00a0nothing short of a\u00a0disaster. But paired with a capable center back in a four-man backline against a mild foe, the Revolution star seemed to gain confidence and, perhaps more importantly, wasn’t as tempted to push forward haphazardly. If Jones’ long-term future is indeed\u00a0at center back, this camp set the wheels in motion.<\/p>\n

-Nguyen replaced Miguel Ibarra late, and got a few touches in during his 11-minute cameo. But he made a bit of a boo-boo when he was dispossessed along the right in the 81st minute\u00a0on a sequence that nearly saw Panama\u00a0take advantage.\u00a0His opportunities were few and far in between with the U.S., holding a two-goal lead, tapping the breaks late.<\/p>\n

-While Nguyen has certainly proved himself at the club level, he didn’t quite distinguish himself during this camp – at least when the bullets were flying. He showed a couple of flashes against Chile, but was largely anonymous pitted against Panama. It’s hard to say whether Nguyen strengthened his case for more call-ups based on those performances.<\/p>\n\n

#USMNT<\/a> correct lineup: Rimando; Yedlin, Jones, Besler, Shea; Bradley, Diskerud; Zardes, Dempsey, Ibarra; Altidorepic.twitter.com\/bJgUN3VoQu<\/a><\/p>\n

— U.S. Soccer (@ussoccer) February 8, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n