FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – While there has been no official word on the status of Jermaine Jones, who left in the first half of the New England Revolution’s match against the LA Galaxy on May 31 with a left groin injury, all signs point to the midfielder being shelved for a while.
The fact that the club is still evaluating their Designated Player’s condition, coupled with the US national team not including him among the 35 players on their provisional roster for July’s Gold Cup, may signal some significant time away from the pitch for Jones.
“There’s obviously some swelling in the area,” said head coach Jay Heaps. “So there’s an assessment process. I think everyone wants to make sure that we get it right.”
Getting it right is even more tantamount for New England, who has Jones under contract only through the end of the season. They were already without his services for the first five matches of the season after he underwent surgery to repair a sports hernia, which Jones said had affected him through much of last year.
When he went down to the turf in the game against the Galaxy, fears instantly arose that he may have somehow aggravated the same area based on where he indicated the pain was in holding the lower left stomach area and based on his post-game comments, saying "it's really bad."
New England had already factored in what they might need to do had Jones been a part of the Gold Cup. They must now look at the rest of the roster for answers with Jones going down in advance of the tournament.
“Everyone’s got to step up,” said Heaps. “You’re missing a key player. Not just the player that’s going in for him, but every one that’s on the field has got to step up to the game.”
Mired in a six-game winless stretch, losing Jones’ massive presence and leadership on the pitch is a hit to the talented Revolution, but his indelible mark will be left behind during his recovery.
“It’s the next-guy-up situation,” Heaps reiterated. “Obviously, Jermaine is a big piece of what we’re doing, and we’re getting him right. Getting him back is critical to our success long-term, but in the near-term, his presence is still felt. I think in terms of his presence, I still think it’s there. We got to go out on the field and be better.”
