Why Jermaine Jones Continues to Play Defender for USMNT

When it comes to decisions made by Jurgen Klinsmann, the United States Men’s National Team’s head coach, the U.S. Soccer world almost always definitively splits into two camps. And very quickly too, I might add. The first camp is the Jurgen fanatics, guys and girls who have followed Klinsmann’s career back when he was a star on the German Men’s Nation Team as well as playing for European Giants like Tottenham and Bayern Munich. The second camp is the opposite. People who can’t get over the fact that a non-American is coaching the USMNT (the audacity!) and point and cry “wolf!” every time Klinsmann so much as lifts a finger.

Whether it’s a comment on MLS, the inclusion of Chris Wondolowski in the Starting XI, or Jurgy’s rocky relationship with Landon Donovan, whatever Coach K ( no, not THAT Coach K) does is immediately analyzed under a microscope.

Perhaps the move that’s got fans the most worked up as of recent has been the conversion of midfielder Jermaine Jones to a Centre-Back.

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Let me backtrack a little. I should first state that I’m in neither camp on my opinion on Jurgen. While I do think he’s the brightest soccer mind to ever coach the US, I also think he sometimes has trouble transferring his brilliant ideas to paper, as well as choosing ill-timed moments to try to send a message to his players. He’s got as many high’s as he has low’s.

For example, he’s been a Nick Saban-level recruiter ever since taking the reins from Bob Bradley in 2011. Some of our best young talent like Fabian Johnson, Mix Diskerud, and Aron Johannsson are in the USMNT picture due to Klinsy’s expert recruitment of dual nationals. However, leaving Landon Donovan off the World Cup roster was a mistake, (I do see where he was coming from, but it was a mistake nonetheless.) Not starting Kyle Beckerman in the Round of 16 Game vs. Belgium was a mistake as well. Phew, good to finally get that off my back.

Perhaps the greatest battle in Jurgen’s tenure as skipper has been his desperation to be an attack-minded team vs. his players being perfectly fine with sitting back and defending. To give Jurgen credit, he has tried. He’s used speedsters like DaMarcus Beasley, DeAndre Yedlin, Greg Garza, Edgar Castillo and the aforementioned Johnson to push the attack up the flanks.

He’s moved Michael Bradley up the field to give the talented midfielder more room to express his creativity. He’s tried almost every formation fathomable, including 4-2-3-1’s, 4-4-2 flats, 4-4-2 diamonds, and most recently a 3-man back line.

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With the team utterly refusing to attack and dictate the game, Jurgy recently chose a 3-man back line formation. This formation is designed to give an offense no other option BUT to attack, lest they get scored on. On top of that, he’s moved Jermaine Jones, perhaps the nation’s best player, into the middle of that 3 man back line.

While Jones has played the position before, namely for Schalke, there’s no doubt that he’s primarily a midfielder by trade. So why has he moved to the defense? Well there are a few hypotheses that I’ve come up with.

First off: I don’t think Jurgen Klinsmann trusts Matt Besler and Omar Gonzalez as 1 on 1 defenders. They’re great at many things including defending set pieces and perfectly timed clearances, but they are not great 1 on 1 defenders. Recently I rewatched the USMNT Round of 16 game vs. Belgium. This was the one game where Kyle Beckerman wasn’t babysitting the central defense. And it was the one game where they looked truly exposed, like a lone leaf on the end of a wilting tree branch, blowing in the wind.

In their first test unchaperoned vs. world-class attackers like Edin Hazard, Romelu Lukaku, and Kevin De Bruyne, Besler and Gonzalez had perhaps the worst game of their lives. If it weren’t for Tim Howard having the best game of his life, USA v. Belgium would’ve been an uglier version of Germany/Brazil. Don’t believe me? Just watch: (click here for highlight).

Dec 7, 2014; Los Angeles, CA, USA; New England Revolution midfielder Jermaine Jones (13) controls the soccer ball in overtime during the 2014 MLS Cup final against the Los Angeles Galaxy at Stubhub Center. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Jermaine Jones and Kyle Beckerman are the two best 1 on 1 defenders that the US has. Both are natural midfielders. And while I love Kyle Beckerman, his role basically boils down to a guy who sits atop the central defense and disrupts plays before they can reach Besler and Gonzalez.

Essentially, he’s a fifth defender. So while the position works, it naturally makes the US much more defensive as a team since only 5 players are consistently involved in the attack. Jones is every bit as good a defender as Kyle, but is also a lynchpin in the attack. Klinsmann tried using Jermaine in a Beckerman-type role, but that experiment ended quickly as Jermaine simply can’t resist slipping up field to help attack.

So, this leads to a conundrum for the skipper. He doesn’t seem to trust his defense enough to let them fend for themselves, but loaning them a midfielder bodyguard leaves the attack outmanned and woefully outgunned. The solution? Why not try those midfielders AS A DEFENDER?

While Kyle Beckerman would suit this position better than Jones in my opinion, using Jermaine means that not only does your offense build from the back, it builds from the VERY back. With Jones in the defense, he is in theory a literal cattle herder, pushing the entire USMNT up field kind of like a poor man’s Vincent Kompany or David Luiz.

The problem with is is: Central defense is a MUCH harder position to play than central midfielder. It’s essentially AP History compared to regular history: It’s all the responsibility of one PLUS the added responsibility of the other. Luiz and Kompany have done it for the better part of their careers. Jones has done it sporadically at best throughout his, and mostly as a late-match substitute.

A 3 man defense is even harder to pilot, because the entire defense revolves around the SOLE center-back. You must hold the offside line, mark target men, be ready to bail out the charging keeper, and then some. And it’s just you. No Matt Besler to help you out. I know I’ve not been the kindest to Matty B in this article, but he’s pretty good at those Offside Traps. So while Jermaine was serviceable in a 4 man back-line, in a 3 man back line he’s just as exposed at Besler and Gonzalez were vs. Belgium. And yet with all this, Jermaine is STILL perhaps the best option to fix the defense. This is a big problem.