Jermaine Jones responded on Wednesday to US teammate Tim Howard’s comments to USA Today on Monday that playing for the US national team “didn’t matter as much” to some foreign-born players as it did to others.
Howard attempted to clarify his comments in an interview with ESPN FC on Wednesday, saying he was not referring solely to players with roots overseas and calling Jones, who was raised in Germany, “one of the heartbeats” of the USMNT.
Jones, who spent the second half of the 2016 season with Howard on the Colorado Rapids before signing with LA on Wednesday, called the comments “dangerous” in an interview with ESPN FC on Wednesday.
“It’s dangerous stuff where you have to be careful what you’re saying,” he told ESPN’s Doug McIntyre. “With all the respect for Timmy, I feel it’s not if you’re half-American or full-American. It’s more what you have in here [taps chest.]
“If you go on the field and you give everything for this country, then of course sometimes there’s a situation where you’re not playing good. But it’s normal. That can happen to everybody, and that’s what you have to understand.”
More of Jones’ thoughts can be found in the entire ESPN FC interview.
