Jermaine Jones has never been afraid of a bit of controversy. In 2004, he took a fairly softball question, “Are there any gay footballers in the Bundesliga?” (Easy answer: I don’t know) and turned it into a major story when he answered “Hopefully not”. Classy. He’s also somewhat infamous for his relationship, or lack thereof, with the fans of his former club, Eintracht Frankfurt, where he announced he was leaving with a post on the club’s bulletin board. But he’s about to make an official switch a bit more profound than leaving a club. Next week, the German-born Jones, who has played as a senior for Germany (though not in FIFA-approved matches), will probably play his first match as an American, after his call up for the friendly with Brazil.
The process has been in the works for a while, and will not be news to many US fans, some of whom were hoping to see Jones in red, white and blue for the World Cup. He has gone through the proper channels, petitioning UEFA, CONCACAF and FIFA to make the change, despite bending the rule that a senior national team appearance means a final decision on nationality. But it still surprises me to see it happening. His father is American, and in the nationality sense, I have no problems with it – personality quirks and prejudices aside, he’s more then welcome in the States. He even spent some of his childhood in the US, so it’s not cut and dry. But I tend to be a national team purist, and this seems like one step farther over the line than other international switches.
So I put it to you – the WorldCupBlog and Offside readers. Do you think a player with senior caps for his country (albeit in non-Blatter-approved matches) should be able to change allegiance? Do you think this sets a dangerous precedent? Or am I a dinosaur for even bringing it up, in the age of Cacau, Amauri, etc? Discuss.