Former USMNT midfielder Jermaine Jones has been hired as head coach of USL League One club Central Valley Fuego FC, sources briefed on the talks told The Athletic. Players were informed that “a new head coach” will start with the club on Nov. 1, per official communication from the club, obtained by The Athletic, dated Oct. 21, 2023. Sources were granted anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the negotiations.
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A representative of Jones did not reply to requests for comment. Central Valley Fuego declined to comment.
Jones, 41, earned 69 caps for the USMNT as a player, memorably scoring a world-class goal in a 2-2 draw with Portugal in the 2014 FIFA World Cup group stage. He last played in MLS with the LA Galaxy in 2017, finishing his playing days with the indoor team Ontario Fury from 2019-2020.
The Frankfurt-born Jones has not been shy about his coaching ambitions since the end of his playing career. He is currently assistant manager of the U.S. U-19 youth national team, was a youth coach with Real So Cal in 2018 and an assistant manager at NISA club New Amsterdam FC for one game in 2021. He has been with the U.S. U19s since 2022. According to his Transfermarkt page and numerous interviews he’s given, he holds a UEFA Pro coaching license.
Jones has also been vocal about his perceived difficulties in landing a coaching job.
“I reached out to Colorado,” he told Sports Illustrated in February 2020. “But why are you giving other people the chances? Now you have somebody who played at the highest level you can play in soccer, and now I have the highest-level coaching license. So why are you not giving me the chance? Like, you can give me the chance, and if I mess it up, kick me out. It’s not an issue. I just want the chance to come in and show you guys that I can make a difference.”
Since joining U.S. Soccer, however, it appears he’s made a good impression on his players. U.S. youth international center back Santiago Suarez told The Bent Musket that Jones “was a great coach” and that it was “really cool” to “learn from him and the arts that he played.”
In an interview with Forty-One Magazine last month, Jones said that his years spent coming up in Germany (where players are “really disciplined, really structured”) and in the U.S. (“American players have athleticism, strength, etc.”) gives him a bedrock to holistically assess the players he coaches.
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Central Valley Fuego FC just completed its second season in third-division USL League One, finishing bottom of the table out of 12 teams. The team was coached by former Jurgen Klinsmann assistant and Chivas USA manager Martín Vásquez from its debut in 2022 until the middle of 2023, playing the rest of the season under interim management. They also finished last in the league with an average attendance of 701 fans per game at Fresno State Soccer Stadium, down from a 1,396 fan average in their first season.
(Photo: MICHAEL TRAN/AFP via Getty Images)
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