‘Calming’ Jones impresses as Union open with draw
Alarm bells sounded in the minds of frequent watchers of MLS as Nicolas Mezquida lined up a free kick in the first minute of stoppage time Sunday night.
The Philadelphia Union weren’t hanging on for dear life, but they were decidedly on the back foot, Vancouver pushing for a goal against an increasingly restless home crowd in the season opener. The free kick 40 yards from goal was as close to an opening as either team had generated, a chance to induce the penalty-area chaos that has tipped the balance in too many otherwise intractable stalemates to count.
Twenty seconds later, the ball wound its way to the opposite end of the field, Derrick Jones calmly ragging it along the sideline and killing time.
That moment of poise typified the savvy beyond his years shown by the 20-year-old midfielder in his MLS debut, helping the Union net a 0-0 draw and a valuable road point in the Pacific Northwest.
“My opinion may be biased, but I thought he was the best player on the field, for both teams,” manager Jim Curtin said. “I’m very happy with Derrick. I thought he was excellent.”
Prejudices aside, Curtin isn’t far off. Jones was steadfast in the center of the park, poised on the ball and unflappable under pressure, as encapsulated by that late passage. Mezquida’s free kick was poor, fizzled in short and headed away by Keegan Rosenberry. It filtered back toward the box before Jones, with three players around him, gained possession. He evaded that trio, linked with midfield mate Haris Medunjanin to ping the wall wide, then Jones continued to charge forward, playing a 1-2 with Fabian Herbers on the left wing that forced the Vancouver defense to retreat and created space for the Union to connect passes and restore order.
It seems simple on paper, but the rolodex of MLS history reveals dozens of players of considerably more experience than Jones who hastily coughed up possession in similar moments to the detriment of their team’s result. Consequently, the operative word from Curtin about Jones was “calm” Sunday.
“I thought his passing accuracy was excellent,” Curtin said. “He calmed us down when we needed to calm down. Haris did a good job helping him in some dangerous situations because Vancouver is a team that when they get some numbers around the ball, they have some fast guys out there that can make things difficult for you. But Derrick remained calm in a hostile environment and a tough place to play.”
“It felt great,” Jones said. “I had a lot of fun out there. The atmosphere was nice.”
Jones’ play supersedes the symbolism of his debut, one of five for the Union Sunday. Signed to a Homegrown deal last August, he’s the vanguard of the second phase of Union youth development, the first player to graduate from the brick-and-mortar Academy and ascend the ranks through Bethlehem Steel to the first team. The fourth Homegrown Player in franchise history (and first signed since 2012), he passed Jimmy McLaughlin (19) and Cristhian Hernandez (26) for second all-time in minutes in the club’s ignominious Homegrown history.
The 6-foot-4 midfielder deservedly grabs the headlines, but he’s not the only one to impress on debut. Oguchi Onyewu survived a speedy Vancouver side on a fast track — aided by the fatigue of Thursday’s CONCACAF Champions League game — in his first league match in two years. Medunjanin settled in well. His long passing was somewhat wayward, but the threat of balls over the top kept the Whitecaps honest, and his influence is reflected in the Union’s 54.6 percent share of possession.
Reviews for the forward contingent are less glowing. Jay Simpson struggled to make an impact in 61 minutes, though Fafa Picault provided a spark upon his introduction in the 71st.
Alejandro Bedoya and Chris Pontius tested Vancouver’s David Ousted with two shots on target each, while the Whitecaps’ only goal-bound shot, hammered in by former Union fullback Jordan Harvey off a corner in the 66th minute, was cleared by an alert Rosenberry on the line. Andre Blake, though not credited with a save, was alert charging off his line for several key interventions.
Curtin diagnosed the game as two organized teams lacking the incisive edge to break through. It’s the Union’s first scoreless draw since Aug. 8, 2015, but given the travel and nerves of an opener, Curtin is content with the result.
“To close out a game on the road is important early in the season,” he said. “It gives belief. … We do want to be a team that does better in the late-game moments, staying calm and closing games out. I think tonight was a good example.”
And arguably the best example of that composure under fire was Jones.