Jones’ return could help in playoffs

Second half of season lost to a serious knee injury

commerce city» The Rapids have a special weapon for the playoffs who drives a khaki green BMW X6 with California vanity plates. Both car and driver, Jermaine Jones, are highperformance products of Germany. Jones has a friend who customizes cars, hence the Beamer’s unusual military hue.

“He told me, ‘Let’s do something special,’ ” Jones said this week. “I said, ‘OK, I let him do it.’ Since then, we say it’s the German Panzer.”

Jones, a star on the U.S. national team thanks to his dual American-German citizenship, was the Rapids’ most exciting player during the first half of the season, scoring three goals and adding two assists in eight starts. He then left to play with the U.S. national team in the Copa America, playing five games with a goal and an assist. But in his first game back with the Rapids, on July 4, he sprained a knee. Only now is he revealing how serious it was. The lateral collateral ligament was ripped almost completely off the bone.

“This is why it took so long,” Jones said. “We were trying to keep it (quiet). But it was a bad injury, and I was lucky. The doctor told me if it was ripped from the bone (completely), I would be out 6-8 months. It’s 14 weeks, I think.”

Now Jones seems ready to return, and he hopes to get “some minutes” in Sunday’s regular-season finale against Houston at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park with full availability a week later for the Rapids’ first playoff game. If the Rapids win Sunday and FC Dallas loses at Los Angeles, the Rapids will claim the MLS Supporters’ Shield and secure home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.

“It’s so far a good season, and now I see (the injury) from a different way,” Jones said. “I say, ‘Colorado gets a new player for the playoffs.’ I try to give my impact to the team what I showed already, I try to score goals and hope that we can say, at the end of the season, that we are champions.”

Jones is an experienced veteran who is a leader on the field and in the locker room. Coach Pablo Mastroeni said Jones can direct players on the fly during a game to make adjustments that otherwise might have to wait for halftime.

“He’s a very important player, not only for us but the U.S. national team,” Mastroeni said. “I think what he brings is a mentality that is synonymous with everything we’ve wanted to be this year. His unwavering desire to compete, and do whatever it takes to win, you see it every day in training.

“Getting Jermaine back at this time is not only good because he’s a great player and he’s a great leader, but how his energy and competitiveness is exuded throughout the group and the psychological effect it has on our opponents. Now he becomes a topic of conversation for our opponents that we haven’t had in a while.”

Jones, 34, is a native of Frankfurt and the son of a U.S Army soldier who was stationed there. He played 15 seasons in Germany’s Bundesliga, but the intensity of his play at New England (2014-15) and in Colorado this year make it clear he’s not here just to pick up paychecks in the twilight of his career. He dives into situations where he knows he’s probably going to get kicked and risk injury.

“I was always a guy who wanted to step on the field and make a difference and win games,” Jones said. “I go where it hurts. You can say, ‘With his age, he still goes there and tries everything, and there’s a risk that he gets injured,’ but that’s my personality. I always want to win, and I want to do my best for that club or for the country.”

With New England, he was one of the league’s high-priced “designated players.” He lost that distinction in Colorado, but that only added to his motivation.

“OK,” he said he thought, “I will show everybody that my quality is a DP player. Put money aside, I know for the last two years you guys (Rapids) don’t make the playoffs. Let’s change that and let me bring my impact to this team. Colorado can be a championship team and maybe win something.”

Now the Rapids are in the position to do just that, made more dangerous by his imminent return.