Jones scores both in game, with gift

“He’s a class footballer. He’s a leader, and he doesn’t do it with a voice. It’s actions.” Rapids coach Pablo Mastroeni

commerce city» Jermaine Jones’ twin boys celebrated their seventh birthday Saturday, and the talented Rapids midfielder wanted to get each of them a goal. He got one.

“I was sure I’d get the second one,” said Jones, who revealed a T-shirt under his game jersey after scoring that said happy birthday to his “Super Heroes,” who were watching at home on TV.

He came close to getting one for each of them. After scoring in the 20th minute with a header off a free kick by Shkelzen Gashi, Jones had two more headers in the first half that went just over the cross bar.

It was his second goal in two games for his new team since making his Rapids debut a week earlier, and it was another impressive performance on both sides of the ball for the Bundesliga veteran and U.S. national team player.

“He’s a class footballer,” said coach Pablo Mastroeni. “He’s a leader, and he doesn’t do it with a voice. It’s actions. For me, there’s nothing more powerful in life than to follow someone that’s willing to do what he does and risk everything that he has. Every training session, he tackles as if it was a game. He goes through shooting exercises as if it was a game.

“He drives us on with his mentality, with the way he holds the ball up, with the way he brings players into the game, with the way he scores goals, with the way he defends balls. He does it all.”

In Saturday’s 3-1 victory over Seattle that kept the Rapids undefeated at home (4-0), Jones wanted to do more. He and Gashi appeared to bicker over which one would take a penalty kick late in the game. Gashi took it, seemed hesitant over the ball and had it saved by Seattle goalkeeper Stefan Frei.

“When you take that penalty, you have to score it,” Jones said, vowing that he “definitely” will take the next penalty kick the Rapids get. “I was feeling good, so I feel comfortable to take it, but he wanted to take it. It happened, we won the game, so it’s finished. The next one, I step on.”

In only two games, Jones has made a big impact on the Rapids.

“It’s not only this team,” Jones said. “I was already in New England (2014-15). I said I will show the league that I can (be) a difference in a team. People were laughing a little bit at the beginning, but we came to the final (in 2014). It’s the same here. Maybe I’m the last piece of the puzzle to bring the team back to the playoffs.”