Midfielder Jermaine Jones and defender Edgar Castillo could join the U.S. national team later this year. The 27-year-old Jones, who has appeared in the European Champions League for Schalke of the Bundesliga, has played three times for Germany’s national team in exhibitions. Castillo, a 22-year-old from New Mexico, made his debut for Mexico’s national team against Colombia on Aug. 22, 2007.
Jones, the son of a U.S. soldier, was Eintracht Frankfurt’s captain before signing a four-year contract with Schalke in April 2007. “We’ve had pretty regular communications with Jermaine’s representatives and his advisers,” U.S. Soccer Federation president Sunil Gulati said Thursday. “I think that paperwork for that has probably now been submitted to FIFA. And the earliest he would be eligible to move would be the 2nd of August, which would be 60 days after the rule change came into effect.” Jones, however, is sidelined with a hairline leg fracture that could keep him out of action for 6-8 weeks. “I certainly have had a lot of opportunities to see him play,” U.S. coach Bob Bradley said. “I would just like to wait until everything is taken care of on the paperwork side and we have the chance to bring him in before getting too much into detail. But, you know, he’s been an important player at Schalke. He’s played in a lot of big games and that type of experience can always be very, very helpful.”
Plans aren’t as far along with Castillo, who has played in four matches for El Tri. “We’ve had some discussions with Edgar’s representatives in the last few days,” Gulati said. “Everything is open. I don’t think Bob is ready to say that he’s coming into the team or not coming into the team, but from our perspective we’ve had some preliminary discussions with Edgar.” Castillo recently joined Santos on loan from Club America — his third club of the year.