On any other given night in Chicago, a United States National Team friendly against Poland would have simply been another money grab game for US Soccer; eager to cash in on the region’s large Polish population. However, Saturday night’s match, pretty much for one reason, provided fans with much more intrigue: the debut of Jermaine Jones.

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The ex-German defensive midfielder, who plies his craft at Schalke, has long been discussed in American soccer circles as the potential class of the national team, though injury setback after setback were starting to make the possibilities that fans would ever get to enjoy his European-honed skills seem unlikely.

Miraculously, with the help of US Soccer physicians, Jones was able to overcome the serious shin injury that kept him out of the World Cup in South Africa and he began his road to recovery. Once he quickly regained his position at his German club (the one where he earned defensive midfielder of the year in the Bundesliga a few years back), US Soccer fans once again were salivating at the prospects of Jones being suited up in Red, White, and Blue, and leaving the mistake-prone Ricardo Clark out as a last resort option.