It’s been a year since Jay DeMerit played for the U.S. national team, but the Vancouver Whitecaps captain still longs to represent his country.
DeMerit was a mainstay with the American side ever since making his debut in 2007, collecting 25 caps and playing every minute of every game of the U.S.’s run to the second round of the 2010 World Cup.
His national team career took a turn for the worse last March in a friendly against Paraguay when he aggravated a nagging groin problem, the same injury that forced the veteran defender to miss a portion of the Whitecaps’ pre-season.
As a result, DeMerit battled injury problems throughout the 2011 Major League Soccer campaign, appearing in only 21 of the Whitecaps’ 34 matches.
He also hasn’t played for the U.S. since the Paraguay game. Former U.S. head coach Bob Bradley didn’t name DeMerit to his squad for last summer’s CONCACAF Gold Cup, and Jurgen Klinsmann, who replaced Bradley in July, has yet to recall him to the national team fold.
DeMerit, a 32-year-old native of Wisconsin, seems to have put his injury woes behind him. Even though he hasn’t talked to Klinsmann, the Whitecaps defender hopes to earn a call up to the U.S. team ahead of this summer’s World Cup qualifying matches.
“Jurgen is trying different combinations and different things. All I can do is control what I can do, and that’s be on the field and play well for the Whitecaps. That’s something that I wasn’t consistent enough with last year, and hopefully I can do that and give him something to think about,” DeMerit told sportsnet.ca.
DeMerit added: “If I’m fit and healthy ready to go and I get called up, I would definitely go and continue to play for the national team.”
But if the call doesn’t come, he’s more than happy to support the team and closely follow the exploits of his American teammates
“For me it’s something I’ll always want to do and be a part of, whether it’s me sitting on my couch and cheering on the guys or being on the field with them,” DeMerit explained.
You get the sense from talking to the Vancouver defender that he’s proud of the U.S. team’s accomplishments, even if he’s not directly involved.
Case in point: the U.S. stunned Italy 1-0 in Genoa in an international friendly on Wednesday, marking the Americans’ first win over the Azzurri in 11 games spanning 78 years. The Whitecaps are currently in Orlando for pre-season training, but Demerit made sure he was able to watch the Italy game.
“When you get victories like that it plants the seed to grow from as a team. Ultimately one of the goals of Jurgen is to be one of the top 10 or 15 teams in the world, and consistently so. I think it’s games like that where you gain confidence as a squad … and you feel that we can compete with teams like Italy,” DeMerit said.
DeMerit heralded the U.S.’s ability to shut out the Italians, while at the same time praised Clint Dempsey and Brek Shea for their outstanding contributions on the attacking end.
“In the second half, the guys worked really with each other and to go to Italy and win away from home, it’s a historic result. We never beat Italy in any game before, let alone on their home soil, so it’s a great confidence booster ahead of the World Cup qualifiers,” DeMerit said.