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Europe. The USA. South America. The USA. Europe. Jay DeMerit
must have some frequent flyer miles racked up now…The next
international break will be upon us this weekend and while the training
grounds of England aren’t exactly deserted at such times, they’re
a lot less populated than usual with a number of the Golden Boys
jetting off to represent various nations at all sorts of levels.
Just a few years after playing pub football and living on beans
and toast, Jay DeMerit has joined the ranks of the international
jetsetters, finally getting recognition in the United States of
America’s set up, playing his first game for them back in March
of last year. Already the big centre half looks at home in international
surroundings, though he attributes his elevation to the colours
to life on a more domestic plane.
“It all comes from playing well for Watford, and from the success
we’ve had. Being in the Premier League is a huge thing if you
want to play for your country. Playing in England in general really
helps you out as far as those things are concerned, but in the Premiership,
it steps up another level. You’re always in the spotlight,
it’s really easy for not only the coaching staff but fans and
media to watch the games and see how you’re doing. The best
way to let people know what you have on offer is to be on show and
the Premier League is probably the best in the world at doing that.
“I guess I took a few risks in my career to try to get to this
point, so to have played in the Premier League, to be playing international
football, I guess it’s vindication of that. It was hard enough
to get here, but they’re right when they say it’s even
harder to stay at this level. Thankfully I’ve been lucky enough
to have the right kind of people around me and to have the attitude
to continue to keep working at it. Having these goals ahead of me
has been so important, and now I’m just determined to hold
on to that.
“That was a big thing, finally getting my call up, no doubt
of that. I got my first cap in Frisco, in Texas, last March against
Guatemala. That was a great day, because as a player, that’s
the number one goal, the highest honour you can get in the game
is to be selected for your country, so that was fantastic. Once
you’ve been involved in it, then you just want to continue
to be a part of it, so that’s even more motivation for me to
work harder and harder at my game, to get Watford back in the Premier
League, and to have a chance to play at the highest level for my
club and my country.
“The good thing for me ahead of joining up with the squad is
that I was able to integrate myself beforehand a little bit. I’ve
played against a lot of the American guys that play over here in
England, I think there’s nine of us now, you get to know them
just by playing against them.
You talk after games, we’re in the same situation so we have
things that we talk about, we have things in common being an American
playing in England so I knew a bit about enough of them to feel
fairly comfortable as soon as I joined up with the training camp.
That makes it a lot easier to settle in”.
If an Englishman makes his international debut on home soil, there’s
every likelihood the whole family will come together to share the
occasion. After all, at the very worst it’s about 300 miles
to Wembley Stadium from anywhere in this country. The distances
are on a slightly more intimidating scale in the USA.
“The first game, it was at the other end of the country from
where I grew up, so that was tough. My dad was there which was great
but I’ve been lucky since then, in that the last couple of
months, we’ve played in Chicago twice, which is kind of my
home away from home. I’ve had to buy 45 tickets for each game
and stuff like that. It hurts the pocket book, but it’s nice
to have everyone there to support me!”
Aidy Boothroyd and the coaching staff took steps to ensure that
there was no relegation hangover this season, but from Jay’s
viewpoint, some of that disappointment was assuaged by the opportunity
offered to him in the US, giving him real momentum as he heads back
into the hurly burly of Championship life.
“It wasn’t the best feeling in the world getting relegated
from the Premier League, but at least on a personal level, getting
to play for my country was a good antidote to that, and to have
a break, play in a different atmosphere with new people, it makes
it fun, it freshens you up. It’s good to play against different
styles of football, work with a different coach with different ideas
for a few weeks. Those things all make you a better player, that’s
what it’s all about, but it has been a pretty intense summer
all the same.
“We have a different schedule to the guys who play for the
European teams. They tend to have a lighter summer in the off year
when there isn’t a World Cup or a European Championship, where
this season, we’ve played a lot of football through the summer
which was great for me as someone just coming into the international
team, because it was a big opportunity to play some games, get to
know the guys, just settle in.
The only positive thing about being relegated last season was that
it meant Aidy could give me a break over the last few games because
he knew that if I didn’t get some time off then, there wasn’t
going to be much more of an opportunity. If I hadn’t had that
rest, I would only have had a two week break in the off season.
That was really good for me and taking that time meant that I could
come back here and be ready to play right from day one this season.
Otherwise, I might have needed to miss a few games at the start
of this season instead. The fact that we are on a different schedule
to the European guys doesn’t make it any easier for us that’s
for sure, but we take honour from being chosen, I love to play in
those games, so you just do what you have to do. And I understand
that careers are only so long and you have to make the most of them
by playing as many games as you can”.
The USA team was as busy as any in the world during the summer,
taking part in the Gold Cup tournament at home, then heading off
to Venezuela for the prestigious Copa America competition. In a
lot of ways, it was a tale of two teams, coach Bob Bradley making
a lot of changes from one competition to the next, Jay being one
of the few constants.
“The Gold Cup was a big thing to be a part of, and then to
go on to be involved in the Copa America as well, that was very
exciting. This was the busiest summer ever for US soccer, playing
all sorts of games, all sorts of tournaments. I was one of the few
who got to play in both which was great. I didn’t get to play
so many games in the Gold Cup, so I was fresh to play in the Copa
America and that was a good experience because you end up facing
the likes of Argentina, guys like Crespo, Messi, Veron, Riquelme,
and Paraguay too who have a really good team.
“The Gold Cup is our big regional tournament, so with all the
guys still fresh from Europe, we went with an experienced team,
our first team. I understand that, I’m not a regular at the
moment in the US team, that’s my next goal. I’m one of
the new guys and I have to work my way in, I’m fully aware
of the fact that I’m a squad player at present.
The Gold Cup is much more important to our regional ranking than
the Copa America is, even though you play bigger and better teams
in that competition, so it was important we did well in the Gold
Cup. That was why the coach rightly went with the more experienced
guys and it worked – we won the competition.
“Bob Bradley took some criticism for the squad that went to
the Copa America, but I think he definitely went the right way about
it. With the politics of the European players needing to rest, there
was some talk that we wouldn’t even go, but being the way he
is, Bob saw it as a challenge and took a lot of new guys there.
It was a great way to gain experience for us, and it was a good
test of the players, of the success of our soccer programme as a
whole to see how we could compete with he likes of Argentina without
a number of the first choice guys. It’s only by playing against
teams like that that we can get better and that we can see the level
that we need to get to.
“Playing Argentina was a little like playing in the Premier
League against Manchester United for Watford. They have stars in
every position, you disrupt their game for as long as you can, but
then the last ten or fifteen minutes, you start to get tired from
having to work so hard and their quality shines through. We held
them until the hour, it was 1-1 then, but they scored late goals
and losing 4-1 looks worse than it really was. It’s frustrating
but that’s the level they’re at.
“It was brutal to be playing in Venezuela at that time of the
year. The conditions are really hard and for me, it was harder still
because I got food poisoning while I was out there. For the Paraguay
game, I had to come off early because I hadn’t eaten anything
in three days and I had nothing left in the tank. But I wouldn’t
have missed out on it. Again in that one, it was 2-1 until they
scored in injury time, so we were pretty close to getting a good
result in that one too”.
You can’t leave a discussion of US soccer without mentioning
David Beckham and the impact he’s had on the MLS after joining
LA Galaxy. What do they make of him in America ?
“David has already had a huge impact on the MLS. Anybody that
can go to the stadium in New York where they were averaging 10 or
15,000 a game and then turn that into a 60,000 stadium sell out,
for one man to be able to do that is an amazing thing. I think it’s
clear that he’s over there as an ambassador for the sport,
and if anyone can get people to watch the game, to take an interest
in it, it’s him because he’s one of the few soccer players
who they know there. Ask most Americans who David Beckham is and
they’ll say “He’s that soccer player”. They
don’t know anything about him, where he’s from, what teams
he’s been on, but they know who he is. Just to have that impact,
that’s something big. If that gets more people to the game
when he’s there, maybe if the family goes and the kids enjoy
it, next time they’ll go back to see a game when he isn’t
playing. That’s the idea behind it, how well it works remains
to be seen, but I think it’s a good idea to raise the game”.
There’s been debate aplenty about whether Beckham can commute
from the States to Europe and back for international games.
If anybody understands the pressures of that, it’s Jay, given
that he does it in reverse.
“It’s not so much the playing in international games as
the travelling that tires you out, especially when it’s going
back to the US. It isn’t easy to fly somewhere, have one day’s
rest and then have to play. Travel takes it out of you, the scheduling,
the time it takes, getting through airports these days, your body
clock is off, you have to be aware of those things, they’re
all factors. But a lot of times it’s mental, you just have
to tell yourself you can get through the game, and you find you
can. With this job title comes a lot of responsibility and for me,
and most of the guys, we wouldn’t have it any other way”.
Finally, to matters domestic and the start that Watford have made
to the Championship campaign. Happy so far?
“We’re pleased with the results we’ve got so far.
The most pleasing part of it is that we haven’t really played
our best football yet. I think we’re all under no illusions
that we have to play better as the season goes on, we can tighten
things up at both ends of the field, but to get so many points so
far with so much improvement still in the team is a great sign.
Most of us have played in the Championship before so we know what
it takes, but it still takes a few games to really adjust back to
that after being in the Premier League, but the transition so far
has been good. We have to keep striving to get better and better,
and we have to continue to show the character we’ve shown to
come back and win games in the 90th minute. That’s given us
great confidence going into games, but we know it’s a long,
hard road ahead”.
One of the biggest positives to come out of the season so far is
the fact that Jay, a future captain of club and country according
to Aidy, has committed his future to the club by signing a new contract.
Now he can get on with the job.
“I was pleased to get my contract out of the way. They’re
necessary evils I guess, but things are resolved and I can just
think about playing now. For me it was never an issue, I’ve
always wanted to stay here, I enjoy being here, I owe a lot to this
club and to Aidy. He makes me the best player I can be and that’s
the bottom line, that’s all you can ask from a manager. My
situation has always been good here, and I’m happy to be able
to continue here in the years to come. Now I can focus on helping
us get promoted”.
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