Jay DeMerit

Jay DeMerit

Personal information
Full name	Jay Michael DeMerit
Date of birth	December 4, 1979 (1979-12-04)
Place of birth	Green Bay, Wisconsin, United States
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Playing position	Centre back
Club information
Current club	Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Number	6
Youth career
1998–2001	UIC Flames
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2001	Chicago Fire Premier
2003–2004	Southall	2	(0)
2004	Northwood	0	(0)
2004–2010	Watford	188	(9)
2011–	Vancouver Whitecaps FC	21	(0)
National team‡
2007–	United States	25	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of October 26, 2011. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of March 29, 2011

Jay Michael DeMerit (born December 4, 1979 in Green Bay, Wisconsin) is an American soccer player who plays for Vancouver Whitecaps FC in Major League Soccer, and for the United States national team. His improbable career is the subject of the independent film, Rise and Shine: The Jay DeMerit Story, based on his rise from the lowest tier of football in England to the English Premier League and World Cup.

Club career

Early career

DeMerit was a three-sport high school athlete in Wisconsin, where he participated in basketball and track in addition to soccer. He attended Bay Port High School and graduated in 1998.

DeMerit played college soccer at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he moved from playing forward to defender. While in college, DeMerit formed part of a defensive backline that helped lead the team into the NCAA playoffs in 2000. Although he played with Chicago Fire Premier, the development team of the Chicago Fire in the USL Premier Development League, he was not drafted or signed by any Major League Soccer clubs following graduation from college. After spending some time working as a barman, Demerit took the advice of a former European teammate and decided to take advantage of his European Union work status (due to his Danish grandfather) by moving to England in 2003 with only $1,800, in an attempt to find a club to play for. He started off playing in the ninth tier of English football for Southall, earning only £40 a week.

In July 2004, DeMerit joined Northwood, a seventh-tier side, to play in some of their pre-season matches. Northwood played Watford, then a Football League Championship team, in their second pre-season match. During the course of the match, DeMerit impressed then Watford manager Ray Lewington enough to earn a two-week trial. Following the trial, DeMerit signed a one year contract with Watford to play in their 2004–05 season.

Watford

During the 2005–06 season, Watford was expected by many to fight relegation from the Championship to League One as they had in DeMerit's first season with the club. However, under new coach Aidy Boothroyd, Watford maintained strong form throughout the season and finished third in the Championship table, earning the right to enter the playoffs for the last of three annual promotion spots to the Premier League. On May 21, 2006, in the play-off final against Leeds United, DeMerit headed in the game's first goal and was named Man of the Match as Watford gained promotion to the Premier League by defeating Leeds United 3–0. Soon afterwards, he joined the ranks of athlete-musicians by releasing a single entitled "Soccer Rocks", available in the club shop.

DeMerit's hard work in the 2005–06 Championship season and his efforts in helping get the club promoted was rewarded with a contract extension taking him through the end of the 2008–09 season as a Watford player. He was named as one of three candidates for Watford's 2006–07 Player of the Season award, which was ultimately won by goalkeeper Ben Foster.

Until the 2007–08 season, DeMerit often filled the role of Watford's vice-captain, behind then-captain Gavin Mahon. He captained Watford for the first time on December 9, 2006, in the home game against Reading, and re-donned the armband on January 6, 2007, for the 4–1 win over Stockport County in the FA Cup third round. On December 15, 2007, it was announced that DeMerit had been named captain, replacing Mahon, whose contract was not being renewed. However, this later proved to be a temporary move, with the captaincy rotating between himself, Danny Shittu, and Richard Lee, before finally being passed to John Eustace, a newly signed central midfielder. In later interviews, DeMerit admitted that this placed strain on his relationship with manager Adrian Boothroyd.

Early in the 2009–10 season, DeMerit suffered a scratch on his eyeball while removing a contact lens. DeMerit's eye became infected, severely obscuring his vision and requiring a corneal transplant in October. He returned to action on December 7, 2009, playing the second half of Watford's 3–1 victory over Queens Park Rangers. DeMerit's contract at Watford expired in June 2010, and was not renewed.

Vancouver Whitecaps FC

DeMerit (right) defending against Nate Jaqua of the Seattle Sounders FC

On November 18, 2010, DeMerit was announced as the first player signed by Vancouver Whitecaps FC in preparation for their entry into Major League Soccer in 2011.

International career

DeMerit earned his first cap for the United States national team on March 28, 2007, starting in a friendly against Guatemala. He was a member of the USA squad that won the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup, thus qualifying for the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup.

In the 2009 Confederations Cup, DeMerit started at center back due to Carlos Bocanegra's hamstring injury. He played the entire game when the USA defeated Spain in the semi-final 2–0 on June 24, 2009; the Barcelona sports daily El Mundo Deportivo called DeMerit's play "superb".^{[citation needed]} DeMerit also played the entire match when the USA lost 3–2 to Brazil in the Cup final on June 28, 2009.

For the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, he made Bob Bradley's 23-man squad, and started all four of the United States matches – the three first-round games, against England, Slovenia, and Algeria, and the second round match against Ghana, in which the USA were eliminated. During the Algeria match he played most of the game with a split tongue that required five stitches after the game.

Honors

Club

Watford

• Football League Championship play-offs (1) : 2005–06

International

United States

• CONCACAF Gold Cup (1): 2007

See also

• List of current MLS players

External links

• MLS player profile
• Jay DeMerit profile at watfordfc.co.uk
• Jay DeMerit career stats at Soccerbase
• Jay DeMerit feature from 2006 on SI.com
• Jay DeMerit at National-Football-Teams.com