SEATTLE – Clint Dempsey has enjoyed big weeks for club and country in the past, so forgive him if he has been down this road to redemption before.
But Dempsey’s latest fruitful five-day stretch meant plenty to the United States national team and the Seattle Sounders, both of which teetered on the brink of full-blown panic just six days ago.
Then came Dempsey’s record-setting goal for the USMNT on Tuesday, the first of a 4-0 World Cup qualifier romp over Guatemala that kept the Americans alive for the CONCACAF Hexagonal and, most crucially, the 2018 World Cup.
On short rest and dropped in something of a different position on Saturday, Dempsey did it again. His header off an Andreas Ivanschitz goal in the 79th minute was all the Sounders needed to top the Montreal Impact and snap a maddening three-game losing streak to open the season.
Dempsey, however, was unfazed as ever in the face of what could have gone wrong.
Said Dempsey, simply: “It just feels good to be winning again.”
Dempsey logged a full 90 minutes on Saturday only four days after going the distance for the USMNT against Guatemala, a nod to how essential he still is to both groups. His appearance for the USMNT was his first since the CONCACAF Cup in October and his goal against the Impact was his first of the MLS regular season, a streak that lasted 349 minutes before he nodded home the Ivanschitz corner to the delight of nearly 40,000 fans at CenturyLink Field.
“In this game, it only takes one game to kind of turn things around for yourself,” he said. “Anytime you’re playing well it’s a good thing, you take confidence from it. You try and keep building on that momentum and keep riding that wave.”
Sounders head coach Sigi Schmid deployed Dempsey in a slightly different role than usual against the Impact, in part because of international duty and short rest for Jordan Morris and perhaps to make Dempsey more instrumental in the night’s final outcome. Dempsey played more centrally than he has most of the season and was slightly withdrawn from the front line, allowing him to influence the team’s buildup instead of waiting for it to come to him in the box.
Dempsey said he has no strong preference where he lands in the lineup, as long as he ultimately gets to put his footprint on the final outcome, as he did on Saturday.
“I just like being involved in the game, and getting touches on the ball,” said Dempsey, who finished with a game-high four shots, three of them on goal. “I feel like if I’m getting touches, I can influence the game. Whatever allows me to get touches and get the ball in the attacking third, that’s the position that I like the most.”
The only drawback? Dempsey’s winner came from yet another set piece, a double-edged sword for a Sounders team still finding its identity a month into the season. They’ve proven they can master the dead ball – four of the team’s five goals across all competitions have come from a set piece, including all three of Dempsey’s – but they’re still without a goal from the run of play any of the team’s elite group of forwards.
Dempsey admitted the club is often missing that final touch, a result of relatively new faces on the field and a new formation still very much in flux.
“We’re still getting used to each other,” Dempsey said. “We’re still trying to figure out the best way we’re gonna play. But it also comes with confidence. We were on a little bit of a slide in the three losses in a row, and it was finally good to get this win, and you start to see the boys be a little more confident. I think you’ll start seeing us play a little more with our chests out, and good things will come from there.”
