USMNT: Why Clint Dempsey’s Move Is Good for US Soccer

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: August 4, 2013

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At first blush, Clint Dempsey's record MLS transfer from the EPL may seem like a nasty blow to American pride. Our biggest European football star called it quits on his European career.

Of course, this follows the three most productive years of Dempsey's career.

Three years that were anything but smooth sailing professionally but unarguably the three years that will define Dempsey's legacy—unless the gambit pays off and Dempsey plays a glorious swan song on the world's biggest football stage, the World Cup.

We are sure to hear from Dempsey himself in the coming days, but for now we are left speculating why Dempsey would leave European football now. 

His club situation is a mess, no doubt, but one would have to figure that if Gareth Bale leaves Tottenham Hotspur that Dempsey would have been a valuable talent for Andre Villas-Boas to call on. Why isn't Dempsey tempted by the challenge of helping fill Bale's size 11 Adidas?

Even if White Hart Lane was a rotten place to continue his career, why not choose another European club?



 

Because he is more tempted by World Cup glory.

And who can blame him?

Since the 2010 World Cup, Dempsey made an average of 43.7 club appearances per year. Over that same time span Chris Wondolowski, an MLS workhorse, made an average of 33.3 club appearances per year.

And, since MLS stubbornly refuses to adopt FIFA's international calendar, Dempsey will likely miss the Sounders' games on Sept. 4, 7 and 13 to play Hex qualifiers against Costa Rica on Sept. 6 and Mexico on Sept. 11, plus the Sounders' Oct. 9 and 13 games to finish qualification against Jamaica on Oct. 11 and Panama on Oct. 15.

That could mean 15 fewer games on Dempsey's 30-something frame heading into next summer's World Cup, and it could very likely be more as the U.S. team finishes its World Cup preparations af...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - International Football

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