[Frank Cunha]

A Case for Clint Dempsey


By Ridge Mahoney
Senior Editor
Soccer America

I'm back on the Clint Dempsey bandwagon and whether or not he makes the World Cup squad this year, I'm not getting off again.

Norway saw what earned Dempsey Rookie of the Year honors in 2004 and landed him on the national team: sharply cut balls threaded between defenders, lofted passes landing sweetly in space or on a teammate's head, and raiding runs into the box.

The Norwegians, while losing 5-0 in the January friendly, also felt his tackling and tenacity, the byproducts of diligent work by the U.S. coaching staff, who've preached two-way play to a lad who idolized the audacity and skill of Diego Maradona while growing up in an East Texas trailer park.

"I've been working on my game as far as getting back defensively because Bruce [Arena] used to think I was a liability on the defensive side and I'm just trying to make a conscious effort to be a better player in the defensive third," said Dempsey, who has been tried at forward by both club and country. "We're starting to realize I'm more of midfielder, a modern-day midfielder, someone able to get forward and get back defensively behind the ball. I'm trying to play like Steven Gerrard or Frank Lampard, someone able to get forward and get back.




"I tried to do that [against Norway], not just sit out wide the whole game but get inside and mix it up. I thought I did a good job of balancing that."

A year ago to the day he trotted onto a baked, dusty field in Port of Spain for his second cap and cleaned up in midfield for the last 25 minutes of a 2-1 U.S. win over Trinidad & Tobago in the Hexagonal opener.

A month later against Colombia in a 3-0 victory, he narrowly missed scoring his first U.S. goal with a long-range shot that whistled just past the top corner. Another Clint, Mathis, did score that day, but he would make only one more U.S. appearance.

ENGLISH LESSONS. In a late May friendly against England, Dempsey battled and persevered as the U.S. lost, 2-1. Smacked around and knocked off the ball in the first half, he matched that English ferocity in the second half and scored his first U.S. goal by heading in a rebound. He got another goal in the Gold Cup opener against Cuba and started three of six games in that tournament. But in late summer and autumn, some of his fire as well as his flair ebbed away.

"He's a young player still trying to figure things out," said Coach Arena at the time. "At times the game is still a little fast for him."

In all last year, he played 13 U.S. games and 30 more for the Revs in the regular season and playoffs. The training and travel and matches took their toll. His national team stature faded. He seemed to have stagnated.

"Last year was a long season and especially for me personally, because I've never been used to dealing with double duty playing club and national team," he said. "It really started to affect me in the Gold Cup, trying to find out where you fit in the mix, and mentally and physically it was draining to figure things out. I was playing forward, which I didn't know and [Arena] didn't know if it was my best position."




Like many of his U.S. and Revs teammates stretched between league play and call-ups for qualifiers and the Gold Cup, he labored in the playoffs.

A subpar New England team reached MLS Cup but offered only tepid resistance and was beaten 1-0 by the Galaxy.

GETTING A REST. With a tough January U.S. camp looming just seven weeks after MLS Cup 2005, rather than charge ahead, he pulled back. In MLS he can throw himself into the hustle and bustle and get the job done with sweat and muscle. In the winter of 2004 he trained with Feyenoord to sharpen his body and mind.

A player blessed with skill and eager to thrill decided instead, for once, to chill.

"I took the whole time off instead of going overseas and training," he says. "I was originally supposed to train with Everton but I ended up not doing that. Last year I think I stretched myself out too much. I never gave my body time to rest. I did a better job doing that this year."

Rested and fresh, Dempsey impressed the coaches from the first day of training. A dour 0-0 tie with Canada in the 2006 opener didn't offer him many chances to shine, but he and his teammates ran rampant against Norway.

He won balls in midfield, covered plenty of ground, shredded the Norwegians with incisive passes, and displayed again a vast repetoire of threats.




A ball driven from the right side with his left foot set up Taylor Twellman for the first U.S. goal. Dempsey smashed the woodwork with another missile from distance, a wildly swerving shot off his right foot that so badly fooled keeper Espen Johnsen that he went to his right as the ball bent to his left.

In the second half Dempsey headed in his own rebound, but the referee's assistant's flag had gone up for offside on his initial shot.

No matter. It was an excellent day's work.

"We played a little bit of diamond in the midfield with [Pat] Noonan on the left and Dempsey on the right and Kerry [Zavagnin] behind them and Landon [Donovan] ahead of them," said Arena. "I thought they played quite well. Clint did a good job holding onto the ball, helped create some chances in the attack and defended quite well. We've seen great improvement in Clint this year. He's a player who's competing for a spot on the World Cup roster. He showed that's he's progressed a lot [against Norway]."

The World Cup opener is four months away. Recent injuries to Claudio Reyna and Pablo Mastroeni along with John O'Brien's long history of ailments has pockmarked the U.S. midfield.

There are numerous MLS candidates in addition to Dempsey: Zavagnin, Noonan, Santino Quaranta, Chris Klein, Brian Caroll, Ben OIsen, and others.

Those who play Friday will be severely tested by Japan's pressure and persistence after lording in the time and space granted by Norway.

I will watch intently from my reclaimed perch: riding shotgun on the Nacogdoches Express.

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