Seattle Sports Insider

CLINT DEMPSEY?!

Dr. D jumps on the Sounder bandwagon REAL quick

Posted by

8/3/13

In Dr. D's humble guess-timation, Clint Dempsey is the greatest American soccer player who ever lived. He's 30, in his prime, and suddenly he is playing for your Seattle Sounders. "Fuutball," anybody?

With this signing, you are talking about a shot heard 'round the world. It's more of a "popgun" sound, but make no mistake - for the MLS in America to land a fish of Dempsey's size is a game-changer. For the Sounders and for American soccer, at least.

There are very fine soccer blogs peppering the NW landscape. SSI won't be able to much speak to fans who are ex-college players themselves, but can (now) serve as a type of concierge for fair-weather soccer fans like himself, helping perhaps to show them the door. The door in, that is.

How Good are Dempsey and Donovan?

Ask an English bloke this question and you're guaranteed a fun afternoon. For some reason, it grotesquely pains him to admit anything good about any American soccer player. I can't relate to this -- I mean, of course the NBA is worlds better than European basketball, but why should it pain me to admit that Dirk Nowitzki is a great player?

A few years ago, Landon Donovan joined Everton -- a .500 English Premier League team -- to the general hilarity. Now we'd see the cheeseburger-chomping American put in his place ...

Donovan hit the pitch and in exactly three games, had the Everton fans eating out of the palm of his hand. "A classic English winger!," was the verdict, meaning a forward who pressurizes the game 70 yards vertically. One crusty old Toffees fan watched Donovan run down an enemy attacker from 40 yards away and grumbled sourly, "I thought he'd be slower." You get it? The guy could not bring himself to say, "Donovan is fast."

Donovan was widely conceded to be Everton's best player during the time he was there. Fans started a campaign to retain him, but he wanted to stay and star for the MLS' glamor team, the LA Galaxy.

...............

Clint Dempsey is, also, a difference-maker in any league in the world. True, he is not in the world's top 100 footballers, is not comparable in skill to a Luis Suarez or a Neymar or a Xabi. But he was routinely Fulham's player of the season, finished #4 in the EPL in scoring two years ago -- from midfield. In my view, he is a "box-to-box" midfielder who is so good on the ball that you can play him at striker if you want - even in the EPL.

When Arsenal were considering him last winter, one English fan again tried to minimize him. "He's fine, but he has no set position. Where do you put him?" Another fan shot back, "Where do you put Clint Dempsey? You put him on the pitch."

After 2011-12, Dempsey finished #4 in England's version of the MVP voting. Lot of my mates over there never thought they'd see the day :- )

MLS Impact

So it's very unusual for an impact European player, a minor star, to come over to American soccer before he's over the hill. How dominant do you expect Dempsey to be?

Well ... in Major League Baseball. Who are the players who fit these criteria?

Not perennial All-Stars, not $20M/year players ...
... but The Best Player on a .500'ish team

In the AL, you're describing players like Billy Butler, Kyle Seager, and Shin-Soo Choo. In the English Premier League, that's right about Dempsey's current level of value.

The interesting thing is to have a player of this caliber stepping down to a league so far beneath his level, because MLS is to the EPL as ... well,

MLB -- > NPB Japanese baseball
EPL -- > MLS soccer

You'll hear English chaps claim that MLS is more like the minor leagues, but I'll go with the NPB. I think the MLS is about like the Championship in England, and that's not AAA. It's closer to the big leagues than that.

In any case, suppose you had Billy Butler, or Matt Cain, coming off a 30-homer or 200-strikeout season -- > go over to Japan, to see how things went? That would be pretty interesting, wouldn't it?

The more so, if he went to your NPB team. The Sounders club heard about Dempsey's signing before the game, blew out of the tunnel and destroyed Dallas, the team just ahead of them in the conference, tonight. They've got a Seahawk-type fan base to turbocharge the coming run. Let's watch some soccer, gentlemen.

Be Afraid,

Dr D

Blog:

Soccer

Comments

Brian McBride

I'm not a Fulham (or Spurs supporter) but if you ask any Fulham fan, they cannot speak highly enough of Brian McBride. Classic English style centre-forward; strong in the air, great link up play and a real club man i.e. came across as someone who would bleed for your cause. He was genuinely a pleasure to watch and they talk of him as a legend.
Never been a great Dempsey fan - I appreciate his record, especially from midfield but he underwhelmed at Spurs last year and always came across as slightly surly/self-centered (I felt that when he celebrated a goal it was all about Clint and not about the team). However, I may have miscast him slightly based on a few highlights so happy to be proven wrong.

McBride always in the 'Top U.S. Player' discussion

And have no quibble whatsoever with the remarks about attitude.
Don't know whether hardcore soccer fans would agree, but Dempsey has always made me wonder whether he comes across as a "typical American" to Euro fans. Dempsey's little personality streak, of being about his own success, that makes him less than an ideal face of U.S. soccer. But maybe a fair one?
Have not been a serious BPL fan for that long ... six-eight years ... but had the impression that McBride was the man who thawed English fans toward U.S. players? You turn on that "Fan Zone" and they give respect to (even American) guys with his club loyalty, toughness, and work rate.
Dempsey is rawhide-tough too, but he takes a shot and they yell half-derisively "God Bless America" :- )

US players in English leagues

I support a lesser known English team called Millwall who play in the Championship (division below the Premier League). In the early 90s, we had a few American players, notably Kasey Keller who played 176 games for us (and 93 times for the Sounders so you probably know him) and he is easily the best keeper I've ever seen in 25 years of actively supporting Millwall. I also recall a more than decent midfielder called John Harkes who played for Sheffield Wednesday and was the first American to play in the nascent Premier League around 1992.
So, I think other US players, who were not stars necessarily, were making waves in English football a good 15-20 years before McBride and Dempsey and I don't recall an anti-US bias against these players at the time. English football has always supported the concept of: if you're good enough, doesn't matter how big you are or where you come from, you can play in my team.
Clint Dempsey, he has always comes across as slightly aloof and this is possibly driven by an innate sense within him of not quite belonging - perhaps even of being an 'outsider'. I follow the Mariners very closely (have done since 2000) and have followed the Raiders in NFL since 1985 and I do not believe Dempsey comes across as a typical American - he certainly doesn't follow the template of other US players that have succeeded in England (Brad Friedel also up there as maybe one of the top 3 keepers in the EPL in the last 20 years). McBride on the other hand does. His whole attitude says, "Ok, I may come from a non-footballing nation and you probably don't rate me so I am going to show you with graft and commitment that you are wrong". And boy did he...
Dempsey is still in his peak years (for his position/playing style, 28-32 should be his peak) so maybe a change of scenery and a return to the 'mothership' will bring the best in him. I certainly wouldn't be surprised.
M

M's "crossover" comment

Wouldn't you love your ownership group to make the following statement?
The ownership had promised at their end-of-year meeting that money would not keep them from pursuing top talent and these pair of moves prove just how serious they were (Martins and Clint).

Informative

I'm probably influenced unduly by my 'club Britannia' type Seattle-area friends :- ) who universally minimize U.S. players to me ... my reads of the Arsenal Mania, GoonersWorld etc type boards are probably biased by my personal experience with my IRL friends.
Keepers seem like a special case to me ... my ex-London mates are glad to grant that Americans can do that ... does not diminish their condescension towards U.S. players in the other 10 positions...
'Aloof' is quite a good characterization of Dempsey now that you bring it up. I agree that the sincerity of English club fans transcends nationality, if a player's got the goods. In fact one of my local transplanted-English friends is a rabid Sounder fan, and to my amazement, giddy over the acquisition of Dempsey. Suddenly he's a legitimate European star ;- )
Appreciate it Fungineer.

Statement had a rather immediate effect on the pitch...

You think they'll consolidate a consistent starting 10 to play 'around' Dempsey and, if so, that they'll manifest nice timing with him?
Still not clear to me even what position they'll play him in ...

Get lineup feedback from the key players

Get the big guns in the room and work together to decide the best formation lineup...Clint, Eddie, Martins, and Rosales...Clint and Eddie have played together before...what worked best then?