Clint Dempsey

Will Clint Dempsey Rediscover His Form With Seattle Sounders?

Nicholas Spiller

When Clint Dempsey arrived in America to join the Seattle Sounders of the MLS, there was much excitement and fanfare.

Here he was, the best American soccer player around, at the peak of his abilities and just 12 months removed from demanding a transfer to play in the Champions League, coming back to the United States and its fledgling league.

Surely, the Sounders would now be the favorite to win the MLS Cup and Dempsey would help establish a tremendous rivalry with the Los Angeles Galaxy, a team spearheaded by another famous American international, Landon Donovan.  American soccer has never been more proud and legitimate in the eyes of its fans.

But that sheer joy has ebbed away quickly. Dempsey has played on several occasions, to the delight of Sounders fans with his every touch, but he has yet to make any sort of real impact. He has scored 0 goals and has 0 assists. For a player dubbed with the praiseful compliment of being a play maker such a result is rather disappointing. Now he has been sidelined by a hamstring injury that forced him to missing the much-anticipated match versus the Galaxy. Not quite the impact buy we all expected!

However, everyone actually should have anticipated this current situation. Dempsey was not playing much in the preseason for Tottenham, and manager Andre Villas-Boas had even helped show the door for the American by recruiting a plethora of new attacking players.  Without much preparation, and then being thrust into the heavy action of an MLS playoff race, Dempsey should not really be counted on.

Players can really only make a major impact at a club when they arrive at the beginning of a season. This is where team leaders emerge and plans are solidified by the squad. Perhaps next year with a full off season with the Sounders, Dempsey will truly be that impact player and be worth all those millions of dollars spent to fetch him.

But for now, the team will need results and confidence ahead of the playoffs, and the absence of Dempsey will be distressing.  The MLS playoffs will begin around the end of this month, and the Sounders will be hoping to have a healthy Dempsey back in the fold. But even if he does make a healthy comeback, he needs to start clicking better with his teammates.

But regardless of Dempsey not providing the fireworks for them, the Sounders have actually performed very well since his arrival. The team had 6 wins and just 1 loss after his arrival. Players like Eddie Johnson, Lamar Neagle, and Obafemi Martins have ensured that this team has been productive all season long with goals, and are nearing double digits in the goals scored statistics.

What Dempsey seems to have brought to Seattle is a strong feeling of belief. When he is in the side, everyone around him plays with more purpose and poise, lifting the team to greatness. But with his recent injury that has kept him out of the lineup, Sounders have slipped, earning just 2 draws and a humiliating loss in the past 3 weeks. The 5-1 drubbing by Colorado Rapids was painful to watch and shows that while times are good for Seattle, they still have areas in which they need to improve.

Clint Dempsey will be returning to the lineup soon, and will need to start producing. Those warm and fuzzy feelings that lifted the team to such great heights upon his arrival have all but worn out. The player needs to make an impact on the season from here on.

Fortunately, there are still several weeks before the playoffs begin, and Dempsey will have every opportunity to gain fitness over that stretch. Also, his play has been so impressive with the USA National team and with Tottenham and Fulham in last several years that I fully expect him to begin to succeed in Seattle in the not so distant future. He is too good of a player not to.

The main question then becomes how well will he perform in the major matches coming up to determine the MLS Cup winner.  These games will be big, and the team will need production from Dempsey.  This will determine how many fans feel about his move, especially in the short term.

Unfortunately, I just do not see Seattle Sounders being the team that lifts the cup in December.  This recent 5-1 loss exposed problems in the team that lie far deeper than Dempsey alone. The defense is just not that good. Additionally, I have noticed that Clint Dempsey is putting too much pressure on himself to produce. Such play reeks almost of desperation and rarely achieves any level of form. It makes sense. Any high profile player brought into such a situation will be eager to make a statement. But in this case, Dempsey has stuttered, and will now need time in order to regain confidence.

Perhaps when he returns back to the squad, Dempsey should show a bit more restraint and try harder to be a team player.  When he passes and moves well, he is at his best, and good things happen. He simply does not have the flashy skills of a Gareth Bale to take teams on all his own, even in the MLS.

We have seen in years past that the transition to the MLS is actually quite difficult. Players like Thierry Henry, Tim Cahill, and even David Beckham took some time before they could really work their magic. I think the problem that affects many of these players is that it can be hard to work with the less talented squads. You make the right pass, but your teammate mishandles the ball. Or the pass intended for you goes sailing over your head.  While these problems can be a bit frustrating, the new arrivals get their furs all ruffled up. This in turn affects their play and causes them to drop. Only when Dempsey accepts the levels of his new teammates and works to simply aid them with his great play will we see real improvements.

I fully believe that Clint Dempsey is up to the task. He is after all, the best American soccer player, and he desperately wants to appeal to the Sounders fans. I think in the long run that Dempsey will become that star player for Seattle, and that his mark will be firmly placed in the history of the team. The interesting part will be seeing if he can actually kick it into high gear in time for the MLS playoffs and cup this year. Will Dempsey lead the Sounders to MLS Cup glory? Maybe next year, but not this season; he just has too far to go.

© Nicholas Spiller & Soccerphile.com