By Steven Agen
As USA continue their historic march through the knockout rounds of Copa America Centenario, MLS resumed play this weekend after breaking for the group stage of the tournament. And with it resumed the scoring woes of the Seattle Sounders, who dropped a 2-0 decision in New York on Saturday despite creating a deluge of chances. Clint Dempsey is the common thread that ties the two sides together; he leads the attack for each, but to very different results.
Nearly halfway into the 2016 MLS campaign, murmurings about Dempsey’s age and production have begun to rumble louder in Seattle. The Sounders have limped to a mere 13 goals in 14 matches, good for second-worst mark in the league. Their 8 total team assists mean that every other MLS club has registered at least half again as many as Seattle, leaving them well bottom of the league in that metric. Dempsey has contributed only two goals while notching no assists in his 888 minutes spanning 10 appearences. While there are also plenty of other areas for criticism with this Sounders side, the argument goes that a player of Dempsey’s caliber and salary should be able to pick up the creative burden dropped by departed striker Obafemi Martins.
In recent weeks Dempsey himself has given us the loudest answer as to whether he’s over the hill or not, and he’s done it on the field.
Through four games of Copa America Centenario action, Dempsey has scored in three separate games and also added two assists. His goals against Costa Rica and Paraguay were game-winners as was his assist to Gyasi Zardes against Ecuador on Thursday. Given that he’s subbed off in three matches (twice late, once to compensate for a DeAndre Yedlin red card) he’s only played 292 minutes. That gives the former USA captain nearly a goal a game in the biggest tournament the country will host in years. All the while playing in a nearly identical role as he does with the Sounders.
Whatever the issue central to Seattle’s scoring issues, Clint Dempsey has put the idea that he’s washed up and somehow to blame to rest. Their path forward is clear. It’s time for Garth Lagerway and the rest of the Sounders front office to put the squad around him necessary to win trophies. Very few players see peaks such as Dempsey’s in the twilight of their careers and the Sounders would be foolish to waste it.
