Clint Dempsey has been called up to the United States squad for their next round of World Cup qualifiers at the end of March.
The Fulham midfielder has been a regular in the USA side since the last World Cup and has now established himself as one of the most important players in the national team. His form with the Whites this season has been outstanding and he will hope to carry it into the international arena as the States try to secure qualification for South Africa.
Having beaten Mexico 2-0 in their first qualifying fixture of this phase, the USA travel to El Salvador on March 28 before entertaining Trinidad and Tobago in Nashville three days later.
Former Fulham winger Eddie Lewis, now looking to revive his career at the LA Galaxy, has praised Dempsey’s determination.
Dempsey is an incredible example [of an American struggling to establish himself in the Premier League]. Coming into this summer, he was out of favour. I don’t think he was expected to have too much of an impact this season.
He got pushed out. He literally fought his way back into that team. He’s been playing quite a bit. He’s scored some important goals for them this season. Honestly, every minute he gets, he’s earned.
He was their leading scorer last season. I think he thought he’d come in this season and be very comfortable in the starting eleven. That’s never the case. Certainly never as a foreigner and maybe even a little more so as an American. You get nothing. You constantly have to fight them off and I think he’s just done an incredible job.
He’s a real competitor. Sometimes, as talented as you are, if you don’t have that – it’s hard to be a foreigner there. It’s not like here or anywhere else. Nobody is looking out for you or trying to help you out. Generally you are taking another British guy’s position, so it’s hard.
UPDATE: Jason in the comments rightly points out that Eddie Johnson has also been called up to the USA squad. Well done Eddie. The full squad is as follows.
GOALKEEPERS: Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Tim Howard (Everton), Marcus Hahnemann (Reading).
DEFENDERS: Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes), Danny Califf (FC Midtjylland), Jay DeMerit (Watford), Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard de Liege), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock), Jonathan Spector (West Ham United).
MIDFIELDERS: Freddy Adu (AS Monaco), DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers), Michael Bradley (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Maurice Edu (Glasgow Rangers), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Pablo Mastroeni (Colorado Rapids), José Francisco Torres (Pachuca), Clint Dempsey (Fulham).
FORWARDS: Jozy Altidore (Xerez C.D), Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Eddie Johnson (Cardiff City).
As good as Dempsey has been this season, what a load of bollocks that is from Lewis.
Not only has he misused the word literally, but he seems to have some sort of chip on his shoulder over his time at Fulham. The idea that people are in the team by virtue of their nationality is completely ridiculous. You’d hope that everyone made the starting eleven because they’d fought for their position and come out on top that week.
Can’t disagree Tom. I was waiting for a sarcastic remark at the end of the piece from Dan, which never came.
Simply put, Lewis wasn’t good enough to make it in the Premier League. Had he been English it wouldn’t have made a difference.
In fact, you could argue that Dempsey’s nationality has helped him at Fulham – the one Premier League team that’s signed a whole host of American talent. They weren’t put off by Lewis and bought a gem in McBride and Bocanegra, Dempsey, Keller and Johnson were all soon in Fulham shirts. Our persistence with Clint might well be down to the great result we got with Brian.
Eddie Johnson was called into U.S. camp for the first time in a long while. His recent form with Cardiff must have won points with Bob Bradley. I’m not real sure he’ll dress for either qualifier though.
I think Eddie Lewis means to say that all leagues have a vested interest in having (successful) local boys on their squads. A) It’s cheaper than scouring the earth looking for the next Messi and B) you want to promote your home grown talent in your home grown clubs. Given that, foreign players often have to make an even stronger case for themselves coming into a squad. It happens here in the MLS. We want to see successful, American boys on our clubs. So, we will turn a blind eye at times to players that are struggling because we either covertly or overtly want them to succeed. Whereas when a player like Blanco comes into the Chicago squad he has to produce right away or the fans will turn. I for one was elated when McBride joined Chicago because I want to see him kick ass right here in the USA. Not that I didn’t enjoy every second of his time at Fulham…in fact I was proud to see him flourish in a country that I have a great deal of respect for.
Just got in and I didn’t expect that this post would generate quite so much debate.
Lewis always struck me as a bit of an enigma when he was at Fulham. He was obviously a very talented player but often turned in ordinary performances. I remember celebrating a goal he scored in the League Cup which was blinding and then having to make sure that it was him.
I take Kev’s point which is well made. Of course clubs would like to ensure that homegrown players come through and take a first-team spot. But Fulham don’t have that strength in depth or that kind of quality coming through our Academy. That’s what made Eddie’s comments a little strange because Dempsey was fighting it out for a Hungarian for a first team spot in August.