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Sounders cautious on Dempsey, Johnson injuries

Nat Borchers, Clint Dempsey

Photo by ISIPhotos.com

By DAN KARELL

It looks like Clint Dempsey’s whirlwind summer might be starting to catch up with him.

The Seattle Sounders big summer signing was ruled out of the club’s 1-1 draw at the Los Angeles Galaxy after picking up a hamstring injury late last week, keeping him from even traveling to the game. According to Sounders head coach Sigi Schmid, the injury is progressing well but Schmid is unsure whether Dempsey will be fit to go on Sunday when the Sounders welcome the New York Red Bulls to CenturyLink Field.

“He’s doing OK, doing much better,” Schmid told the Seattle Times after practice on Tuesday. “The decision for these two days was to stay inside. We’ll see where he’s at when we come back into training on Friday.”

Starting with the mid-July trip with Tottenham to Hong Kong and back to London, to his August 3 move to Seattle and all the travel to and from U.S. Men’s National Team games, it’s not far off to think that the exhaustion from Dempsey’s travels played a part in this recent hamstring issue.

“Don’t know exactly,” Schmid said about how he thought Dempsey may have suffered his injury. “When he came back from the national team, he didn’t do that much. But obviously it’s something that either with the wear and tear with national team, playing those games in rapid succession, or maybe coming back with a wrong step at training. It’s hard to tell.”

The Seattle Times is also reporting that Eddie Johnson was held out of contact and then left training early due to a shoulder injury.

The report stated that he was set to have an X-ray taken on the shoulder on Tuesday, with more news on his situation later this week.

If the Sounders were to play without both Dempsey and Johnson on Sunday, it would severely diminish the spectacle around what could be a marquee late-season match. Comments made earlier in the day by Red Bulls head coach Mike Petke point to starters Thierry Henry and Jamison Olave missing the match due to the turf surface.

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What do you think of these developments? Do you see Dempsey returning in time for Sunday’s game? Do you feel his busy traveling schedule was a cause for the injury? Worried about Johnson’s injury?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Dempsey should NOT go on loan this Winter. Absolutely not. We have been down this path before. Donovan wasting time at Everton for what ? I think Everton moved up a few spots….some blog commentors got excited….who cares ?

    Next thing you know he needs a break when important soccer is being played.

    Now Clint is there. He has playoffs coming up, he has World Cup in 2014 and the MLS 2014 season….hopefully CCL too. The last thing he needs to do it play meaningless games for some team that will not win anything in the middle of all that.

    Don’t do it ! You have moved beyond that Clint, don’t go back !!!

    Reply
  2. Seattle: No company survives such salary discrepancies. Value = contribution to mission. In just one example, Dempsey is paid, not 27.5 % more, but 27.5 times (2,750%) more than Eddie Johnson! A Seattle player has no value, unless he happens to be Clint Dempsey. If Dempsey were superman, OK, but he is just a guy….and now, the guy is hurt. What is obvious: The other Seattle players work harder, get more done, and get shafted for that. What a deflating experience that must be. The perfect storm gathers.

    Reply
    • So other guys are prevented from making $5 million elsewhere ?

      I would like to see that story come out before Nagle gets ticked off about scoring 8-9 goals and not getting part of Dempsey’s money. Is Nagle worth more ? Sure, in a perfect world, but unfortunately not many of us go/watch MLS games right now.

      Reply
    • You know, it is the same old crap with you people. First of all, what has Eddie Johnson ever done while he was in the premiership to warrant any kind of salary close to that of Dempsey? Clint went to Europe and became an important player for Fulham. He scored a lot of important goals for them. When you look at the rediculous amount of money spent on guys like Bale, you have to conclude that Dempsey has earned the salary he is being paid.
      EJ has proven his worth to earn more money but it took him a bit of time to stop doing a million step overs and start scoring. Yes he deserves a raise as does Neagle, but why doesn’t Neagle get picked up by an EPL club and have similar stats that Dempsy had before he starts demanding millions. If it were not for a few lucky blocks, Dempsy would have about two goals by now.

      Reply
      • Don’t know who you mean by “you people”, but I agree that Seattle’s big Johnson should get a raise. The problem right now is the 3 DP and salary cap rules. The dilemma is whether to continue forcing league parity by limiting successful teams, or allow a free market where teams buy the best players they can afford.

        Dempsey’s salary is a bomb just beginning to go off. Do you think there are ANY teams out there without at least a few players asking, “What about me??$?”

        Seattle spent big not because it buys them The Cup (it doesn’t) and not only because Dempsey deserves it according to the world market (he does), but also because it is a message to the world market that MLS intends to grow out of the role of feeder league into a competitor for prime players. Roth knows that his team’s future is tied to MLS’ success, so his motive wasn’t altruism, although it IS admirable long-range thinking. The goal is a long, long way off, but signing Dempsey sent ripples across the pond.

  3. About the Seattle artificial turf… Seattle fans were duped by Seahawks’ ownership into voting public funds for the stadium, believing they would get a grass surface for soccer. Now they’re told the stadium lets rain in, but not enough sun for grass. So they appreciate the chatter about player safety. But, given the overall injury rate, and especially those most serious, is turf the issue some, apparently including Petke, think it is? Has there been any verifiable study that corroborates that turf injures players? Or is all the evidence anecdotal?

    Reply
  4. I realize it’s too soon to be pushing the panic button on Clint, Ah, heck. I’m gonna push it anyway. This is getting worrisome. Going to Seattle was probably the best thing Clint could have done for his bank account. But it was the worst thing possible for his soccer form and his role as captain of the USMNT. Why would he go to an MLS team that plays on artificial turf in the year before a World Cup? To play with Eddie “Pay Me Pay Me Pay Me” Johnson? And no doubt this will be Clint’s last World Cup at that. It is crystal clear now that he was pushed out of Tottenham, but I have no doubt there were several other good teams in England or Germany that would have loved to have had Dempsey-Cakes.

    Reply
    • I agree that moving to Sounders was worst for him on a competitive level. Although, he will be moving out on loan in the winter, but then he will come back to MLS and play until the World Cup camp at the end of May. This means he will play non-stop soccer for almost an entire year, which worries me. A USMNT at the World Cup without a healthy Dempsey is a tragic thing.

      Reply
      • Dempsey has said a number of times in interviews he looks at the MLS schedule as a positive because of the winter break. He said the European players are coming off a long season and MLS should be in mid season form. So reading into that I don’t see Dempsey going anywhere but fishing during the winter break.

      • And that is exactly my worry, that when Dempsey signed that rich MLS contact he crossed that invisible threshold toward retirement and goin’ fishin’ every day of the year. I hope I am wrong and he can regain the famous Dempsey fire.

      • Let’s take a step back here, Dempsey has a low-level strain that is most likely due to an inconsistent and too short pre-season while he figured out his playing future. It started in Columbus witht he back (which is usually a result of tight hamstrings), and he hasn’t quite looked healthy since. It is not a matter of fire, it is a matter of health and fitness, which he will get back, and get back quicker playing in MLS, rather than languishing on a bench or playing occasional Europa league games with a mid-to-low tier first division club in Europe. Clint knows his soccer legacy is not done yet and does not want to tarnish it with a lackluster performance here, he just needs to get to game fitness. Brad Evans is injured quite frequently, yet no questions his fire…

    • johnson is criminally underpaid, and that has even been acknowledge by the Sounders. There’s no reason to bring Johnson into the equation.

      Reply
  5. Conspiracy theorist in me is thinking this may be a ploy to ensure the duo wont be called in for the October Qualifiers. Regardless I hope they get healthy and back on the pitch soon.

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    • So they are missing games now so they won’t be called in and miss games then? When EJ probably still needs to continue to show for the US if he wants to go to Brazil. I’m sure Boyd won’t mind coming in and scoring a couple to take EJs seat.

      Reply
      • injuries aside, ej is going to brasil, in case you have not been watching qualifying. boyd is scoring goals in Austria, but have you seen those defenders, they are extremely weak.

        boyd is ok, but he does not have the pace, nor the hold up play ej offers. don’t be silly!!!

      • The World Cup is like 9 months away and every cycle players that play big parts in Qualifying end up being left at home. I’m not saying I don’t think EJ is on the squad. My point is I just think everyone is going to take every chance they can when called on to the National team from here to Brazil.

  6. This story will get a lot of comments, so I think this is a good place to toss this in. I am officially boycotting the Qatar World Cup.

    This is why. http://deadspin.com/arabs-working-people-to-death-its-not-like-theres-no-p-1379736824

    Confirmed that hundreds of workers have already dled building (mostly) World Cup infrastructure after being kept essentially as sIaves by the brutaI Qatar monarchy–brought into the country and have their passports stolen. Then worked to until they either dle or are kllled.

    Reply
      • If you are going to boycott a WC because of human rights violations you missed the boat with the “relocation” of slums in South Africa and Rio Brazil. If those things, which have also included individuals losing lives, haven’t bothered FIFA yet do you think one dead person a day will?

        I’m not saying any of it is right. Sadly, I don’t see it changing. At least this we can pride ourselves that we would never let such things occur in our country in the name of sport. I wish it were like that in every one.

    • I’ve been to Qatar and other countries in the region and the conditions for a lot of the imported labor are terrible. I hope the light is shone brightly on this as 2022 draws closer. But any formal boycott effort can’t come from the US. It would be dead on arrival. A World Cup that is dear to the entire Arab world, rich and poor, privlaged and oppressed, the US is perceived as stepping in and taking it away. No support is going to be forthcoming for that. Just reminders of the body count in Iraq.

      Reply
      • They need to either move it, or fifa needs to start having international regulations on how the workers should be treated. They can’t just accept slave labor and just sit back and wait for the stadiums to be built. It’s crap. It’s absolute crap

      • Of coarse, my point was just in reaction to the idea that anything would be seen as America taking the World Cup away. The number of problems with trying to hold it in Qatar are just so many now. Really its the European leagues that have all the power and will be what takes it from Qatar. If Qatar were even to fix the problems like the treatment of workers. Still the only thing I think could be done is hold night matches at midnight or 2 am.

    • Sadly, a boycott of the Qatar WC will have no effect on FIFA or the Working conditions in Qatar. FIFA presidential wannabe’s in Europe & Asia will arrange for the club schedule to be modified so that there will be a Winter WC. I wouldn’t be surprised to see religious posturing (on multiple fronts…Muslim, Christian, & Judaism) creating an atmosphere of high tension and mistrust. Ultimately, Qatar will host the worst attended WC with teams playing in front of nearly empty stadiums.
      I actually hope that FIFA comes to its sences and ask (begs) the US to fill in, and we turn them down. Would love to see Sep have to eat crow.

      Reply
      • The stadium (stadia?) will not be empty. Whatever vacancies Europe, North America and S America leave relative to previous cups will be filled by very wealthy soccer fans from Asia and Middle East. It’s a big planet out there.

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