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Dempsey suffers knee injury, will undergo scans Monday

Clint Dempsey 9 (Reuters) 

Clint Dempsey has enjoyed a stellar season for Fulham, playing with confidence while also leading the club in goals scored, but Dempsey's latest game for the Cottagers is sure to give U.S. national team fans nightmares.

Dempsey suffered a knee injury and hobbled off the field in the second half of Fulham's 2-0 loss to Blackburn on Sunday. The initial prognosis is that Dempsey suffered ligament damage, but scans will be done on Monday to precisely determine the extent of the injury.

"Clint will be scanned on Monday but we feel it might be a posterior cruciate knee ligament which would be very bad for us and he would be out for a while," Fulham manager Roy Hodgson told Soccernet.com.

Dempsey's injury puts his World Cup status up in the air, and adds to the injury woes of the U.S. team, who are currently threatened by potential absences from forward Charlie Davies and Oguchi Onyewu.

What do you think of Dempsey being hurt? How concerned are you? Do you see him recovering in time for the World Cup?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Sean:

    I would hope it is understood that when I talk about Donovan and Dempsey not being consistent enough to be considered great (on the world stage) that that doesn’t mean I am saying they should be “ever present, ever brilliant.” They are simply not “ever present, ever brilliant” enough to be great players in great leagues or on the world stage.

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  2. It’s amazing how many people who are so devoid of common sense and knowledge of the game that the only way they can avoid(unsuccessfully) looking stupid is to lie or distort what someone said.

    You must be suggesting that a player shouldn’t avoid taking away good scoring opportunities from his own teammates. When his teammate gestured his displeasure at Dempsey for blocking his opportunity, I’m sure Dempsey must have replied, “I find it amusing that you think I shouldn’t go after my rebound.”

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  3. WTF are you talking about? You are either lying about watching the whole game, or you’re an imbecile.

    “Surely you are not talking about the reception, turn and shoot that was saved?”

    Are you for real? You point out exactly what it is I’m talking about and then ask “what opportunity?”

    That was an extremely close range shot with no one but the goalkeeper to beat. Of course it was a blown opportunity. That’s the kind of chance that is few and far between, and if it is not taken will eliminate you from competitions like the world cup. That’s my whole point. The real great players on the world stage will score with that opportunity about 90% or more of the time. Donovan and Dempsey are NOT on that level. Get over it.

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  4. What an idiotic and dishonest response. I never said any player buries every chance.

    We as sports fans can’t doubt any American players? Really? What are you, some kind of fascist?

    The LAST THING WE NEED ARE FANBOYS LIKE YOU who get their feelings hurt every time someone points out that someone isn’t perfect.

    You also might want to learn the definition of conspiracy before you start throwing the word around. “Conspiracies” are not composed of facts. I could write a book and create a full length movie with nothing but facts to show the absurdly disproportionate amount of bad calls against the U.S. in international games. Are you “doubting” this happens to our players?

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  5. I feel for Clint Dempsey and I wish him a good recovery.

    For the Nats, we are three games, three losses and we are going home in South Africa this summer.

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  6. Ives – We really need a blog/post on the injured and the expected recovery/rehab progress.

    1) Dempsey

    2) Gooch

    3) Jones

    4) Davies

    5) Beasley

    6) Zizzo

    7) Cooper

    8) etc….

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  7. Explaining what “begs the question” really means is too complicated for this thread, but suffice it to say that it DOESN’T mean “raises the question,” which is the way Zach used it.

    Here’s a site about the phrase if anyone wants more: http://begthequestion.info/

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  8. “name one game that dempsey hasnt scored in that he contributed greatly? his only contributions have been goals that were very few in this last year”

    right. you obviously have a keen eye for the game. bahahahah

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  9. Dear troglodytes,

    (and by this, I mean all of you who have responded to Dempsey’s injury with criticism of his MNT play or by suggesting that [insert name here] would be an adequate replacement)

    The guy took home the ^%#$@ Bronze Ball at the Confed Cup, for Pete’s sake! I don’t care whether you think he didn’t deserve it. The fact that he was considered for the award is all the evidence anyone would need to convincingly argue that you’re an idiot!

    Oh, and while I have your attention, I’d also like to take this opportunity to point out that Freddy Adu will not save the MNT in SA and that Bob Bradley does not, in fact, deserve to be fired. Thank you.

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  10. Are you kidding? If Dempsey’s seriously injured, four of our best five eligible field players will be out or coming back from serious injuries: our best forward, Davies; our second-best attacker and second-best field player overall, Dempsey; our best defensive midfield option, Jones (remember, I said eligible); and our best defender, Onyewu. Each of those guys is irreplaceable, in the sense that the MNT has nobody to fill thier shoes with even close to the same quality. We only have two other players who are “irreplaceable” in that sense, Donovan and Bradley. Unless we get most of the four injured players back–and in form–by SA10, we’ll be looking at a team that’s a shadow of its Confed Cup self.

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  11. Say what you want to say about his defensive displays with the US, but Dempsey is not lazy. He’s worked incredibly hard ever since he got to England, adding different pieces to his game. His ball control and running off the ball have improved greatly, and he’s obviously been working on his free kicks, too. And he’s fearless, to boot. This is terrible news, both for him and the Nats. He was in the form of his life. No one else (besides Landon) in the national team pool can bring what Deuce brings to the table.

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  12. ” He makes a great move to setup what should be an easy chance, but then he misses it. ”

    WTF are you talking about? I watched the game and replayed every touch of Dempsey.

    Surely you are not talking about the reception, turn and shoot that was saved?

    What minute was this blown opportunity?

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  13. I don’t expect every one of Onyewu, Davies, and Dempsey to miss the world cup. However, if they weren’t we’d probably be forced to move Donovan up top.

    –Altidore—Donovan–

    Beasley———Holden

    —-Bradley–Edu——

    JB–Boca–DeMerit–Spec

    ——–Howard———

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  14. First reaction is that this sucks but it is time for Holden to shine. Then I realized I already thought Holden would start out wide and Dempsey alongside Altidore. Replacing Dempsey on the wing is much easier b.c. of Holden, Torres, Feilhaber, Rogers etc. Replacing him at FWD…….well now we may be screwed. Only realistic option is to move LD up top but of course it takes him out of his best position (for his production and providing a link for his team) and puts the position in the hands of Torres or Feilhaber who are not natural wingers. The one striker formation will not work against high class teams. And the remaining forward options are no good. Need either Demps or Davies to be able to play well. We can deal with not having Jones and Gooch but FWD is not the place we could lose someone.

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  15. TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE NEWS. Hoping for the best.
    Anyone hating on Clint HASN’T BEEN PAYING ATTENTION, to be polite.
    Clint is clutch.

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  16. Connor Casey is absolutely terrible. He shouldn’t touch the field for more than 35 minutes in any given game if he makes it to the World Cup. For the International level he’s very poor technically, his work rate is terrible, and he’s incredibly slow. He doesn’t even hold the ball up well at the international level. He’s very much an MLS player capable of great feats in the MLS but not much at the international level (this should remind you of Brian Ching). Please don’t get me started on Brian Ching. This is a terrible prognosis for the US National Team, but we have to have confidence in some of the young player who we’ve haven’t seen just yet. Charlie Davies was one of these such players only 1.5 years ago. Marcus Tracy is a player that may surprise a lot of people (and was recently called into National Camp). He’s a Wake Forest product that plays in the Danish League for a Champions League team. He’s a great player about 6’1, with wheels and technical skill. In this upcoming friendly, it’s an absolute must that Bradley play the new players he’s brought into camp. All in all, I agree though, this is terrible news!

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  17. Yes–did you guys see that bicycle kick in the first half?

    That level of skill and inspiration is exactly what the US team would be missing.

    But I’d like to hope that it’s just a bang for a week or two, and nothing that needs surgery….

    My prediction: Clint will be in SA.

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  18. that was a SICK overhead attempt in the first half that left the crossbar shaking for a good 30 seconds.

    thats what my Fulham will be missing for a bit. By his reaction coming off I cant picture it being that serious where he would miss any part of the world cup.

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