Clint Dempsey is expected to return to action for Fulham before the end of the English Premier League season after scans on his injured knee revealed "moderate damage to a ligament", Fulham revealed on its website on Tuesday evening.
The injury will not require surgery and Dempsey should return before the end of the EPL season, meaning that, barring a setback, Dempsey should be able to recover in time to take part in the 2010 World Cup.
Here is the statement issued by Fulham on the club website:
During the Blackburn Rovers fixture on Sunday 17 January, Clint Dempsey sustained moderate damage to a ligament in his right knee. Following the results of a scan, early indications are positive in that no operation is required. At this stage it is thought that the injury will not prevent him from featuring for Fulham, prior to the end of the season.
That sound you hear is the largest collective exhale in American soccer history.
U.S. national team head coach Bob Bradley expressed confidence in Dempsey's ability to recover in time to play a part in this summer's world Cup.
“The news about Clint's injury is positive, especially given the fact that he will not require surgery,” Bradley said. “We are confident that Clint will be ready to be an important part of our team during the World Cup."
According to U.S. Soccer, the U.S. team medical staff has been in contact with Fulham on a daily basis, and will continue to monitor his progress in the coming months.
What do you think of this development? Think Dempsey can return in time to be an impact player in South Africa? Wondering who will step up if Dempsey isn't ready? Just glad Dempsey's chances of playing in the World Cup are good?
Share your thoughts (and relief) in the comments section below.
i bet somewhere that matt character is well upset
The EPL ends May 9. So for Clint to be back in action AND make it worthwhile for Fulham to bring him back i.e. more than one or two games I would think he would need to be back training by Mid March. That would allow enough time to work him back in the line up in April.
This time line could support a minor PCL tear diagnosis.
Ives,
How about a piece on all the walking wounded yanks (Davies, Clint, Gooch, J Jones, etc.)? You have a ton of really anxious readers and USMNT fans. Maybe get a word or two from each about their return timetable? Worth asking.
I guess we can share the credit for this one.
Pot, meet kettle.
Ahhhhh…vague feeling of hopelessness and despair is now gone 🙂
So excited by the news…definitely spent the last few days praying to the soccer gods (i still believe they exist) that deuce would still feature in the world cup. I think he will be able to regain form quicker than most because of his athleticism and rigorous physical therapy which is what will be required over the next few months to strengthen the area around the pcl while the ligament itself re-builds.
By the way…only in the UK would it take 3 full days to get the results and opinion from doctors regarding an MRI…darn the NHS and National Healthcare
I think I offered the Gods something similar in return for good news.
I hope dempsey soaks his knee in some horse placenta… With the question of his fitness for south africa, can we hope BBradley will throw him up top?
TEARS OF FOOKIN JOY!!!!
This actually isn’t good news… he may be “back” but not really. I believe I had a similar tear, (along with being french, I played D-1 American football) (yes true story, i went to highschool in america and picked up the game pretty quickly). It happened in may, and by august I thought i was back up to full speed. Unfortunately I had the worst season of my life, never really had my former explosiveness back, and whenever i got hit straight on it, it would swell up like a grapefruit. It actually took closer to a year for me to feel no after affects at all…. Depmsey won’t be back to his current form by the world cup… we are not very lucky…
Really fantastic news. (I’m sure Dempsey will be relieved as well). He just needs to go see Dr. Spaceman and he’ll be alright.
I hope its not one of those things that can heal with out surgery but isn’t assured then requires the knife later.
Fantastic! This, combined with Gooch’s interview, means that each player could yet recover in time for the World Cup…phew!
As slow as they are, they can hardly complain. Most times it seems like they wait for another news agency to write the article, then post that…though I have seen a handful of “soccernet” authored articles.
You’re french is terrible 1. 2. This is an english speaking site, so if you want to pat yourself on the back for knowing a couple of words in french do it on your own time. 3. you’re french is really terrible— poor translation, in colloquial speech one would rarely actually spell nevertheless say Qu’est-ce qu’un… and chanceux batard is the direct translation to lucky batard (s). When in french we would most likely say, sal not lucky, we’d say dirty but more in an a lucky type of way…. The end
news is slowly trickling out to the rest of the sports websites. USAToday, ESPN, all already have their stories up. Forgot how big the news was. Hopefully he’s back to full strength by the World Cup. It’s pretty hard to be playing effectively at “80%”
Does ESPN ever get mad at you for posting news here before a story is up there?
My left teste is missing.
Oh..Thank you Jesus (or insert your own deity)…though with how my beloved whites have been playing lately its scary to see who will pick up the slack
Yes, but will he be game fit? But at this point, I’ll take it; it’s definitely better than not having him around in SA.
I just threw up in my mouth reading this . . .please don’t ever suggest something like this again.
Thank the baby Jesus for that one!
I hope you are right
If it’s a partial PCL tear he could be back in 6-8 weeks.
Exhale now…whew.
Why? Those are the 2 best forwards America has ever produced! I mean they play in an MLS league that is on par with the bottom third of the EPL and they dominate!
damn I was looking forward to seeing him against the Netherlands
I’m not a doctor (though I play one on TV), but the release sounds consistent with a partial PCL tear. Pretty tough to surgically repair the PCL, so intense PT is generally the thing to do.
Like my french cousin would say: Qu’est-ce qu’un bâtard chanceux!
Doing the happy dance.
Sweet, I was totally scared of the possibility of seeing Conor Casey and Ching as our two forwards.
Phew. Need to get all the big guns back for the WC. It looks like Clint and Gooch will be ready … Charlie? What’s the latest with Mr. Davies and Jermaine Jones?
Also, that has to be one of the longest(if not the longest) SBI thread titles I’ve every seen.
For as much attention as it’s garnered, it deserves a lengthy title.
(SBI-Felt like I had to let people know the story since everyone waited so long, but I’ve shortened the headline since.
could they be more vague?
Dr. Hodgson’s diagnosis was off.
I’m quite anxious to eventually hear how long they believe he will be on the sidelines…? A couple of months out is very different than returning at the end of the season, where there isn’t much time to get match fit before South Africa. Here’s to hoping his rehab is successful and he’s back on the field scoring wonder goals again in no time!
Great news. heal up! hopefully rest and rehab will go a long way to having clint rebuilt stronger, faster and better.
YES!
Good news. Get healthy Clint, we’re sure going to need you.
I’ll believe he’ll be back for the end of the EPL series when I see it.
But either way, looks like he’ll be okay for the WC, which, let’s be honest, is the USMNT’s main concern, and probably Dempsey’s too.
Outstanding! Too bad it happened though, he has been scoring and playing well lately.
Can’t wait for more details. Moderate is a scary word. Hopefully he’s back well before the WC, not in late April or early May
Is it still the PCL?
Absolutely awesome news!
Good news, but sometimes when you don’t do an operation it’s hard to put a timeline on a player’s return to top form. If it doesn’t respond to treatment, you end up having to get surgery after all. So, just a bit of uncertainty still in all of this even though it’s better not to have to worry about scar tissue and rehab.
thank goodness…question ives, whats goin on with jermaine jones? havent seen/heard any updates recently?
now he will be fresh in june.
Prayers Answered
Woo-hoo!
Though it sucks that he had to get injured in the first place.
Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!