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Dempsey scores dream winner as Fulham shocks Juventus

Clint Dempsey Juve (Getty Images)

Clint Dempsey sat through most of Fulham's thrilling victory against Juventus, but the American star came off the bench to provide the most important goal of the day.

Dempsey scored a dream long-range chip shot goal in the 82nd minute to give Fulham a 4-1 victory and 5-4 aggregate series victory against Juventus at Craven Cottage on Thursday. The victory sent the Cottagers through to the Europa League quarterfinals.

With the overall series tied at 4-4 after Fulham rattled off three unanswered goals, Dempsey delivered the series clincher on a goal that left Fulham manager Roy Hodgson speechless and crushed a Juventus side that had played a man down since the 27th minute after a Fabio Cannavaro red card.

Here is Dempsey's goal (an updated video, much clearer look at the goal):

Comments

  1. “I find this sad: some people seriously claim there are players too skilled to play on the USMNT ”

    That isn’t exactly what people are saying.

    Torres’ best skills don’t quite fit into what the US does best. Pachuca, his team, play a very different style from the tightmarking, counterattacking style the US play.

    To make a dreaded NFL analogy, if you ran a west coast offense why draft a QB more suited to a long bomb, vertical offense?

    Tores will eventually be worked in but as you can see from the Netherlands game, he can be overrun by a european type physical team.

    You also overrate just how skilled Torres is. World Cup teams like Brazil, Spain and Italy see guys better than him every day. He wouldn’t make their rosters.

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  2. I really don’t understand all of this talk about Dempsey’s goal being a cross. How in the world is that a cross?

    There’s NO doubt he intentionally chipped the ball. That’s crystal clear from the movement of his foot.

    The only time you are going to chip a cross is for a short distance when you just need to get the ball over a few players to someone who is just a short distance away.

    If that was a cross it was one goofy cross. There was clearly no one there to get to a cross, and even if there was, he couldn’t have gotten to the ball because it was too high and at the goal. The goalkeeper didn’t even think it was going to stay in play.

    Lastly, Dempsey’s body language and his positioning made it seem pretty obvious that he was trying to disguise a chip shot on the goal. It looked like he had already visualized it when he received the ball.

    He quickly controlled the ball to his left and kept his head completely down, knowing full well that if he even looked like he was going to shoot the three defenders around him would have pounced, and the goalkeeper would probably have not been fooled by the chip. Without the deception it would never have worked, and he was NOT disguising a chip cross!

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  3. Bart posted this earlier:

    In my opinion it was an intentional and pre-planned shot. Strikers are taught to pay attention to how close to his line the keeper is playing. If a striker starts to see a pattern that a keeper is consistently coming off his line then a “blind” chip is a great idea. By taking this shot without looking up you aren’t giving any indication about what you’re going to do. You know where the goal is based on your position on the field so there is no need to look at the goal for that and you know the keeper is playing off his line a bit. You just turn and chip – surprise is in your favor. That is what I saw in all of the slow motion replays.

    And what I love is that he had the gumption to try this. This type of creativity and audacity seems to be coached out of most American players.

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  4. Another lucky goal for Dempsey. Notice, he never once looks to see where the keeper is standing before striking the ball. It looks like a bad cross.

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  5. Backspin could be nice for a blooped header over the keeper from the far post. All the more reason to try it I guess, with the keeper cheating left like that.

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  6. No I don’t not think he isn’t… (wait, what?) Anyway, maybe there’s little harm in trying that shot, because a carom is as likely to make a goal for a teammate as any pass he might try on purpose. No guts, no glory

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  7. I never once claimed that “there are players too skilled to play on the USMNT.” I instead tried to explain that Torres skills simply do not fit into the scheme that gives us the best chance to succeed. We need two hard nosed players playing central mid…… Torres just does not have the bite required in my opinion. And like i said previously I watch alot of Pachuca games and the role he plays for them does not fit our system.

    Torres is good but the league that he plays in allows him to be good…. Put Torres in Scotland or Germany and he would be eaten alive…. Put Edu or Bradley in Mexico….. and they would be considered world beaters…. Monster capable of dictating any team from a deep midfield position

    Torres needs more experience against physical players…. is ability to deal with physical players is the only thing holding him back…. If J. Jones was healthy and well incorporated into the team and both Bradley and Edu were injured then and only then should Torres start at the world cup for us….

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  8. A CROSS?????

    Absolutely not! No one “chips” a cross into the 6, ever. never.

    He wasn’t looking? Now that he’s a big time player in the best league in the world, perhaps he knows where the goal is, where he is, perhaps he even has a bit of peripheral vision. That was one fat golazo cabrones. Congratulations to Clint for making it back.

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  9. It’s definitely a lot to think about. As the commentater said: demspey took account of everything in the universe into consideration on that shot.

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  10. Definitely a shot. I don’t know how anyone could watch that and think he was aiming for Zamora’s head and not the goal.

    Also, he’d be the first to admit he got lucky…which he did, but he got lucky that his shot went in, not that he was trying a cross.

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  11. And I give him the benefit of the doubt because he scored a similar goal earlier in the season vs. Stoke City.

    Also because, as a player, I often lined up long-range shots not by looking at the goal, but by looking at the lines on the pitch. If I could see where I was relative to the D or the corner of the box, I knew where the posts were and could shoot without making it obvious where I was trying to put the ball. Seeing as I never played anywhere near a professional level, if I could shoot on target without looking up then there’s no question Dempsey should be able to.

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  12. I would think you have to take him at his word, that he attempted a shot. Without looking, though, I find it a bit hard to believe he knew EXACTLY where he was going with it. It seems more likely his experience and sense gave him a pretty good idea–but it was still a long shot.

    it is really kind of funny (maybe irritating, too!) to read the wrangling about Deuce’s goal: was it a cross or a chip-shot on goal? I really can’t tell, either.

    He never looks at goal OR Zamora, so either choice (chip or cross) would be pretty tough to actually land on target. Maybe he DOES have radar/GPS/missile guidance technology built in to his DNA. Maybe he WAS a bit “lucky” with his exact placement. Maybe . . . who knows?!

    The fact remains that he is a very good player with flashes of brilliance, and on this day, he scored the series winner! Hats off to you, Dempsey!

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  13. Yet you KNOW he will be on that plane and starting in the first game. Seriously though Clint has some bad games during the WCQ but that was probably due to him being so tired. He played the whole season and then the Confed Cup so give him a break.

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  14. I just read all these posts. This is a fun one.

    It’s a shot. 2 angles here:

    1. Physics. The ‘in-swerving’ ball is the most ‘headable’ ball in terms of generating power and ease of directionality. Pros know how to make their passes swerve back into the field, even at short distances (any relatively unmarked human being could in-serve a ball from there). Analyzing the video, you’ll notice his strike actually generates BACKSPIN, which is very unfavorable in terms of heading crosses. The ball’s momentum is carrying away from the point of contact (Zamora’s dome) and its high loft makes it that much harder to get the forehead onto it accurately.

    2. Awareness. A good player doesn’t have to look up to know where a good keeper will be positioned. The keeper positioned himself such that the angle for Dempsey to get a clean hard strike at goal was minimized (mid-near post, a bit off the line). The keeper also would have had a great shot at claiming a ball drifting into the ‘danger zone’ around the 6-yard box that was at ‘headable’ height. The result of a Zamora challenge for that ball would likely have been a foul awarded to Juve’s netminder. Clint knew where the keep would be, knew where he was on the pitch (you don’t have to look up to see the touchlines, 18, etc), and knew how to strike the ball – a soft chip that came down as easily and angled as it went up.

    To top it off, when you’re as unmarked as he was, there’s no better time to settle down and pick your shots like that. The defenders are literally giving him meters of space with the ball at his feet. If you give a skilled attacker time and space like that, he’ll think of something real neat to do, as we have seen here.

    Seems like a lot for a professional athlete to think about, but a lot of this is instinctual. This analysis just allows the average weekend warrior to understand things that are instinctual to a pro footballer.

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  15. Sweet kicks!!! He should put them in a glass case with a permanent replaying of the goal on a monitor above them. HE TAKES ACCOUNT OF EVERYTHING IN THE UNIVERSE!!!

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  16. I know — that’s what I wrote. He said he was trying to take a shot. I just don’t believe him.

    First off, let me say that I think Deuce is an excellent player. He strikes me as a bit eccentric, but he’s a quality player.

    Pete, you have to quit with the condescension. Just because some people think he was attempting to cross the ball and it happened to go in does not mean we lack some grand understanding of the game. It’s a difference of opinion, a different interpretation of events.

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  17. 100% a shot.

    a. Watch the replay closely he strikes the ball exactly how he wants to. if that’s a cross he’s off by 6 yards.
    b. Dempsey was demanding the ball from the minute he came on. He was definitly in a shooting mindset.
    c. The guy always tries ridiculous things. Sometimes in INTL play too much so actually. You don’t think a guy in purple shoes isn’t trying that shot??

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  18. im not joking in any way. people complain about Conner Casey and others being on the roster, when NOBODY under performs as much and as often as Dempsey. Hes the most inconsistent player on the field.

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  19. matt,
    dempsey has 17 goals in 60 appearances for the us team. Amongst current players he’s tied for second with beasley who has 29 more appearances, and behind donovan with 42. In 2009 he played the 3rd amount of minutes with one less appearance, behind bradley and donovan, and was third in points with 4 goals 2 assists, behind jozy (6 goals 1 assist) and donovan (5 goals 10 assists). What else would you like? He also won the bronze ball at the confeds cup, has a 40 yard blast a europa cup series winner, and a $40million pound goal and scored the only goal in the 06 world cup. I’ll take dempsey over anyone who’d replace him

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  20. It was absolutely, 100% a planned shot. I can’t believe there’s even a discussion about that. (Not directed at you specifically, Bart.)

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  21. ….I hope you’re joking.
    So, because Dempsey played “bad” against CONCACAF opponents he shouldn’t get credit for scoring the goal that put Fulham (won little to nothing since 1879) over Juventus (Italian giants)?
    Not to mention he didn’t do anything in the Confederation’s Cup….

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  22. “Ghana goal + This + Confed Cup + Sports Illustrated = huge man crush.”

    I guess I missed something. What do you mean by Sports Illustrated? Is Dempsey supposed to be on the cover or something?

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