The Clint Dempsey Q&A 🇺🇸
The ex-USMNT attacker talks to The Football Weekend about Christian Pulisic's rise and his own career in the Premier League.
The podcast is off this holiday week, but we’ve got something special for you to kick off the new year.
I spoke with Clint Dempsey in December for a story in GQ covering the new CBS Sports and Paramount+ documentary on Christian Pulisic, but I also snuck in some questions about Dempsey’s own days in the Premier League (where he scored 57 goals for Fulham and Tottenham) and with the U.S. Men’s National Team.
The CBS Sports analyst shared his thoughts on how the trajectory of his playing career differed from Pulisic’s, a couple of famous goals he scored as a young man, and much more…
You went to college, you played in the MLS a few years, then you went over to Fulham. How do you think that changed your experience compared to the guys that were coming out of the academy system over in Europe?
I think that in an ideal world, I would have left after my freshman year of college and gone to a higher level. I think playing two more seasons there and leaving halfway through my junior year was a little bit of a waste. It would have been better to have gotten more top-level training at a younger age, or more competition to try to push yourself and to be the best that you could.
But at the end of the day, everybody has their own path, and you do whatever you can to make it work for you. So I guess I, in a sense, was lucky that I was able to make the U-20 [national] team, I went to Project-40, then was able to get drafted by New England Revolution, a team that didn't spend a lot of money on players. So if you were young and you were good enough, you got an opportunity, and I got my chance. And I'm grateful for Stevie Nicol and Paul Mariner for what they were able to teach me and give me that opportunity.
But, yeah, in an ideal world, you'd want to be playing at 18 years old in Europe and testing yourself against some of the best players in the world. It would have been dope to go to like, Ajax or something like that, somewhere in Holland and develop, you know, right out of high school.
Is that a difference-maker for Americans now if they want to play for clubs like A.C. Milan? To make the Champions League level, how key is the academy route? Or can you still go through the MLS route that you did?
I think you can still go through anything. If you're good enough, the cream will always rise to the top. But being at the highest level that you can be at, the younger you are is only going to help you, right? So if you're 18 years old, playing in one of the best leagues in the world, or playing on a team that's playing in the Champions League and playing against, you know, you're testing yourself against the best, it's only going to make you better.
It's like taking a more difficult class in school. You're just going to learn so much more. You're going to be on such a fast track of learning. So it's that balance, right, of being on that fast track of learning, but also to be playing. So as long as you feel somewhere that you're developing and you're getting opportunities. Because at the end of the day, if you're never playing, it doesn't do you really any good to be on the team unless you're getting significant minutes to try and do what you're being taught in the training sessions, in games.
But yeah, man, I think it helped [Christian Pulisic] to not have any fear at a young age. And it kind of makes you go, “What's the next challenge?” He did it in Germany, then it was the Premier League and he was able to do it there. He won a Champions League with Chelsea, then picked up some injuries that made it difficult for him because he missed the preseason. But there’s that saying, “Make your next move your best move,” in terms of going to AC Milan.
Look at how well he played last year and how he got off to a flying start this year. The difference I would say about him from what we've seen so far is he's a main player on a big team. We've had players that have been main players on good mid-table teams, but nobody who’s the main player on one of the biggest teams in Europe.
What do you think he's unlocked in his game that he has become the man for A.C. Milan?
I think confidence. You're one of the first names on the team sheet when they do the lineup, and the confidence that you get from that and from performing, you get in a good place. And he’s the type of person that he’s not just going to settle on the fact that, “Oh, I’ve scored a few goals.” He's like, “Well, shit, I want to be the best I can be. I want to do something that no one's ever done before. I don't want to be just the best American. Let me see if I can be the best player on A.C. Milan. Let me see if I can be the best player in this league.”
But what I think he's added to his game is just being able to not only get on the end of things, but create more chances for himself. He's always had the ability—wherever he was—with his pace, to get in positions where he can get on the end of things. Now you're seeing—like in the derby match—where he's able to just take players one-on-one, beat two or three players and score goals. So when you're doing those types of things, you're gonna be hard to stop. Because how do you stop someone that can get on the end of things but also create chances for himself?
You mentioned the mentality piece—when you went to Fulham, Brian McBride was there, Carlos Bocanegra. There were Americans doing it at a mid-table club, but what was the mentality? Were you guys saying, “We want to make it in this top league as an American and have a solid career?” Did you think to yourself, “I can be the best player in the world?”
That was never—my mindset was, “I'm going to show people what’s up. I’m going to show people that I can play no matter who I'm playing against, that I can stand on my own, 10 toes down.” That was always my mentality. And then it’s, wherever you are, “I’m gonna make them play me.” Because I got to. I gotta take care of my family. I didn't come from a lot, so it was always about—if you're not performing, how you gonna make good contracts?
So for me, it was: Get respect by going out there and showing everybody what's up, making the coaches play you. Do that, you get good contracts, you take care of your family, do that for as long as you can do it, and then test yourself at the highest level. That was always my thing.
So that's just kind of what I always did. I mean, until I came back to MLS. It was an offer I couldn't refuse. It was more money than I ever thought I'd be making and a chance to really take care of my family in a great way. So at 30, coming back to the MLS, it goes against me playing at the highest level against the best players. But I felt like I’d showed that I could play at the highest level against the best players, in terms of what I did in Europe.
There are two moments in your career that stick out to me. One, when you scored that goal in the 2006 World Cup, which for me was a formative moment as a fan. The other one was in your first season [at Fulham]. You guys were fighting relegation, maybe not right on the brink, but you scored that goal against Liverpool, right?
Yeah, we were. We were on the brink.
You were in trouble, yeah. And you scored that goal to beat Liverpool 1-0. Did that feel like the moment that you were sort of welcomed into the Fulham world?
It was two [feelings]. One was that, “I deserve to be in the Premier League.” Cause anytime you fight in a relegation battle, you earned your way into that league. ‘Cause that is stressful. That's a stressful time for everybody. People are gonna lose jobs. Players could get a large percentage of their wages cut. There’s staff that can be let go.
But then also for me, it was being able to score at that level. And once I knew that I could score at that level, and such an important goal, I was like, “All right!” It gave me more confidence to go on, because it's a shot to your ego when you go from being an MLS All-Star to then you go to Fulham and then you're not starting. And then you’re like, “What the fuck, dude? I gotta figure out a way to get in this bitch.” So yeah, that first year, fighting the relegation battle and scoring the goal that kept us in the Premier League was one of the more special moments in my career.
And you talk about 2006, the goal against Ghana, I mean, that was a special moment. Because if you talk about what I wanted to do in my lifetime, I wanted to play for my country in the World Cup, and I wanted to score a goal. I wanted to help them try to win something. And so that was an opportunity for me to do that.
I mean, I didn’t start the first game. I got the second game—started against Italy. We were able to get the draw versus them, the team that ends up winning the damn World Cup. And then in the last game, we get scored against [by] Ghana, and then I scored the goal, get a cross from Beasley that equaled the game up. And in a game that if we won, we go into the next round. So, in a sense, it gave my country hope that we could get the job done if we could get another goal. But at the same time, for me, man, I was like, I could die a happy kid, because when I prayed at night, I was like, “Man, I hope I can play in a World Cup and score in a World Cup.”
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THIS WEEKEND’S MATCHES
TOTTENHAM vs NEWCASTLE
Sat @ 7:30am ET, 12:30pm UK
The visitors are one of the hottest teams in England at the moment, rattling off four league wins in a row to rise to fifth in the table. Ange Postecoglou and Tottenham have considerably less to shout about, stinking up the place with four losses and just one win in their last six, and their 14 goals conceded is only behind Leicester’s 15 for the league high in that span. Spurs’ home form is particularly poor and the defense is falling apart, so you can expect the goals to flow here.
CRYSTAL PALACE vs CHELSEA
Sat @ 10am ET, 3pm UK
Enzo Maresca has hit his first major speed bump as Chelsea manager with two consecutive league defeats. They’re without a win in this competition since Brentford on December 15, and a 2-0 reverse at the hands of Ipswich Town last time out was a low point. The Blues are slipping out of the title race, and they badly need a result at Selhurst Park just to stay firmly in the Top Four picture. That W won’t come easily, as Oli Glasner’s Eagles have (finally) clicked into some form with just one defeat in their last eight.
BRIGHTON vs ARSENAL
Sat @ 12:30pm ET, 5:30pm UK
The Gunners often find it difficult against Brighton, whom they’ve failed to beat in nine of 15 Premier League meetings, including earlier this season at the Emirates Stadium. They’ve had somewhat better luck at the Amex, where they’ve won two on the trot, and the Seagulls are not in a good way at the moment—they haven’t won a league match since November 23. The South Coast club must reprise its role as Arsenal’s bogey team to get back in touching distance of the European places.
LIVERPOOL vs MAN UNITED
Sun @ 11:30am ET, 4:30pm UK
The grand old rivalry of English football has been something considerably less than that for years now. The Reds of Liverpool have dominated the Red Devils in the league, winning seven of their last 13 meetings and losing just one. Those head-to-head matchups have actually looked a bit more competitive than their comparative league positions over the last eight years or so, even if Liverpool once bashed United 7-0 at this venue. Anfield is not what Ruben Amorim needs at a time when he’s admitted that a relegation battle is a possibility for the biggest club in England. Arne Slot, meanwhile, is in the driver’s seat on his way to a Premier League title, though there’s half the course still to navigate.
ROMA vs LAZIO
Sun @ 2:45pm ET, 7:45pm UK
This is one of the world’s more ferocious derbies, a quintessential intra-city beef with roots in Mussolini’s fascist regime. (You can hear all about it in an episode of the podcast with Patrick Kendrick this past spring.) Lazio are 15 points better off than their old enemies this season after a dreadful start for Roma, but Claudio Ranieri has pieced things together a bit for the home side and the Giallorossi are up into mid-table. The Eagles of Lazio are gunning for a Champions League place, and a win in the Derby della Capitale will keep the wolves of Fiorentina, Juventus, and (of course) Roma at bay.⚽︎