TUKWILA — When Seattle Sounders FC took the field at Starfire Sports on Tuesday morning for its first training session in advance of the 2017 season, there was one primary question on every observer’s minds:
Would Clint Dempsey be there?
Well, not only was Dempsey there, Seattle’s star forward was a full participant as the Sounders began preparations for their MLS title defense.
Dempsey, one of Seattle’s two designated players and one of the greatest players in U.S. history, saw his 2016 season cut short after being diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat last August. He was therefore unavailable as the Sounders made a dramatic late-season surge to make the playoffs and win the first MLS Cup in franchise history.
Dempsey’s condition is such that there were questions about whether he would be cleared to resume playing for the start of this season, or what the condition may mean for Dempsey’s career. But Dempsey, who did resume training with the team in a limited basis toward the end of last season, practiced at full speed Tuesday.
“Clint has continued to make progress,” Sounders general manager Garth Lagerwey said. “Obviously he’s out there today, you guys can see him. We’ve been pleased with his progress, his attitude has been awesome, he’s worked really hard. We asked him to do a period of work individually in the offseason, he’s now progressed to the point where he can rejoin the team on a regular basis. We still have some steps to get through, but he’s continued to progress, we’re happy with his progress, we’re happy with his attitude, we’re happy with how far we’ve come and we’re excited about what the future may hold.”
Though the 33-year-old Dempsey is practicing again, Lagerwey stopped short of providing a timetable for when Dempsey may return to game action, meaning it remains unknown whether Dempsey will be able to play in Seattle’s season opener on March 4 at Houston.
“We are only going to act with his health first and foremost prominent in mind,” Lagerwey said. “He is healthy enough to train, that has been determined, but we still have some mileposts we have to hit on the way as we continue to progress him, and I don’t want to set any expectations because we’ll either hit them or we won’t. There is no timeline, we’re not prepared to put any more structure on it than that.”
Dempsey was not made available to the media for comment. But while Dempsey wasn’t available to say anything, his coach and teammates were, and they’re thrilled to see Dempsey fully participating with the team.
“It was only one day, and he looked pretty good,” Sounders coach Brian Schmetzer said. “But he’s on a timeline. He’s on his program and as a coach I‘m just happy to have him out here and hope that it continues to progress.
“It’s not up to me,” Schmetzer added when asked about Dempsey’s timeline. “It’s Clint and the doctors, it’s their business. I would say to you that I think everybody here would hope that the timeline continues in a positive direction. But you never know. We don’t want to set any unrealistic expectations, we’re just happy to have him every day.”
Said goalkeeper Stefan Frei: “It’s great to see him on the pitch now, because I’ve seen him working indoors for quite a while, hard obviously. I’ve been in a similar situation as him, where you’re forced to look from the outside in, and having to do all this hard work but not really getting a chance to play on the pitch. It’s very difficult for someone who’s very competitive like him. I’m glad to see him out there, he’s probably enjoying this right now. Hopefully he can contain himself and still follow the plan that we’ve set, because even for him there’s ample time to see if he’s good to go. But it would be awesome to have him back on the squad because he’s a heck of a player.”
Lagerway said Dempsey will continue to train every day. He’s wearing a sensor while training, allowing his condition to be monitored — as all the players do. The Sounders play five preseason games in February in advance of the season opener, and Lagerwey said Dempsey could potentially participate in preseason contests.
“I think as a first step we have to see how he does in preseason,” Lagerwey said. “We have a number of games, a number of mileposts along the way as to when or if he’s able to participate in those games. Once we see how he does in those we’ll figure out the regular season from there.”
For more on the Seattle sports scene, check out Nick Patterson’s Seattle Sidelines blog at www.heraldnet.com/tag/seattle-sidelines, or follow him on Twitter at @NickHPatterson.
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