In an interview on ESPNews on Friday, Seattle Sounders interim head coach Brian Schmetzer said he was pleased with the outpouring of support for Clint Dempsey, who the club announced was out and undergoing testing for an irregular heartbeat.
"It shows that there’s a lot of good people out there and they’re putting their priorities straight," Schmetzer said. "They had been monitoring him for some time, I don’t know all of the details. He had some issues a little earlier on, but it was an incident that happened in a game. They went through some of the data they collected and that’s how they found it."
Dempsey has been a huge contributor this season, tying for the team lead with eight goals, including two last Sunday in a win at home against the Portland Timbers. Seattle will battle the Timbers again this Sunday in Portland (2 p.m. PT; ESPN KIRO Radio 97.3 FM, El Rey 1360AM) and will need to find a way to create chances without its star forward.
"From a soccer perspective though, it certainly puts us at a little bit of a disadvantage, but at the same time I’m happy with the group, I’m happy with the team," Schmetzer said.
Asked about whether Dempsey's career could be in jeopardy with this health condition, or if there's a chance he could return to playing in the near future, Schmetzer was mum.
"I can’t talk about that," he said. "I don’t know all of the details. I know he’s going for another set of tests and doctors reports."
