Major League Soccer has nominated Seattle Sounders forward Clint Dempsey for 2017 MLS Comeback Player of the Year. An irregular heartbeat kept Dempsey out of the final third of the 2016 regular season and the entire run through the MLS Cup Playoffs, but he returned mightily this year with a team-high 12 goals, the second-highest goal production in his eight MLS seasons.
Ahead of the Comeback Player of the Year announcement on Nov. 15, SoundersFC.com counts down Dempsey’s top five goals of the year to date.
No. 5: At Minnesota United (8/5)
No. 4: At Chicago Fire (5/13)
No. 3: Vs. Vancouver Whitecaps (11/2)
No. 2: At Colorado Rapids (7/4)
No. 1
Who else but Deuce?
Things looked bleak for the Seattle Sounders on June 25 when they were down a man and down a goal in stoppage time at Providence Park against the Portland Timbers. Dempsey had entered as a second-half substitute and lived up to his billing as a thorn in the Timbers’ side.
Osvaldo Alonso sprayed a ball to the right side to a surging Román Torres, who whipped in a pinpoint cross just outside the six-yard box. Never shy of the big stage, Dempsey rose and sent a powerful header to the far post past Jake Gleeson and sent the traveling Sounders fans into a frenzy. Not only did Dempsey’s goal help shorthanded Seattle earn a pivotal road draw, it turned around the Sounders’ season in what would become a 13-match unbeaten streak that helped catapult them into the Western Conference driver’s seat.
