HOUSTON, Tex. – For more than half a year, star Sounders forward Clint Dempsey had waited to join the party.
He’d watched from the sidelines as his teammates reeled off an improbable run last fall just to make the Major League Soccer playoffs. Then, hanging on by a thread at times without the onetime U.S. Men’s National Team captain, they upended one favorite after another to win the franchise’s first MLS Cup championship.
All the while, Dempsey remained shelved with an irregular heartbeat that no doubt sapped some of the firsthand thrill of that title win, but also threatened to end his career at age 32.