Don't worry, soccer fans. The goals aren't going to stop just because the World Cup has ended. Clint Dempsey and Major League Soccer are ready to provide your football fix.
Just hours after Germany defeated Argentina in the World Cup final at the famed Maracana in Brazil, Dempsey gave everyone in the United States an emphatic reminder that the beautiful game is still being played at stadiums closer to home. Back from Brazil where he led the U.S. men's soccer team out of the Group of Death, Dempsey was in a Seattle Sounders uniform on Sunday night. The man who scored the fifth-fastest goal in World Cup history just a few weeks ago, found the back of the net at CenturyLink Field in Seattle in front of 64,207 fans. With the Sounders and Portland Timbers scoreless deep into the second half, Dempsey banged home the decisive goal in the 74th minute after a frenetic sequence in front of the Timbers' goal.
WATCH VIDEO OF GOAL ABOVE
“It was fun to play in front of a crowd like that, 64,000,” Dempsey said after the Sounders' 2-0 win, via The Seattle Times. “But it’s more fun when you win in front of a crowd like that.”
Dempsey certainly seemed to be enjoying himself in his MLS return.
(GIF via @cjzero)
Major League Soccer's regular season is in full swing and runs through October before the start of the 2014 MLS Cup Playoffs.