What could the Seattle Sounders FC and the Montreal Impact have in common?
The answer is a star striker who struggled in his first season after joining his new MLS team during the summer transfer window.
Anyone following the Impact knows that when Marco Di Vaio joined the Impact in the summer of 2012, he went through an adaptation process that saw him score just six goals in half a season. Serie A veteran, who is one of the top goalscorers in Italian first division history, rebounded in his first full year with the Impact, scoring 20 goals in 2013.
Clint Dempsey joined the Sounders during the summer transfer window in 2013, but struggled mightily, scoring just one goal in nine appearances (six starts). Like Di Vaio, Deuce - who earned the nickname because of his no. 2 jersey – had a pretty good pedigree in Europe, before returning to MLS last season.
He is a seven-year veteran of the English Premier League, making 213 appearances for Fulham and Tottenham in the EPL, setting the record for most goals scored (57) by an American in English first division history.
Dempsey is also the U.S. team’s current captain and will be in Brazil later this summer for the FIFA World Cup.
It will be a great opportunity to see Dempsey on March 22, when the Seattle Sounders FC will be in Montreal for the club’s home opener at Olympic Stadium. Impact supporters are hoping that the Impact defense will stop the American striker.
