Dempsey Blow for Fulham, USA

By Christopher Boulay

Fulham and United States forward Clint Dempsey will be out for an undetermined amount of time after suffering an apparent knee injury in the Cottagers’ 2-0 loss to Blackburn Rovers on Sunday.

Dempsey, 26, is a vital part of the United States’ national team and if he is not available for the trip to South Africa, it could greatly damage the Yanks’ chances to make noise in June.

Fulham manager Roy Hodgson spoke to the media regarding the injury after the loss.

“Clint will be scanned tomorrow, but we feel it might be a posterior cruciate knee ligament, which would be very bad for us and he would be out for a while,” Hodgson said.

Hodgson added, “It’s a concern up front because Clint Dempsey is very useful for us.”

Dempsey will be missed by both club and country as Fulham is already without Bobby Zamora who dislocated his collarbone against Stoke City on January 5, and the United States are without Charlie Davies due to his injuries sustained in a car accident last year.

The United States opens up their World Cup campaign against England on June 12.

This is a huge blow to Fulham and they will most likely need to look for a striker to fill the void up front in the current transfer window. The Cottagers are currently in ninth place in the Premier League, with 27 points from 21 matches. They are six points behind Birmingham City.

For the United States, it is also a massive blow, and if Dempsey won’t be ready for the World Cup it could cripple their chances to at least make their second ever quarterfinals appearance. The first time the United States made it that deep into the tournament was in 2002. Not only does the United States have to worry about Davies and now Dempsey, the anchor of the Yanks’ back line, Oguchi Onyewu, is also injured for an extended period of time.

Written By Christopher Boulay (9 Posts)

Chris is a 22 year-old senior at Central Connecticut State University, majoring in Journalism. He has covered NCAA soccer extensively with his university’s publication, The Recorder. Currently, he is trying to become a full-time soccer journalist. He is a writer for multiple soccer sites, and has a great passion for the beautiful game all around the world. He’s a huge supporter of Liverpool F.C., as well as a supporter of the US, Italian and Lithuanian National Teams. He will be a supporter of the Montreal Impact once they are admitted to the MLS, so he can actually see their matches. You can follow his soccer updates at twitter.com/chrismboulay.