BALTIMORE — Clint Dempsey entered Saturday evening’s Gold Cup quarterfinal riding a very strong run of form.
The Seattle Sounders FC forward had already tallied a trio of goals in the group stage and looked primed to inflict even more damage against a hopelessly outmatched Cuba side; a huge underdog in any case, the Cubans were dealt a further blow earlier this week when five of their players defected, leaving them with a barebones roster for their encounter against the USA.
They were, in many senses of the word, the ideal sacrificial lamb. And according to postgame comments by US national team head coach Jurgen Klinsmann, Dempsey was "very hungry.”
On Saturday, Dempsey satisfied that appetite with another trio of goals. A cool, collected headed finish in the first half served as the appetizer; a similarly composed PK strike early in the second half served as the main course. And a late insurance tally, finished with the outside of his right foot as he slid goalwards, made for a tasty dessert.
After the match, Dempsey strolled over to the ref and asked him for the match ball. A night to remember for certain.
"Throughout the entire game he was hungry,” Klinsmann told the media assembled at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore after the match. “He was waiting for the next opportunity. So that builds more confidence, it gives you a little bit more standing also within the group.”
Klinsmann, of course, is no stranger to the back of the net. The former German international scored 56 goals of his own during his storied career. On Saturday, Klinsmann didn’t hesitate to praise his striker, and he didn’t hesitate to give him a little grief, as well.
“I didn’t know that was his first [international] hat trick,” Klinsmann said with a wry smile. “It took him a long time.
“For strikers, especially, a game like this is a huge opportunity. You don’t want to miss that chance, maybe to get more goals than you usually get in an international game. And that’s what I told him - 'don’t waste any chances.' And I think this is one good claim for our tournament this far, is that we don’t need many chances. Once we are in the box, we are very clinical. I think Clint is the best example, no doubt about it."
Wary of a let-down against a Cuba team that few, if any, gave a chance to compete with the US, Klinsmann said he’d told his side that he wouldn’t hesitate to pull a player off the pitch in the first 10 minutes if he sensed they weren’t taking the encounter seriously. He also had a message for Dempsey, striker to striker.
"My World Cup in 1990,” Klinsmann said, “I had a game against [the United Arab Emirates] and I didn’t take it so seriously, and I only scored one goal in that World Cup game. I could’ve scored five! By the time we were two games into the World Cup, I would’ve already [had the Golden Boot]. But I didn’t do it. So that’s what I told [Clint.] Take it seriously, make sure you’re not wasting anything there.”
Dempsey was typically soft-spoken after the match, simply saying that the hat trick “felt good” and doing his best to deflect the spotlight off of him and onto his teammates. The Sounders forward, however, probably didn’t need to say much. His performance on the field said enough, and his teammates were all to happy to do the talking for him.
"He’s always had a striker’s mentality,” said USMNT midfielder Michael Bradley. "He’s a guy who is hungry and determined to make big plays. Hungry and determined to score goals. That’s always been him. It doesn’t really matter whether he’s lined up as an out-and-out striker, or as a second striker a little bit underneath somebody else.”
The USMNT will take a quick breather before traveling to Atlanta for Wednesday’s semifinal. Dempsey, Klinsmann suspects, will hope to feast again.
“He’s hungry. He’s hungry for goals, most of all," Klinsmann said. "He has two more meals ahead of him.”
