Dempsey eyes US goal record in Gold Cup final -- off bench or as a starter

Clint Dempsey will have a shot to move into sole possession of first-place on the US national team’s all-time scoring chart on Wednesday, but he doesn’t yet know if he’ll be starting the CONCACAF Gold Cup final against Jamaica (9:30 pm ET; FS1, Univision, UDN in the US | TSN 1/3/4/5 in Canada).


Dempsey started his first game at the Gold Cup, going the distance and registering an assist in the US’ 2-0 quarterfinal win against El Salvador last Wednesday. He came off the bench in Saturday's semifinal against Costa Rica, assisting on Jozy Altidore’s opener before tying Landon Donovan’s all-time USMNT goals record in the 2-0 victory.


US head coach Bruce Arena cited the quick turnaround following Dempsey’s 90-minute performance against El Salvador as the reason why the 34-year-old came off the bench on Saturday. There will be fewer concerns about tired legs heading into Wednesday’s final after Dempsey’s 24-minute outing against Los Ticos, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the Seattle star will start against Jamaica.  


ā€œIt’s whatever the coach decides,ā€ Dempsey told reporters in Santa Clara, California on Monday. ā€œHe’s been really good with his selection and the players he’s picked to play in games, he’s been undefeated. So all I can go out there and do is make sure that I’m putting myself in the best position [that] if I do get called upon, I can go in and impact the game. The most important thing is the team winning, it’s not who plays, so hopefully we can go out there and win the Cup.ā€


While Dempsey is downplaying his role ahead of Wednesday’s match, he did admit that it’d be extra meaningful to break Donovan’s goal record in a tournament final.


ā€œIt’d be great, especially to do it in a final and try to help the team win a trophy would be awesome,ā€ he said. ā€œHopefully that’s in the cards for me. We’ll see.ā€