It’s hard to imagine a United States National Team without Clint Dempsey. The forward has amassed 123 caps for his country and 49 goals to date. He’s been a captain. He’s played in three World Cups and scored in every single one of them (the only American to do so). He is currently nine goals shy of becoming the all-time leading scorer in USMNT history as he closes in on Landon Donovan's record of 57.
But everything has a beginning. For Dempsey, it was November 17, 2004 when the then young forward got his first cap, fresh off of his MLS Rookie of the Year season, long hair and all.
“As a little kid all you wanted to do was get at least one game,” said Dempsey to USMNT in 2013.
Dempsey didn’t score in that affair, but continued to earn caps and six months later, the Dempsey era truly began. On May 28, 2005, he bagged his first US goal.
It was during an international friendly against England and the USA were down 2-0. Landon Donovan delivered a perfect free kick to the back door, which defender Carlos Bocanegra steered on net with a sliding shot, but English goalkeeper David James saved brilliantly. The rebound fired back out in Dempsey’s direction, and he had a split second to react. He got his head over the ball and drove it down into the bottom right corner past the keeper and it became a 1-2 game.
“It feels like you can run through a brick wall," said Dempsey. "That’s how I would best describe when you score important goals…like nothing can stop you.”
That goal kicked off one of the most prolific scoring careers in U.S. history and the legacy that is Clint Dempsey. Dempsey will look to add to that legacy when the USMNT competes in the Copa America Centenario in June in the United States.
