Seattle Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer said on Friday that despite some knocks his players took in their 2-1 win over the Colorado Rapids in the first leg of the Western Conference Championship on Tuesday, everyone is available to travel to Commerce City for the return leg on Sunday (1 p.m. PT; ESPN, 770 KTTH, El Rey 1360 AM).
Everyone, that is, except the indefinitely sidelined Clint Dempsey, who was officially ruled out for the season in September. But that didn’t keep him from practicing with his teammates on Friday at Starfire Sports.
Dempsey took to the field for light training for the first time since he was ruled out on Sept. 27 to undergo testing for an irregular heartbeat. Even though he couldn’t participate in more drills and will not be available on Sunday, the Sounders were happy to have him around.
‘It puts a smile on everybody’s face,” said Schmetzer. “He’s still [recovering] very, very slowly. But it’s nice for him to be out here. He seems to be in good spirits.”
The Sounders announced on Aug. 26 that Dempsey would be undergoing heart evaluations and that a timetable for a potential return was uncertain. Three weeks later, Dempsey returned to the practice field and did more light training, prompting Sounders General Manager and President of Soccer Garth Lagerwey to say that he was “cautiously optimistic” of Dempsey’s return in 2016.
That was put to rest just two weeks later, and Dempsey hadn’t trained for the past two months.
Dempsey, 33, finished the regular season with eight goals and two assists in 17 matches.
