In early June, Sounders FC forward Clint Dempsey departed for Brazil with his United States teammates. They had a daunting task ahead of them in the Group of Death.
Four weeks later, Dempsey gave a speech on ESPN having scored two World Cup goals, been named an MLS All-Star, and won an ESPY award.
Dempsey recently made another addition to his list of summer achievements. The 31-year-old will be featured on the cover of FIFA 15 in North America, an honor he shares with Golden Ball winner Lionel Messi. As part of the announcement, a banner of Dempsey was unveiled before Saturday’s friendly between Seattle and Tottenham Hotspur.
Dempsey has been scoring World Cup goals since he was 23, but his performance at the club level in the past four months set him apart. He has nine goals in 10 matches this season for the MLS-leading Sounders, including the first goal of Seattle’s 2-0 victory over Portland on July 13.
This year has been a major improvement for Dempsey, who scored one regular-season goal in 2013. His goals-per-game average is tops in MLS.
Dempsey isn’t the only Seattle athlete to grace the cover of a new EA SPORTS video game. Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman won this year’s competition for the Madden 15 cover, beating out Panthers quarterback Cam Newton in the final round of fan voting.
In 2014, Sherman has won an ESPY, the Super Bowl, and an EA SPORTS cover voting. All that’s left for Dempsey to match his Seahawks counterpart is the MLS Cup.
Here is the North American version of FIFA 15:
