SEATTLE—Seattle Sounders forward Clint Dempsey scored his 49th-career goal for the US national team just four days ago, spearheading a 4-0 rout of Guatemala to help keep his country’s World Cup hopes intact.
Dempsey was at it again Saturday night, this time scoring the lone goal for the Sounders in their 1-0 victory over the Montreal Impact at CenturyLink Field – the Rave Green’s first victory of 2016 that put an end to a three-game, season-opening losing streak.
“It just feels good to be winning again for both club and country,” Dempsey said. “Anytime you’re doing well [for the national team], it can help keep you in a rhythm. In this game, it only takes one game to turn things around for yourself.”
Saturday night’s battle with the Impact seemed just as likely to end in a 0-0 deadlock, with neither side managing to grab an upper hand or consistently generate notably dangerous chances. But Dempsey put any fears of a scoreless draw to rest in the 79th minute, pouncing on an Andreas Ivanschitz corner kick at the far post and heading it past Montreal goalkeeper Evan Bush for the decisive goal.
It was by no means a dominant performance for the Sounders, but one that Dempsey said can still be used to generate some much-needed positive momentum as they continue to work through their early season struggles.
“I was happy with [the performance],” Dempsey said. “We got the clean sheet, and we were able to get a goal. There’s still some things to build on, just being more patient in the attacking third and getting some more chances. But I think we’ll be fine.”
Sounders head coach Sigi Schmid was similarly relieved after the game, but he also echoed Dempsey’s assessment that his team still has some kinks to iron out with their execution in the final third.
“We’ve still got to get to a point when we’re dominating a period of time, we’ve got to finish some goals,” Schmid said. “That would have made life easier for us. Certainly we had some chances to ice the game towards the end, and we didn’t use those.”
