BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. (AP) — The puffy knot that obscured Clint Dempsey’s left eye is almost gone, the bruise below fading to a technicolor blend of purples, blues and yellows.
The nasty-looking souvenir from Fulham’s game against West Ham last Saturday would have sent most people to the sidelines immediately. Not Dempsey, who not only kept playing after taking an elbow to the eye, he went on to score for Fulham in the 1-1 draw.
“I worked so hard to get into the lineup that I wasn’t going to let something keep me out because everybody’s waiting for their chance to play,” he said. “It’s so difficult to break into that starting lineup. Once you do, you’ve got to make sure you stay there.”
This season at Fulham, that’s meant moving up to forward from his natural midfield position. He’s also listed as a forward for the U.S. exhibition against Poland on Saturday night — Dempsey’s first game with the national team since the World Cup.
