Demps has been getting good press in US papers this week following an interview in the Sports Illustrated. He talks about his aspirations, including playing in the Olympics (all things being equal) and the Champions League. As he says in this article he has enjoyed his time at Fulham and still has 1 year to run on his contract, but .. EXTEND, EXTEND ...please http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/more-sports/soccer/headlines/20120228-former-dallas-club-player-clint-dempsey-has-top-american-season-in-england.ece PS can DR explain/describe 'Wrigley Field'
Nice article. I agree we should do whatever necessary to keep Clint st The Cottage. However, I couldn't blame him for seeking Champions League football. But not yet please.
We play our home internationals wherever. We don't have a "Wembley" stadium for our football. Dempsey also scored the only goal in a 1-0 victory over Italy today!
Hoping these may work for y'all. Clint interview. http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=7630876&categoryid=2731137 Interesting perspective, tough grader, imho. http://espn.go.com/sports/soccer/st...r-us-win-italy-build-confidence-jeff-carlisle (FWLIW, I think our new road uniforms make us look like Arsenal wannabees. Best fan reaction I saw? "Good, the old ones will be on sale now and these will be soon after.")
For those who haven't seen it, here's the goal: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/...-goal-beats-italy-soccer-video_n_1311532.html Classic Dempsey finish! Would love to see him stay at Fulham, but will have no hard feelings if he goes in search of Champions League football. Everyone has to leave sometime.
Wrigley Field is a baseball stadium in Chicago. The reference, I think, is to the fact that Wrigley Field is one of the oldest professional baseball stadiums still in use, and it has a lot of retro charm compared to more modern ones. Hence the comparison with our beloved Cottage. Sorry to get there before you, DR. Feel free to tell me I've got that completely wrong!
Nice story from the Dallas paper ... I'll tell you a funny story about Wrigley field - correct, it's a baseball "park" where the Chicago Cubs play. I lived there for a couple years in my early 20s and was completely bored at work one day. So me and a co-worker told our boss we had to go move some furniture and would be gone the rest of the day. We slipped out and drove down to Wrigley to sit in the cheap seats and get some sun while watching the game. We were there half an hour or so and decided to move to another part of the stadium. As we're walking along, we ran headlong into our boss, who'd also skipped work and decided to take in the game. It was sort of one of those "I didn't see you if you didn't see me" situations. Wrigley is the stadium where Ferris Bueller and his friends watch the baseball game. The US doesn't have a "home" stadium like Wembley. Games are played everywhere and the US fans are frequently outnumbered in their own stadium by Mexican, Jamaican and other national teams. It's weird. As for Dempsey, I'll re-iterate that Clint would be better off as a small fish in a relatively small (but lovely) pond like Fulham. Going to Arsenal or Tottenham would be a mistake as he'd get less playing time, in my opinion. He's good, but he's no THAT good.
...........clearly I was miles out about WF.........I believe that "shucks" is the appropriate response
No worries ... Wrigley Field is beloved in America the same way The Cottage is in London. It's a beautiful, warm, old-fashioned place to watch a game. Baseball players have many superstitions, including this one: there's statue of a guy on a horse in the middle of the street on your way to Wrigley Field, and many players believe that if, on the way to the stadium on the team bus, you look and see the horse's male part, you'll have bad luck that day. Wrigley Field was named for the guy who founded the chewing gum company.
Cue jokes about getting into a sticky situation at Wrigley Field. You're right though DR - Dempsey is good but not good enough to stroll into one of the top 4 sides and hold a permanent place. He needs to realise this. Unless, of course, he fancies plying his trade on the Continent. In which case there are several teams who would play in the Champions League next year where he would get a permanent berth. Rubin Kazan, for example, or Bate. or some Russian side. But possibly not Inter, Real or Barca.
I think the only English team that's historically been in the champions league on a consistent basis that Clint could almost walk into is Arsenal. But who knows if they'll actually qualify, and why would you want to go to Arsenal anyways.
