Those tuning in to the United States friendly against Azerbaijan were met with a bit of deadline drama, as there stood Chris Wondolowski in the Starting XI after Clint Dempsey was yanked from the lineup following some discomfort in his groin.
But it was all precautionary and after a day or two of rest, Dempsey plans on returning to full training ahead of a Sunday friendly with Turkey he won’t dare miss (especially after Wondolowski and Aron Johannsson both threatened goal, the latter scoring in the States’ 2-0 win).
“Yeah, I’ll be ready,” the 31-year-old attacker told MLSsoccer.com on Tuesday night. “[It’s] just tightness. I was just feeling it a little bit [on Monday] and it was still tight again today, so it didn’t make sense to push it in the game.”
Klinsmann was aware that the Seattle attacker had experienced some pain in training during two weeks of intense competition, and was not surprised that Dempsey felt it again. After some discussion with the staff, it was decided discretion was the better part of valor.
“No it’s not serious at all,” Klinsmann said in the postgame press conference following the 2-0 win. “He had a little bit of pain yesterday already in training and he told me about it. And then in warm-up, he was just a little bit nervous about it.”
Klinsmann said he discussed the injury shortly before kickoff with USMNT head athletic trainer Ivan Pierra, who recommended they sit the Seattle Sounders star and give him “one or two days of rest” following nearly two weeks of pre-World Cup training camp at Stanford University.
“The players pretty much went on the edge and that’s what we have to do,” Klinsmann added. “We have to prepare them for something bigger.”
Wondolowski nearly scored twice in the first 15 minutes of the match and certainly provided both danger and physical play, but U.S. supporters would certainly have appreciated seeing the difference Dempsey might’ve made for Jozy Altidore and Michael Bradley.
The States return to the friendly pitch on Sunday at Red Bull Arena against Arda Turan and the Turkish national team. Kickoff is at 2pm ET.
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