The American soccer landscape has been overwhelmed in recent days and weeks with talk of an impending MLS players strike, but Thursday offered a welcome respite from the doom and gloom as two U.S. national team stars gave American fans reason to feel optimistic about the 2010 World Cup.
Clint Dempsey scored a stunning and brilliant long-range chip shot goal to send Fulham through to the Europa League quarterfinals over heavily-favored Juventus. The goal came in just Dempsey’s third match since returning from an eight-week recovery from a sprained knee ligament.
Dempsey’s goal came on the same day news broke from France that Charlie Davies had completed his rehabilitation and was ready to begin training with Sochaux. Davies confirmed French reports with an enthusiastic Twitter message declaring his impending return to Sochaux.
It wasn’t so long ago that there were serious doubts about whether Dempsey or Davies would be back for the 2010 World Cup, and while Davies still has a way to go before he can be considered a lock to return, his progress to this point is nothing short of stunning.
It has been little more than five months since the deadly car accident that nearly took his life and jeopardized his career, and Davies has battled through an intense rehabilitation and surpassed all reasonable expectations for his recovery.
Dempsey’s recovery wasn’t as stunning, but certainly just as comforting. While it has been known since his surgery that he would return some time in March, Dempsey’s quick transition from back in training to back on the field for Fulham erased any concerns about whether Dempsey would have any lingering issues come the World Cup.
Dempsey’s series-clinching goal against Juventus on Thursday provided the first hard evidence that the United States' most dangerous scoring threat has his scoring touch back - a vital development for a U.S. national team lacking dependable goal-scoring options.
Whether Davies will be back to join Dempsey at the World Cup will depend on how the next step of his recovery goes. The broken bones in his face, arm, leg and foot have healed, and he has spent the past two weeks working on restoring his strength, but he won’t know just how close he is to being completely recovered until he begins going through the rigors of first-team training.
The once-overwhelming injury situation with the U.S. national team pool has improved considerably in recent weeks, with Oguchi Onyewu beginning to train with AC Milan and Ricardo Clark recovering from the calf injury that delayed his debut with new club Eintracht Frankfurt.
If Clark, Onyewu and Davies can join Dempsey on the list of healthy American starters, Bob Bradley will be that much closer to having a full-strength pool to choose from when the United States opens World Cup play against England on June 12.
There is still work to be done. Both Davies and Onyewu still need to train with their clubs. Onyewu’s situation at AC Milan could be better now that Alessandro Nesta’s recent surgery will make it that much more likely Onyewu will earn playing time once he is fully recovered from the ruptured patellar tendon he suffered five months ago.
There is also Stuart Holden, who is recovering from a broken leg suffered in the U.S. team’s 2-1 loss to the Netherlands on March 3rd.
The U.S. national team pool is still a month away from being close to fully healthy and, the possibility of an MLS players strike could potentially wreak some havoc on the team’s World Cup preparations, but for one day, American fans had reason for optimism about a World Cup that is less than three months away.
It may have been just one amazing goal for Dempsey, and one bit of great news for Davies, but together they have provided some good news at a time American soccer fans can use it.
Ives Galarcep is FoxSoccer.com's newest senior writer who will be covering U.S. Soccer and MLS.
