Clint Dempsey prefers to talk about the goal that turned Fulham's season around than the possibility of becoming the first American to play in a European club soccer final.
After an up-and-down season that included a two-month injury layoff and one of the most celebrated goals in Fulham's 131-year history, Dempsey is fully fit and in line to appear in Wednesday's Europa League final against Atletico Madrid.
But the 27-year-old midfielder and forward from Nacogdoches, Texas, is concentrating only about the game, not becoming an American soccer landmark.
"I don't really think about it like that," Dempsey said. "It's just a chance for me to be in a final. In my career I've been fortunate enough to be in some finals, but I don't think about being the first because I'm not going to be the last. I think there's going to be more players.
"There's always records to be broken, so I'm not thinking about it like that."
German-born Americans Thomas Dooley and David Wagner were on the bench for Schalke's two-legged win over Inter Milan in the 1997 UEFA Cup final. Dooley dressed for the first match and Wagner for the second. Neither got in.
Dempsey returned from a right knee injury in March to come on as a substitute in the third round, second leg against Juventus, scoring on a spectacular 82nd-minute chip that advanced his team.
It was the turning point in the west London club's European season, clinching a 5-4 aggregate win with an unlikely 4-1 victory and giving the players belief that they could go all the way to the final.
"The personal high point so far (this season) has to get back from injury and get into the Juventus game and score the goal that put us into the next round," Dempsey said. "I was hoping I would get the chance to go in and make the difference and I was lucky enough to get the goal."
But it wasn't his favorite goal of his career.
"It was the second most important goal I've scored, the first one being in the World Cup against Ghana," Dempsey said. "Scoring in a World Cup is a dream come true and I don't think anything would ever be able to top that."
And Dempsey, a 200-1 outsider to be the leading scorer at this year's World Cup, said that will remain the case even if he scores at the June 11-July 11 tournament in South Africa.
The United States starts practice Monday in Princeton, N.J., and opens the World Cup against England on June 12 before playing Slovenia and Algeria. Dempsey, selected Tuesday for the U.S. 30-man roster, has 17 goals in 60 international appearances.
"There's the first time doing it," Dempsey said. "If you do it again, yeah it's awesome, but the first time is always special."
