Former USMNT stars Landon Donovan and Tim Howard have sparked debate among Liverpool fans after claiming Clint Dempsey was better than Joe Cole and Sadio Mane.
The former Evertonians were playing a game of don’t speak until you hear a player better than Clint Dempsey. The episode is themed towards the home World Cup for the US, which was always going to bring out some bias from the Americans, but some of the takes in this video were horrendous.
The video started with former Chelsea and Liverpool attacking midfielder Joe Cole, both didn���t respond. Later, when Sadio Mane was mentioned, both shook their heads in disapproval at the suggestion that Mane could have been better than Dempsey.
Other players that the pair say didn’t make the mark compared to Dempsey included Theo Walcott, Robinho, Nani, Christian Eriksen, Eden Hazard and Antoine Griezmann. Tim Howard said that Mesut Ozil would be a player that he would consider better than Dempsey, for Donovan it took until Son-Heung Min was mentioned.
The career of Clint Dempsey
Clint Dempsey is, without doubt, a USMNT legend. He played 141 times, scoring 57 goals for his country. He is the fourth-highest appearance maker for the USMNT and the record goalscorer. One of the players he is behind for appearances is Landon Donovan.
Dempsey started and finished his career in the MLS with Premier League stints at Fulham and Spurs in between. He is most commonly known in Britain for his time at Fulham, where he scored 60 goals in 225 games across five seasons. He scored 12 in 43 games for Spurs the season after, before heading back to the MLS for Seattle Sounders.
Dempsey is considered a good Premier League player from that generation and will be a well-loved Fulham player for his role in helping them to the 2010 Europa League final, although Dempsey was only on the bench for the final.
How do Cole and Mane really compare?
While Dempsey was good for a lower league player in the MLS or for a mid-table team, he did go to the same heights as Cole or Mane. Cole won the Premier League title three times at Chelsea, making 56 caps for England. He even got nominated for the Ballon d’Or in 2006.
Sadio Mane, on the other hand, has a Premier League, a Bundesliga title and a Champions League to his name. He won the Premier League Golden Boot and was nominated for the Ballon d’Or three times, finishing as high as fourth in 2019, only finishing behind Messi, Van Dijk and Ronaldo.
When you look at these achievements, even before you look at how the pair performed compared to Clint Dempsey, the comparison isn’t even close.
