Dempsey, Drogba have high hopes for future of USMNT and MLS،
NEW YORK, NY — Former USMNT striker Clint Dempsey and former Chelsea player Didier Drogba have both spoken extensively about their shared experiences playing in Major League Soccer during the latter stages of their careers.
After two seasons at the New England Revolution following the 2004 MLS SuperDraft, Dempsey spent seven years in England before returning to the United States in 2013, scoring 57 goals in 136 appearances for the Seattle Sounders and winning the US Open Cup (2014 ) and 2016 with the path.
Drogba won four Premier League titles and a UEFA Champions League with Chelsea before his turn in MLS with CF Montreal in 2015 and 2016, where he scored 23 times in 41 appearances.
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Since both men hung up their boots in 2018, the league has seen significant changes, including six new teams (FC Cincinnati, Inter Miami CF, Nashville SC, Austin FC, Charlotte FC and St. Louis City SC) as well as a seventh. which will launch in San Diego in 2025. It has also become an attractive league for star names – Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba and Giorgio Chiellini to name a few – for which Dempsey and Drogba can be considered as pioneers of this new movement.
No team, nor any player, has arguably done more for this movement than the arrival of Lionel Messi this year.
The World Cup champion and seven-time Ballon d’Or winner’s move to Inter Miami this summer helped increase the league’s popularity to unprecedented levels. Dempsey, 40, can appreciate the growing interest in soccer in the United States with the Argentine striker’s arrival in Florida, which he says has become a catalyst for the sport to gain more traction among of the American public.
“I would describe Messi’s arrival in the United States now in terms of what makes things happen,” Dempsey said in an exclusive interview with ESPN at an EA Sports FC release party in New York. As for the whole country, not just football fans, but the whole country, when they pay attention and watch, normally there has to be a men’s or women’s World Cup and with the arrival of Messi, he moves the needle like it’s a World Cup.
Messi has not only attracted this level of attention with his talent on the pitch but also off it. Ticket prices for Inter Miami matches have soared by more than 1,000%, with some prices on the secondary market reaching thousands for its league matches while Messi jerseys on online retailer Fantatics have beaten astronomical records. According to them, the first 24 hours of sales of Messi’s jerseys were the best 24 hours for a player changing teams in any sport.
The $2.5 billion deal with Apple TV also played a significant role in the Argentine’s arrival in the league, with Messi getting a cut of revenue as part of his contract, worth up to ‘to 150 million dollars.
Drogba also shares these same sentiments. He believes the opportunities afforded to him and Dempsey have become the building blocks for the next generation of players and fans to experience what MLS has to offer. “There are no regrets because I believe we built this, we are part of it,” Drogba said.
“That’s how life goes. You build and you bring. You bring some of your experience to the game and the next generation can benefit from it.”
The league’s success was also instrumental in the development of the United States national team.
Although many international big names have come to ply their trade in MLS, the national team has also benefited from a mix of players who began their careers in the United States before making the jump abroad, as well as established players who became stars of the league.
This mix helped the United States bounce back from its failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, only to qualify for the next one in Qatar, while also returning silverware at the World Cup. CONCACAF and the Nations League.
Both men are confident for the 2026 World Cup, which will take place in the United States alongside Mexico and Canada. Dempsey sees Folarin Balogun and Ricardo Pepi as the main names to lead Gregg Berhalter’s attack.
The two players also followed different trajectories to get to where they currently are on Berhalter’s team.
Pepi began his career at FC Dallas at just 16 years old where he played for two years before making the jump to Europe playing for FC Augsburg in Germany, where he became the most expensive American MLS player to sign in a European club after a sum of 20 million dollars. transfer fee.
His move to the Bundesliga did not go as planned and after a loan spell at FC Groningen he moved to the Netherlands permanently last summer, currently playing for PSV Eindhoven with three goals in 11 matches to his name this season.
Balogun, meanwhile, was developed at Arsenal’s Hale End academy where he didn’t get many opportunities to play for the first team. After loan spells at Middlesbrough and Reims, he joined Ligue 1 permanently last summer playing for AS Monaco where he has scored three goals in five matches so far for the Monegasques after switching once for playing for the United States.
Dempsey, the national team’s all-time leading scorer, believes recent success in the 2022 World Cup round of 16 in Qatar and victory in the 2023 CONCACAF Nations League against Canada have not only makes them even more competitive.
“From what I saw when they were playing in the national team, especially if you look at what happened in the Nations League, it was pretty impressive,” Dempsey said.
The performances they put in and what I like most about Balogun is his ability to create chances with the pace he has and the fierce cut he has in front of goal. I know there will be others who come into the fray, but that’s what you need if you want to have a top team, is to have competitions.”
The former Chelsea and Ivory Coast international was full of praise for the evolution of the infrastructure created by the league since his departure in 2016.
“I think the work MLS has done in the United States and Canada has been great and this is just the next step,” Drogba said.
It’s preparation for the World Cup. The quality of the stadiums, the quality of the matches have improved with the arrival of these players.”
