Every four years the entire planet fixes its collective gaze on one month-long sporting tournament. That tournament is the FIFA World Cup and in 2014, Sounders FC was well represented.
With the club off to one of its best-ever starts to a regular season, the World Cup in Brazil brought a break in league play for the Group Stage. The U.S. Men’s National Team was captained by Sounders forward Clint Dempsey and joining him was 20-year-old sensation DeAndre Yedlin, who had risen through the ranks of the Sounders system to make Jurgen Klinsmann’s 23-man roster.
Drawn into the ‘Group of Death’ with Ghana, Portugal and Germany, the United States were overwhelming underdogs to make it into the Knockout Round. However, after overcoming the African side in the first match and earning a spirited draw against Portugal in the second, Klinsmann’s men advanced, despite a defeat to Germany in the final contest of the group stage.
“I was actually surprisingly not too nervous,” said the brazen Yedlin, who made his World Cup debut in the 72nd minute of the 2-2 draw with Portugal. “I thought I was going to be way more nervous. I came in and felt comfortable. I credit a lot of that to my teammates making me feel comfortable on the field.”
Dempsey, who was playing in his third World Cup, was one of the USA’s best players over the course of the tournament. He scored the team’s first goal against Ghana just 28 seconds in and added a dramatic go-ahead goal against Portugal to become the first American ever to score in three straight World Cups.
“For me it was really special. I never knew if I was going to play in one World Cup,” Dempsey said. “I remember when I was a kid, going to bed that was what I would pray about and dream about. I hoped that one day I could do that. Being able to relive that dream three times and being the captain of the National Team during the World Cup … to be a part of that was pretty special.”
The excitement wasn’t all in South America, though, as fans in Seattle and the rest of the country went crazy for Dempsey and the USMNT. Over 5,000 people showed up to cheer on the USA in the Knockout Stage match versus Belgium at the CenturyLink Field Event Center. A staggering 26.5 million people watched the final of the tournament between Germany and Argentina, and over the course of the month, viewership was up a whopping 39% from 2010.
Roll on, 2018.
