Editor's Note: With 2016 winding to a close, SoundersFC.com is taking a look back at the top 10 plays of the Seattle Sounders' 2016 season. We'll release the full list over the course of the week, with the final play being announced on Dec. 31. Take a look at the Honorable Mentions and the full list as it's released.
The Sounders will kick off the 2017 season on Saturday, March 4 against the Houston Dynamo at BBVA Compass Stadium.
Clint Dempsey scored the Seattle Sounders’ best goal of the year, a gorgeous 30-yard free kick at CenturyLink Field in the first leg of Seattle’s Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League series versus Club America.
With the match scoreless in the 44th minute, Dempsey stepped up and curled in a stunning bender of a strike that cleared the wall and dipped into the top corner. The United States’ second all-time leading goalscorer provided a little bit of magic when Seattle needed it most.
Dempsey’s goal was eerily similar to one he scored against FC Dallas in the 2015 Western Conference Semifinals just months prior, and he would score another in the second half against America to lead the Sounders to a 2-2 draw.
Dempsey scored eight goals in 17 matches in MLS regular-season play in 2016 before being sidelined indefinitely while undergoing treatment for an irregular heartbeat.
