United States coach Jurgen Klinsmann has called up Clint Dempsey to his squad for their upcoming World Cup qualifiers.
Forward set to face Jamaica
United States coach Jurgen Klinsmann has called up Clint Dempsey to his squad for their upcoming World Cup qualifiers and he insists he is ready to throw him straight in.
Dempsey has barely played any football this summer after his deadline day move to Tottenham from Fulham.
Before his switch, Demspey was training with Fulham's youth team after falling out with the club - which means he has seen little action.
But Klinsmann insists he is ready to use him for their double-header against Jamaica.
"We are absolutely open to throwing him in the water right away in Jamaica if he's really in a good physical condition and feeling really fine," Klinsmann said.
"There will never be a game where we have everybody 100 per cent on board. It's just the way soccer works."
Klinsmann admits he is happy to see Dempsey's future resolved.
"First of all, we are happy that this whole thing was finalised," Klinsmann said.
"It is really important now that Clint can put this behind him. It was not all the time pretty what happened the last couple of months.
"Obviously he dragged this with him the whole summer. He was concerned about it, which is normal. I'm happy the decision was finally made and finally the move happened. Now he comes in and we'll evaluate him.
"We'll test his fitness level right away when he comes in. Based on all that information we can see how we play him in those two very, very important World Cup qualifiers."
In total Klinsmann has called up six Premier League players in the shape of Demspey, Brad Guzan, Tim Howard, Geoff Cameron, Maurice Edu and Jonathan Spector.
Squad in full:
Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Tim Howard (Everton), Sean Johnson (Chicago), Nick Rimando (Salt Lake), Carlos Bocanegra (Racing Santander), Geoff Cameron (Stoke), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover), Maurice Edu (Stoke), Clarence Goodson (Brondby), Fabian Johnson (Hoffenheim), Michael Orozco Fiscal (San Luis), Michael Parkhurst (Nordsjaelland), Jonathan Spector (Birmingham), Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Joe Corona (Club Tijuana), Jermaine Jones (Schalke), Brek Shea (Dallas), Jose Torres (Pachuca), Danny Williams (Hoffenheim), Graham Zusi (Kansas City), Jozy Altidore (AZ Alkmaar), Terrence Boyd (Rapid Vienna), Clint Dempsey (Tottenham), Herculez Gomez (Santos Laguna)
