Clint Dempsey better than Hazard & Griezmann? It’s peak American exceptionalism | OneFootball

It’s the lot of artists, musicians, and writers to be constantly torn between pouring their soul into their work and wondering whether anyone will care enough to look.

This curse has not inflicted podcasters. It’s one thing to listen to an expert in their field give genuine insight, but the bar has been set too low in the rush for democratisation and ‘authentic voices’.

Instead, most podcasts are an ant’s waistline away from the level of conversation you could overhear in any bar worldwide.

Combine this with football’s fear of a contentless space and American exceptionalism ahead of hosting the World Cup and you get possibly the worst take in recorded history.

US legends Tim Howard and Landon Donovan were invited to jump in when a player better than Clint Dempsey was named by the host of Unfiltered Soccer.

What follows shouldn’t be read as a dig at Dempsey, a fine Premier League footballer in the mould of Jarrod Bowen.

But there realistically isn’t a universe where the former Fulham forward is more talented than Joe Cole. Howard (bald) and Donovan (spiritually bald) thought otherwise and failed at the first hurdle.

The names kept coming. Theo Walcott and Nani were more debatable, but Mesut Ozil’s name was enough for Howard to dip. Fair enough Tim, you can stay for another pint.

Donovan was more reluctant, shaking his head at the mention of Liverpool legend Sadio Mane.

To put into context, rumours of Dempsey joining the Reds in the 2010s were met with a spike in the sale of pitchforks in the Anfield area.

Robinho and Cristian Eriksen followed, before Eden Hazard’s name was met with the kind of silence that makes you feel second-hand embarrassment for Donovan.

Incredibly, this wasn’t the peak. Perhaps in solidarity with his former international team-mate or an inexplicable WiFi outage since 2016, Donovan also judged Griezmann as unfit to lace Dempsey’s boots.

He eventually bailed on Son Heung-min, although this surely wouldn’t have been the case if the South Korean hadn’t moved to the MLS last summer.

From this side of the Atlantic, it’s all very bizarre. In a good year, the USA have essentially the same ceiling as Switzerland; good and competitive, but home before the watershed stage of a major tournament.

Instead, too many clips arise of Americans projecting their insularity onto the sport.

Another recent countdown of the 25 players to watch at the World Cup had Chris Richards at #13, while other outlets are merrily writing off group stage opponents Australia, Paraguay and Turkey as a garnish en route to the semi-finals.

It’s all very England 2006; hubris before the realisation of your technical limitations and a period of very essential humbling.

More interestingly, it hints at insecurity. As if football isn’t enough on its own to capture American audiences, without a boosterist re-evaluation of its most famous players.

But all clips like this do is entrench the ridicule that much of Europe and South America feel towards America’s relationship with the sport.

Or perhaps we’ve just been successfully rage-baited by another podcast, spending an hour of our valuable lives on a response to something that deserves little more than a headshake of contempt.

Howard, Donovan and the rest will sleep soundly tonight, the baffled reaction to this clip interpreted as healthy engagement metrics and a job well done.

By Michael Lee