USMNT and Seattle Sounders star Clint Dempsey says he is cleared to play again

Dempsey and the MLS champion Sounders are training in Tukwila, Wash. (AP Photo)

It’s been almost six months since Clint Dempsey last played in a competitive game of soccer. He was diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat after scoring twice against the Portland Timbers on Aug. 21, sidelining him for the remainder of the Major League Soccer season.

In that span, his Seattle Sounders won MLS Cup without him, and the United States men’s national team he once captained lived through a coaching change and a disastrous start to the final round of World Cup qualifying.

Yet in spite of their rather opposite fortunes, both teams sure could use him back. Dempsey turns 34 on March 9, but the national team’s second all-time leading scorer – his 52 goals trail Landon Donovan by just five – remains one of the most imaginative American attackers out there. And certainly the one who is most seasoned at the international level.

On Tuesday, Seattle soccer reporter Matt Pentz reported that Dempsey is ready to return to action when the new MLS season kicks off in early March – and possibly when the USA plays its next round of World Cup qualifiers on March 24 and 28