The top ten things you need to know about Team USA captain Clint Dempsey, the grandson of Irish immigrants.
1. He has stepped up his plans for life after football, recording a 13-track rap album under his stage name “Deuce.”
2. His goal against Ghana was the fifth fastest in World Cup history, after just 31 seconds.
3. He spent two weeks before the tournament in Los Angeles recording his album, "The Redux," with the Texas rapper XO, who also worked with him on his 2006 World Cup track "Don’t Tread."
4. Dempsey, now with the Seattle Sounders, raps on the new album about his journey from rags to riches about being “Captain America” and about scoring goals – “banging Gs.”
5. He was raised as an Irish Catholic, was brought up in a mobile home in Texas and learned soccer from Hispanic kids who were playing it on waste land near the mobile home park.
6. Originally his brother Ryan was the target of soccer clubs, but when they saw Clint juggling the ball on the sideline coaches picked him.
7. His dad used to drive 600 mile round trips to bring him to training camps all over the south.
8. Dempsey, born a Catholic, is now born again and deeply religious. His faith came about after he rejected religion after his sister Jennifer, a very promising tennis player, died of a brain aneurysm when Clint was just 12.
9. His faith was rekindled years later however: "My sister died (from a brain aneurysm) and I was faced with questions about why things happen and what role God played in it all. For a number of years, I struggled and put distance between God and me," explained Dempsey.
10. Dempsey said that he renewed with his faith in college after joining bible study "In college,” I joined a team Bible study. God's Word brought me peace and a desire for a relationship with Him," Dempsey said.
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