United States coach Jurgen Klinsmann is hoping that 33-year-old striker Clint Dempsey can keep scoring for his country all the way through the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
With 51 international goals, Dempsey is the second-leading scorer in U.S. history, just six behind Landon Donovan, who retired in 2014. Dempsey's two goals in the group stage of the Copa America Centenario against Costa Rica and Paraguay were both game winners, and they helped the tournament hosts advance to Thursday's quarterfinal against Ecuador.
Klinsmann, speaking to the Seattle Sounders website at CenturyLink Field, the site of Thursday's match, called Dempsey a "big-time" striker.
"He's just a finisher. He's just clinical," Klinsmann said. "His job is scoring goals -- that's what he wants to do."
Klinsmann, who as a player was one of the best forwards of his generation, helping Germany win the 1990 World Cup and the European Championship six years later, praised the Texan's single-mindedness.
"Here and there maybe I have to take him off a few minutes earlier because I want to do something different, and I see it in his face that he's not happy, because he wants to score another one," Klinsmann said. "This is Clint."
Dempsey, who began his professional career with the New England Revolution in 2004, is now in his fourth season with the Sounders after spending the previous seven with English Premier League clubs Fulham and Tottenham Hotspur.
But returning to MLS hasn't hurt Dempsey's output at the sport's highest level, as some -- including Klinsmann himself -- suggested it would when he signed with Seattle in August of 2013.
Dempsey scored twice at Brazil 2014, becoming the first American to score at three World Cups, and he had nine goals in 10 international appearances last year, winning the Golden Boot at the CONCACAF Gold Cup along the way.
Now Klinsmann is optimistic that Dempsey has enough left in the tank to take him to Russia.
"Obviously he's not getting younger, but he has a tremendous, tremendous hunger," Klinsmann said. "Lets keep him pushing for a couple of more years, keep him on board, make him happy. He's an amazing individual."