Clint Dempsey needs to be banned -- BIG TIME.

(Seattle Times report.)

When I did two previous soccer match out-of-control articles on this blog within the last few weeks, I never envisioned I'd be doing one about clubs in the United States.

Forget one of them being the Seattle Sounders.

Forget that the main party involved is no less than (before Tuesday) the team captain of the US Men's National Team, within a month of playing in the CONCACAF Gold Cup.

Now, Clint Dempsey stands to be banned from the US Soccer scene (and I specifically say that because of circumstances I will state later) for at least three months.

Clint Dempsey, the captain of the Seattle Sounders and the normal captain of the US Men's National Team (he did not accompany the US team in two upset wins against two high-profile European sides on the road), assaulted a referee last night and got sent off.

Dempsey ripped the book out of the referee's hand and ripped it up after this call in the fourth round of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup match in which the Sounders were paired with their arch-rivals, the Portland Timbers.


After a red card (Seattle's second of the match) in the second portion of extra time for an elbow, another Sounders player appears to see yellow for dissent, while Dempsey rips the book out of the hands of the ref and rips it to pieces.

After being sent off, he needs to be physically restrained.

When are these referees going to be given the backbone to actually call off matches when players go mental like this?  This isn't even a country in which the referee's life is in danger for such a situation in pro soccer?  (One of the few which isn't!)

But, to Dempsey:  He's going to have a very interesting summer.  He has, barring chicanery, been thrown off the US Men's National Team for at least three months.  According to the Seattle Times:

"As broken down in detail by the good folks over at American Soccer Now, in ripping up Radford’s notebook, Dempsey might have triggered an automatic three-month suspension. The relevant section of the U.S. Soccer policy manual is as follows:  “1) The person committing the referee assault must be suspended as follows: (a) for a minor or slight touching of the referee or the referee’s uniform or personal property, at least 3 months from the time of the assault.”"

And I'm not even sure we're talking "minor" here. The match should've immediately been abandoned for Dempsey's action alone (and the fact that it was Portland's third red card of the match should've been taken into consideration), and Portland won 3-1 after an injury brought Seattle to the minimum of seven players.

If the action is not determined to be "minor", the bidding starts at SIX MONTHS and Dempsey is out for the first several games the USA has to play in the 2018 World Cup CONCACAF qualifiers, which their phases begin in November.

The only reason Dempsey might be allowed to play soccer at all for a minimum of this summer is the fact that Major League Soccer usually does NOT follow punishments given by US Soccer for actions during the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup.

That said, this is about as flagrant of an action as it gets.  When I first read this, I was hearing three months, but this isn't minor.

Here would be where I would start:

• Dempsey is banned from ALL SOCCER worldwide until the end of the calendar year, when US Soccer will re-evaluate whether Dempsey can return.  (Effectively, a "life ban", sorta.)
• Dempsey is banned from any captaincy of the Sounders for 12 additional months upon reinstatement.
• Dempsey is banned from the US Men's National Team for a minimum of one year.
• Dempsey is permanently banned from ever being the USMNT's captain again.