Dempsey, Drogba have high hopes for future of USMNT and MLS - ESPN

NEW YORK, NY — Former USMNT striker Clint Dempsey and ex-Chelsea player Didier Drogba have both spoken a lot about their shared experiences playing in Major League Soccer during the latter stages of their careers.

After two seasons at the New England Revolution following the 2004 MLS SuperDraft, Dempsey spent seven years in England before returning to the U.S. in 2013, scoring 57 goals in 136 appearances for the Seattle Sounders and winning the U.S. Open Cup (2014) and 2016 along the way.

Drogba won four Premier League titles and a UEFA Champions League with Chelsea before his MLS turn with CF Montreal in 2015 and 2016, where he scored 23 times in 41 appearances.

— Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (U.S.)

Since the pair hung up their boots in 2018, the league has seen significant changes including six new teams (FC Cincinnati, Inter Miami CF, Nashville SC, Austin FC, Charlotte FC, and St. Louis City SC) as well as a seventh due to launch in San Diego in 2025. It's also become an attractive league for star names — Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba, and Giorgio Chiellini to name a few — for which Dempsey and Drogba can be seen as trailblazers for this new movement.

No team, or player, has arguably done more for that movement than this year's arrival of Lionel Messi.

The World Cup champion and seven-time Ballon d'Or winner's move to Inter Miami this summer has helped boost the league's popularity to unprecedented levels. Dempsey, 40, can appreciate the rise of interest in soccer in the United States with the arrival of the Argentine forward to Florida, which he believes has become a catalyst for allowing the sport to enter into more of the mainstream for the American public.

«I would describe Messi coming to the States