FRISCO - Clint Dempsey is used to finding success at Toyota Stadium having scored a hat trick last season, but typically his goals are met with silence from the unhappy FC Dallas faithful. That wasn't the case tonight as 22,357 mostly pro-USA fans roared on two separate occasions as the Nacogdoches native scored both goals in the United States Gold Cup-opening 2-1 win over Honduras at Toyota Stadium.
"It always feels good to play here] whether it’s with national team or club ball to be able to come here where I developed a lot of my game driving back and forth from Nacogdoches," said Dempsey after Tuesday's win. "It always feels good to be home and to win."
Dempsey's 42nd goal of his national team career which opened the scoring somewhat against the run of play in the 25th minute wasn't a masterpiece, but it was vital for a U.S. side that struggled through the opening minutes of the match.
"Any time you can score a goal, it alwawys feels good," said Dempsey. "The first goal was maybe a little bit lucky because the keeper made a save and it came to me and I didn’t get much on it, but it happened to be in the right place."
For a north Texas crowd that has increasingly filled Toyota Stadium to record attendances in 2014 for FC Dallas matches, the Gold Cup opening match was a deserved reward and one that the United States team fed off of.
"It's always good to play in front of a pro-American crowd, the crowd was behind the whole team," said Dempsey. "I remember when I first started and there would be more fans for the other team some times, so nowadays to play in front of pro-American crowds I think the team always feeds off that energy."
The United States continues their 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup journey on Friday night at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, MA against a Haiti team that tied Panama 1-1 in the day's first matchup.
