Clint Dempsey Injury: Updates on USA Forward's Broken Nose and Recovery

Updates from Thursday, June 19

US Soccer confirmed Clint Dempsey's status for the team's upcoming match against Portugal:

Updates from Tuesday, June 17

The United States has updated Clint Dempsey's status following the nose injury he suffered in the match against Ghana (via Evan Doherty of Yahoo Sports):

Original Text

Clint Dempsey, much like many of his teammates, couldn't escape the United States' World Cup opener against Ghana unscathed. 

After putting the Americans ahead in the first minute with a brilliant piece of individual play, the Seattle Sounders midfielder took a nasty kick to the nose from John Boye midway through the first half. 

Here's a look at the play: 

GIF courtesy of Bleacher Report

It was pretty apparent that Dempsey had broken his nose, but he confirmed the news afterwards, via Yahoo Sports' Joe Lago:

Still, with injuries to both Jozy Altidore and Matt Besler, there was little chance a substitution was going to be used on Dempsey, and he went on to play all 90 minutes. Despite struggling to breathe, he amazingly made a box-to-box impact, as the FIFA's World Cup Twitter feed noted:

Fortunately for the Americans, they get six days until they meet Portugal, and it's going to take a lot more than a broken nose to keep Dempsey off the pitch for that one. Jurgen Klinsmann, via the Tacoma News Tribune's Don Ruiz, stated as much after Monday's match: 

Dempsey is easily one of the team's two or three best players, and if Altidore remains sidelined, he becomes even more important in holding onto possession and creating scoring opportunities up front. 

Even with a broken nose, Deuce will continue to be at the center of the Yanks' effort to get out of their difficult group.