Howard hoping for plenty of US interest as Everton’s Donovan gets set to meet Fulham’s Dempsey

Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard hopes there is a huge ‘American interest’ when his side hosts Fulham in the FA Cup fourth round on Friday night.

The Goodison Park fixture pits two of the USA’s best-ever players in Landon Donovan (on loan from LA Galaxy) and Clint Dempsey against each other and Howard hopes the meeting catches the attention of sports fans back home.

"I would hope there'll be a big American interest," he told evertontv.

"They are two of our biggest marquee players, not because of their marketability, how they dress or the way they look but because they are our best players bar none, and from a US national team standpoint they're the key cogs.

“We need to have Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey at their best to make waves, win competitions, qualify for World Cups and so on.”

And Howard added that both players possess that something special which is so vital to their teams performance on a weekly basis.

"For me they are top, top players and I think they continue to prove that every single year,” he added. "Without any disrespect to Fulham, I think Clint's been their best player for quite a while and it seems year after year they begin to rely more and more on his presence, on his goals and on his leadership. I know Clint has been on a wonderful scoring run but hopefully we can keep him out and keep him quiet.

"And Landon. What can you say about Landon? He wins championships and he's always the best player or thereabouts. He has been a huge positive for us. He's put in some really solid performances and one thing about Landon is he's very aware of what goes on on a football field and he reads situations and how he can best provide for the team in those situations.

"He's very clever in that regard and talent-wise he's up there with the best. He's done well. We always kind of knew him coming back was a great situation for him, a great situation for us and that it would be seamless, because he's been here before and understands the landscape.”

 

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