Seattle Sounders head coach Sigi Schmid says Clint Dempsey will be at full fitness for this week's Western Conference semi-final second leg.
The Sounders head to Portland Timbers on Thursday following their 2-1 home loss on the weekend but Schmid suggests that former Fulham and Tottenham star Dempsey should be fit and firing after carrying some injuries in recent times.
"I think for him it's not only his shoulder but also fitness. He has played three games now in a week without preseason so a little bit of fatigue [fatigue] affects your sharpness," said Schmid.
"I think you're going to see a guy pretty close to fitness next Thursday. This is a hard week. When you play three games you're certainly have built a lot of fitness, so we just got to give him a chance to recover and I think you'll see a fully fit guy on Thursday."
Seattle will have to overcome their one-goal deficit against their Cascadia rivals at JELD-WEN Field in order to progress to the next stage of the 2013 MLS playoffs.
