USA coach Jurgen Klinsmann was delighted for Clint Dempsey over his Tottenham winner at Manchester United last week.

Klinsmann has been pushing his players to move to as high a level as possible.

He told ussoccer.com: "You almost celebrate with him! As a National Team coach, you are connected with all the players at the different clubs wherever they play. When they score, you get a smile on your face. Your goal is to help those players get to their next level, wherever that is. With Clint in particular, I told him all year 'you need to push the envelope.

"You need to get to higher-ranked team. You need to play Champions League one day and prove to the top players in the world that you can compete with them'. He took that well. He worked hard for it. He had a very, very good season last year and then he was in an unknown place during the summer break with his club situation. It came at the last moment, and fortunately it came with a team that I played for, so there are even more emotions connected to it.

"So you try to explain to a player what it takes to get to their next level, and I think they buy into it. They understand it. At the end of the day, it's only the player's decision. Their inner drive determines if they want to go up or not. You have the phenomenon also that players are happy where they are. They become content and get the feeling they have made it already, and then you have to tell them to their faces that no, you never have 'made it', there is always another level waiting for you. You identify these personalities over time and you help them to change their mindset and look at it differently."