On Thursday, former U.S. men’s national team legend Clint Dempsey finally made his coaching debut.

Dempsey, arguably the greatest player in the history of American men’s soccer, wasn’t roaming the technical area at an MLS stadium, or in USL. Dressed in Crocs and a camouflage hat, he instead cut his teeth in Cary, North Carolina, at The Soccer Tournament’s (TST) inaugural 7v7 competition. The tournament is made up of 32 teams — some with former professional players, while others are stocked with amateur talent. Dempsey, and everyone else, is chasing the grand prize of a $1 million, winner-take-all reward for the title.

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It felt like an apt fit for Dempsey, who emerged as a top talent in spite of the U.S. development system, not because of it. He grew up with little and learned the game on dirt lots in Texas, with teammates from varied walks of life. His attitude, even as a professional player, was influenced by pickup games, where flair and bravado are sometimes valued more than substance.

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His squad — named “Team Dempsey,” what else — is one of the featured attractions at the tournament. It includes a few standout names, former U.S. national teamers like Chris Wondolowski, Jermaine Jones and Eddie Johnson. Their first game, against a no-name collection of talent from Jackson, Tennessee, was a fiery affair. Former MLS goalkeeper Luis Robles left the match early with a shiner, and Dempsey spent long stretches on the touchline jostling with officials.

Team Dempsey, though, emerged victorious, 4-3. After the dust settled, Dempsey joined The Athletic to unpack the TST concept and chat about the state of the U.S. men and the drama that unfolded surrounding Toronto FC last week. Questions and answers have been lightly edited for clarity.

What has been your impression of the 7v7 setup? This has structure but the game itself feels very much like streetball, doesn’t it?

I think the way it’s all set up right now promotes attacking play, promotes not wasting time. I like kick-ins as opposed to throw-ins, which mirror the actual game more closely. I grew up with pickup culture and it’s a culture where you can express yourself and grow your confidence by taking people on 1v1. That allows you to be more dynamic when you do get into a professional environment. I think a lot of times players play a little too simple in my opinion. There are times when it’s good to do that but there are also times when you can take advantage of getting that half-turn, running at defenders. It’s always going to be better to create than it is to destroy. Having tactical play is great but maybe we can create players that are more dynamic.

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One of your former U.S. teammates said you’ve always been a “roll the ball out there and let them play” guy but you were barking out tactical instructions today. Has any of this given you a coaching bug?

I don’t know. The thing is I don’t think I could do a professional gig where it’s week in and week out. I have so many kids (Laughs). I like being there for all their stuff, man. Maybe if I went and got all my coaching badges and got very serious about it, it would always be great to be involved in your national team. There are bigger gaps there between camps and you can still spend time with your family. But to be honest, I just like being a dad. Taking my kids to their stuff. Getting to watch them. And having time to hunt, fish and golf.

Never say never. But today it was cool to dip my feet in it a little bit. I’m having fun with it. I have a good staff and good players here who have helped me out a lot in terms of being successful and trying to win games.

The USMNT is still without a permanent coach and just moved on to a second interim coach. If you’re making the hire, what’s the profile of the next coach?

I don’t think it’s good to go interim to interim, in my opinion. It’s unfortunate the situation that happened with (former USMNT coach Gregg) Berhalter. I think he’s still in line for the job and I think he did a great job at the World Cup.

We were looking for that No. 9, I think maybe we got that now in Folarin Balogun. We were one of the top teams in terms of the crosses that we got — maybe he’d have been the guy that got on the end of those. We’ll see what happens there. Jesse Marsch, obviously, he’s done well in Europe. If you look at the teams at the World Cup that did well and got to the knockout rounds, I think 15 of the 16 teams were domestic coaches. So maybe it makes sense to have a domestic coach that understands what players are dealing with.

Sticking with coaching, what do you make of the situation at Toronto FC right now? You played for Bob Bradley for many years. Were you surprised at what came out?

All I can say is that we had some good years playing with the national team together. But that is a different dynamic that people have to deal with. And when you’re with a club team, that dynamic is there week in and week out. It’s hard to balance as opposed to the national team where it’s every few weeks or a few months. It’s one of those things that when you’re not successful, and you’re not making the playoffs every year, the ship is going to start to leak. It’s hard to handle that situation, and that’s why people are there making those decisions. It’s about winning at the end of the day.

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Was it an issue with the national team, though?

I think no matter what, even if you handled the situation perfectly, it would’ve been an issue. Because as I said, it is a dynamic you have to deal with. It’s just how you manage that. You’d need to talk to players who played in that position and battled for it in midfield. For me, I was there to try and help the team win. We had some successful times under Bob — Confederations Cup final, some Gold Cups and got out of a tough group in South Africa. But yes, with that dynamic of father and son on a team (referencing Michael Bradley), it’s just something you’re going to deal with.

What do you make of MLS’ growth and the state of the league in general?

My opinion is that expansion is probably good in terms of giving other cities, states an opportunity to have a team. But when you grow too quickly, you lose the quality of each team, because of the expansion drafts and all of that — you lose depth. And then you expand the playoffs, and even more, teams make it. I don’t like that they expanded the World Cup, for example, in terms of having more teams in it. It’s better to have quality over quantity in almost every circumstance. MLS has to figure out how to grow it in the right way to keep the quality on the field and I think the league has grown maybe a little bit too fast in the sense that we can’t keep that quality high for everyone.

(Photo: Rooted Creative x TST)