Arena hopes Dempsey will feature in March qualifiers

United States head coach Bruce Arena is hopeful Clint Dempsey can recover from his health scare and feature for his country in their World Cup qualifiers in March.

Dempsey has been out of action since August after an irregular heartbeat was discovered, and has recently returned to light jogging in training.

USA face Honduras and Panama in qualifiers in March 2017 and Arena gave a positive update on Dempsey’s situation.

“I spoke to Clint yesterday, he is making good progress,” Arena – who succeeded Jurgen Klinsmann last month – told Fox Sports on Saturday.

“Obviously his health is a priority. And we are hoping we can bring him into camp in January, just casually get back into the swing of things. Perhaps not even considering him playing.

“And then have him ready to go as Seattle starts their pre-season [in February].

“And then hopefully he’s ready for the US team when the qualifiers come around.”