This is one part in our series looking at the best players to wear (almost) every number in MLS history. To read the other stories, click here.



The debate over the greatest No. 2 in MLS history is more complicated than you might immediately think.



Clint Dempsey first springs to mind, and he should be a no-brainer, right? Dempsey is one of — if not the — finest field players America has ever produced.



He bookended his career in MLS, starting out in New England and eventually retiring as a Seattle Sounder. Dempsey was named the league’s rookie of the year in 2005, and netted 72 goals, along with 42 assists in 172 MLS appearances spread across two decades. He won the U.S. Open Cup and Supporters’ Shield with Seattle in 2014, one of the best single seasons in Sounders history.



And yet…



While he was undoubtedly among MLS’s most talented players during the majority of his eight-and-a-half seasons in...