Photo by Steve Dykes/USA TODAY Sports
By DAN KARELL
Simply put, Steve Zakuani had reached his athletic limit.
After spending a majority of the last three years rehabbing from multiple injuries, including a gruesome leg break early in the 2011 season, Zakuani announced his retirement on his website. Zakuani’s current club, the Portland Timbers, confirmed the news shortly after with a web release on their website.
“It is with great sadness that I have to announce my retirement from football,” Zakuani wrote. “To call this the most difficult decision I’ve ever had to make in my life would be a massive understatement.”
The 26-year-old was the first ever selection by the Seattle Sounders, going No. 1 overall in the 2009 MLS Draft out of Akron, after he had led the nation in scoring in his sophomore season under with 20 goals and seven assists. He showed promise in his first two seasons with the Sounders, starting a combined 51 games and scoring 14 goals and 10 assists.
His career took a turn for the worse in 2011 when a reckless challenge from Colorado Rapids defender Brian Mullan resulted in a fractured fibula and tibia, ruling Zakuani out for the remainder of the 2011 season. Following the injury, the speedy Zakuani only scored one time in 16 games before being acquired last December by his former coach Caleb Porter, who was revamping his Timbers squad for the 2014 MLS season.
However, a constant struggle to overcome injuries and stay fit kept Zakuani from playing a regular part in the Timbers this season, starting only nine times in 17 games, failing to score a goal. Zakuani didn’t play any of the last nine matches in the regular season for the Timbers.
“It’s gotten to the point where I have to be honest with myself and listen to my body,” Zakuani wrote. “I believe that because of my love for the game, if I had to, I could find the strength to play for a few more years, but I would be doing so through a lot of aches and pain – and in the grand scheme of things that isn’t worth it to me. I love playing football but I don’t want to compromise my long-term health for it. I never imagined that I would have to retire from football at the age of 26, but that’s what it has come down to.
“When my career became more about the injections, MRI’s, surgeries, doctors visits, painkillers, and limited physical capabilities, than the playing, enjoyment, love, and passion for the game, I knew it was time to call it a day.”
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What do you think of this news? What’s your favorite memory during Zakuani’s career?
Share your thoughts below.
I’m Steve Zakuani, this is how I [dont] work.
That’s it, I’m closing down the studio.
The hair on the back of my neck still stands up when I remember the sound of the tackle as I watched it live.
Sad day for sure. I remember being so horrified at that tackle. I know Zak forgave Mullan, but I really wish they would have suspended him for the whole season.
I know he is done now as well, and we should forgive. But it just still sticks out in my mind as one of the absolute worst sports moments in the past 20 years. Mullan should go to his grave knowing he made the beautiful game that much uglier.
Stupid Mullans ended a promising career. Typical MLS American players who have no clue how to play this sport. Good luck Steve; you would have been a great player for DR Congo like your older brother.
I wonder if a guy died of non-soccer related injury, if people would somehow find a way to rip on American soccer and its players ? A big tragedy, but it would still be brought up, you have to think yes.
Turf would play a part for sure….obviously. But would they rip on bad defense ? Of course playing a career with lack of Pro/Rel contributed….
Typical American ? wow…….
YEa man because players NEVER break eah other’s legs in England.
Mullan didn’t rob him of his career, MLS officiating did.
Ask any player or coach in the league and they’ll tell you it simply isn’t good enough. It’s not that it’s 100% poor across the board, but it’s wildly inconsistent. What’s a foul this week isn’t the next. What’s a card this week isn’t the next. Etc.
Tackles like Mullan’s are a direct result of players guessing what they can and can’t get away with. And that is a result of inconsistent refs.
Disagree. It was a revenge tackle from a frustrated player of the type that happens all over the world. There are countless similar examples everywhere. It was an assult, not a misjudgement.
Wrong. Ref called a great game if you watched.
Wrong. Mullen had just been fouled, actually held then tossed to the ground by a Seattle player. If the ref did his job the foul would have been called and a free kick to Colorado and this never happens. It’s not the ref’s fault that Mullen made such a bad foul, but the bad refereeing did have an impact on the play.
I
Bad refereeing is part of life. It NEVER justifies assault.
Mullan wasnt fouled. He backed into and bodied up the guy to control the ball. Sometimes that’s a foul often it is not. Absolutely nothing compared to some fouls that aren’t called
Mullen got a straight Red. How was it the Ref’s fault? Unless MLS starts hiring Minority Report Oracles to call the fouls before they happen, what else could have been done?
An blatant assault on someone 3 minutes into the match is hardly the fault of an “inconsistent” ref or players guessing what will/won’t be called.
Lay the blame where it should lie, on an incredibly stupid play by a player who ruined a promising player’s career. Mullan should still be suspended for that tackle.
Two things:
(1) You gotta to wonder did he keep coming back too early and not give himself enough time to recover. This is a lesson that Holden has learned. It even took Ramsey at least 1 1/2 years before he eased back to playing and another couple more to recapture his level.
(2) MLS level of play. I have said it again and again, the level of play in the MLS is not high enough because they let too many thuggish players play their physical play in the league. We have seen skillful, quick players fall prey to it again and again. It is the same reason I do not want players going to Scotland. Referees need to start by serverely punishing these type of plays.
No comment on (1) except that I don’t think that was the case. As for (2) I think a lot has changed. Look at the pass per possession stas (see the Armchair Analyst on MLS . com) show the evolution of the style. In the past, guys were just hacked off the ball. You are also seeing more sophistication in the CB – guys who can be tough, but have more well rounded skills.
The irony here, of course, is that the guy who did this was one of the smaller, faster wings in the year, a comparatively skillful player. I never would have considered Mullin thuggish before this
Not to re-open an old can of worms here, but i recall Mullan’s “reckless” challenge as being born out of frustration and bordering on the intentional.
There was nothing borderline about it
Yes, Mullan had just been fouled and thrown to the ground by a Seattle player and the ref didn’t make a call, then he went and had a reckless challenge. We are very fortunate more of these things don’t happen.
The intent to commit a hard foul, and even to punish an opponent, was clear. I was referring to an intent to injure. It is rare that you can infer that from a player’s actions, but here even that intent was arguaby there. But we’ll never know.
Absolutely Quakeland, nothing borderline about it.
All of us can learn from that, as Mullen has to live with that the rest of this life.
We can also learn from SZ who forgave. Class guy.
He also after the game said he’d make the same challenge again.
He had a breakout 2010 season with 10 goals and 10 assists for the Sounders and was on his way to topping that in 2011 before Mullan’s horrific tackle.
We’ll never know he good he could have been.
Heartbreaking. One of my favorites. Was on his way to being so good. Lost in a moment of stupid, pointless anger by a guy who was otherwise a good pro
Wasn’t that Mullen’s first red card in his career?
Does it matter?
Mullan is paying the price for this. He is very likely more affected by this than any other person other than Zakuani himself. I’m a Timber’s fan, loved watching Steve play pre injury, but learning about the story from Mullan’s perspective reveals that he acted out without thinking. He’s a good guy, and because of that fact, I’m sure he is suffering.
“I’ve made that takle 1000 times and I’ll make it again” – Mullan
Said after the game when it was obvious he had broken Zak’s leg (My friend @ the game, 14 rows away heard Zak’s leg snap)
Very sad to see this, Zakuani was a very exciting player to watch pre-injury but he never could get going after the leg break. Part of me is also glad to see him face the fact that this just isn’t going to work for him anymore and it is time to move onto the next challenge. There is no reason to keep trying so hard to come back from injury only to be hurt again immediately. He is only 26, plenty of time to change up careers.
Wow, this wrecked my morning. He had some great games and great memories as a Sounder.
Class, class, class guy.
Never the player he was. I’m curios about the book he is writing about the experience and what he will do next. As a Timber, I wish he could have just stayed healthy…even when he was a Sounder. Good luck to him in all that he does.
Sorry we couldn’t see him play longer. I’m sure if he applies himself to his next career as well as he did this one, he will be a success no matter what he decides to do.
terrible news. enough has been made of it but Mullan’s tackle was terrible and took a career away. ohwell its pro sports – gotta live with this kind of stuff. just hope that MLS & PRO are working to reduce this kind of physical game.
Every time I see Nagbe take another hard foul I think the same thing. How long can he and others like him expect to last if the refs continue to allow this type of play?
I remember tuning in to that game just to watch Zukuani and then Mullan takes him out three minutes into the match. Now I stay up late on the east coast to watch Nagbe play and every time I fear the same thing will happen to him. Mullan acted with complete and total disregard for Zakuani’s safety and I really find that unforgivable. He lost his temper three minutes into the match, three minutes. I’m not sure the solution lies just in work that can be done by MLS and PRO, I have to wonder if it should also be extended to officiating at the lower levels and younger ages. Maybe we have too many players who have been rewarded for their aggressive for too many years. With the long and successful career Mullan had, how was it that in that situation he couldnt control his temper.
Mullan got fouled (actually held and wrapped up) by a Seattle player and Zakuani comes in and takes the ball. Mullan was understandably upset that the ref made no call so when he turns back from arguing at the ref he runs over to make a tackle and it looks to me like he realized he was late and he kind of braces his body for a side to side collision, only Zakuani had been held by another Rapids player Mullans awkward hard tackle/body shield comes in just as Zak puts his leg right under where Mullans was sliding through.
Such a freak play, a bit mindless but there’s probably ten tackles a game that could end in the same way with a little misfortune.
Such a shame that a dynamic player was sidelined, but as we’ve seen time and time again speedsters that suffer a serious injury are never the same. Too much of their game is based on speed alone.
I see we have a Rapids apologist in the house.
+1
Mullan was not clearly fouled. He was backing into the opposing player to position his body for the ball. All he other guy did was try to hold his ground. Absolutely no reason for Mullan to go berserk on that play
What makes matters worse today is that the speed of play, the strength of the players and the laws of physics play a big part too. Injuries are going to be worse.
That being said. Here in Indiana, there is a culture to let physical play go unpunished as part of the game. “Whack a Ball, Whack a Player” is considered good soccer here.
The referee community lets that kind of play go because they say, “That is what they are going to get when they get to college.”
The league needs to clean that crap up because why would a talented technical player want to come here if they are at risk to getting a broken leg, or some other career ending injury through “whack a ball, whack a player.”
“The referee community lets that kind of play go because they say, “That is what they are going to get when they get to college.’ ”
That’s what I was getting at. I think this needs to be addressed with refs at lower levels because players are advancing themselves this way, even ones with good technical ability. That is how they separate themselves from other players with good technical ability.
referees aren’t aren’t the only people that need to address this. Coaches need to teach players what is acceptable and what is unacceptable as well.
I understand pushing the limits of the game, seeing what you can get away with in terms of physical play, but reckless tackles are never acceptable.
I couldn’t agree more with you guys. The Mullan’s play, by itself, changed how I view refereeing and physical play. It happened to be around the same time as the Arsenal player (Silva?) was taken down in a similar manner, as well as Ferriera and possibly another skilled player I’m forgetting in the MLS.
Our soccer culture is young enough to possibly influence the style of play going into the future, so that we are less like the Scottish or English, and more like the Spanish. Having said that, we are a violent culture to begin with, and growing up and playing in the midwest without a doubt rewarded physical play.
Not blaming Mullens for the early retirement, but you gotta feel for Zakuani and wonder what could’ve been. Hope he finds something he enjoys in life.
I’ve spent so much time, energy and money supporting MLS over the years, when there were better options available, and Zakuani is one of the few guys who I genuinely enjoyed watching. I watched any Sounders game I could just to see him run at defenders. I don’t have time to read it, but I will be buying his book when it’s finished. It’s the least I can do for a guy who did so much to help raise and change the perception of this baby we call MLS.