1. Steve Zakuani was born on 9 February 1988 and is a Congolese former footballer.
56 Facts About Steve Zakuani
1. 2.
Steve Zakuani attended the University of Akron on a soccer scholarship, excelling as a forward.
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Steve Zakuani quickly became a fan favorite as a winger with the speed and ability to take on opposing defenders.
4.
Success continued in 2010 with Steve Zakuani scoring ten goals and debuting for the Congo DR national football team in a friendly.
5.
Steve Zakuani failed to recapture his early success upon returning in 2012, before retiring after playing the 2014 MLS season with the Portland Timbers.
6.
When he was four, his father, Mao Steve Zakuani, moved his family to London, for both political and professional reasons, as a translator.
7.
At the age of nine, Steve Zakuani attracted interest from West Ham United's youth program.
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Steve Zakuani later tried out for Queens Park Rangers's youth team, and joined the Arsenal Academy in 1997.
9.
Steve Zakuani became cocky and brash while not focusing on schoolwork before being released.
10.
Steve Zakuani attended the University of Akron after he was noticed while playing at north London's Independent Football Academy.
11.
Steve Zakuani was already committed to the university and declined the opportunity.
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Steve Zakuani became the second sophomore to be named Soccer America's men's collegiate player of the year.
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Steve Zakuani played a portion of the 2008 USL Premier Development League season with the Cleveland Internationals, with whom he scored nine goals and made four assists in 11 matches.
14.
Steve Zakuani was selected by expansion side Seattle Sounders FC as the number-one pick in the 2009 MLS SuperDraft on a Generation Adidas program contract.
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Steve Zakuani declined offers from two English clubs so he could sign with Major League Soccer; the deal allowed him to set money aside for future college tuition.
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Steve Zakuani started 24 of 30 regular season games in 2009 and played in the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup final, when the Sounders became the second MLS team to win the tournament in their inaugural season.
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Steve Zakuani provided a much-needed attacking presence from the wing; he was the third-best scorer with four goals throughout the regular season.
18.
Steve Zakuani won the award for his perfectly timed break past the defensive back line for a one-on-one situation with the goalkeeper while scoring a goal against Toronto FC.
19.
Steve Zakuani recorded the fastest-scored goal in club history with a fourth-minute tally against Columbus Crew, beating the previous record he had set the season before.
20.
Steve Zakuani was again in the starting line-up for the 2010 US Open Cup final, which Seattle won to become the first team since 1983 to repeat as Open Cup champions.
21.
Steve Zakuani received his green card after the season; this helped the team because MLS limits the number of international players available to each team and receiving permanent resident status exempted him from the cap.
22.
Steve Zakuani scored two goals and had two assists in his first six appearances of the 2011 season.
23.
On 22 April 2011, a harsh challenge by Brian Mullan led to Steve Zakuani fracturing his tibia and fibula three minutes into a game against the Colorado Rapids.
24.
Steve Zakuani was airlifted to hospital and underwent surgery the same day.
25.
Steve Zakuani later apologized in the face of increasing scrutiny and received a 10-game suspension and a $5,000 fine.
26.
Steve Zakuani's injury was one of several to key players throughout the league that year, leading to criticism that MLS play was aggressive to the point of "thuggery".
27.
Steve Zakuani was later placed on injured reserve and twice underwent surgery on each side of his groin.
28.
Steve Zakuani's contract was allowed to expire, effectively ending his five-year career with the Sounders, during which he started in 67 of 78 appearances in league play.
29.
In January 2017, The Seattle Times reported that Steve Zakuani had been training with the team for some time, with coach Brian Schmetzer describing his situation as "somewhere between a 'trial' and just pure training".
30.
On 12 December 2013, Steve Zakuani was selected by Portland Timbers as the number two pick in the MLS Re-Entry Draft; a yearly draft that allows teams to select players who are out-of-contract or have had their options declined by their current teams.
31.
Steve Zakuani was reunited with Caleb Porter, his former Akron coach, who had become the Portland manager.
32.
Steve Zakuani's pay was cut by $60,000 to $120,000 a year.
33.
Steve Zakuani was expected to receive additional minutes immediately because first-choice winger Rodney Wallace was recovering from injury.
34.
Steve Zakuani appeared in the Timbers' opening match of 2014 against Philadelphia Union as a substitute in the 85th minute.
35.
On 29 October 2014, Steve Zakuani announced his retirement in a blog post.
36.
Steve Zakuani had lost much of his precision, pace, and confidence since being hurt.
37.
Steve Zakuani retired at the relatively early age of 26; his retirement after his initial promise led Sports Illustrated to describe his career as a "roller coaster".
38.
Steve Zakuani was eligible to play for both Congo and England.
39.
Steve Zakuani considers London his hometown but still sees himself as Congolese.
40.
Steve Zakuani might have been able to play for the United States if granted citizenship.
41.
Steve Zakuani expressed interest in representing the Congolese national team early in his professional career, but considered his chances of playing for England "a long shot".
42.
In 2010, Steve Zakuani accepted a call up from Congo for a friendly match against Mali.
43.
Steve Zakuani started the match and came off at half-time with Congo in the lead.
44.
Steve Zakuani was a right-footed player who preferred being on the left of the field.
45.
Steve Zakuani said he played with a style he learned at Arsenal's youth academy and that he tried to emulate the style of former winger Robert Pires.
46.
Steve Zakuani often sought advice from former Arsenal star Freddie Ljungberg when they played together in Seattle.
47.
Steve Zakuani was a quick, agile player who liked to take defenders one-on-one.
48.
Steve Zakuani declined to join Apple TV's MLS Season Pass, which replaced local broadcasts in 2023, due to the national travel schedule.
49.
Steve Zakuani published a memoir, "500 Days", in 2015 and a documentary in 2018 that chronicled his recovery from the 2011 injury.
50.
Steve Zakuani served as an assistant coach for the Tacoma Stars, an indoor team in the Major Arena Soccer League, from 2015 to 2016.
51.
Steve Zakuani became the head coach at Bellevue High School in 2019, taking the team to a league championship.
52.
Steve Zakuani was distracted from soccer by girls and parties.
53.
Steve Zakuani said in an interview, "A lot of the people I grew up with ended up in prison, taking drugs, and never made it to university".
54.
Steve Zakuani has strong feelings about the increase of knife crime in London since one of his friends was killed.
55.
Steve Zakuani remembers being focused on soccer instead of education in Europe; the organization is focused on providing collegiate scholarships to young athletes.
56.
Steve Zakuani has said his ultimate goal is to open an academy to teach life-coaching and soccer to teenagers to provide a "bridge between talent and actually making it".