We were talking to Brad Evans on Extratime, and we were talking about the Seattle Sounders, and we were talking about their Mount Rushmore. And I had to ask, because from where I sit and from what I've seen, the injury to Steve Zakuani goes down as one of the biggest what-ifs in league history.
I'll let Brad tell it:
"Easily" on Seattle's Mount Rushmore. Think about how good the Sounders have been, and the type of players they've had, and the discussion we had on Extratime about their four representatives. Think about all that, and then think about the fact that Steve Zakuani was the type of talent you could look at in the midst of all of the above and say, "yeah, easily one of those four."
(If you know MLS history at all, you know that Zakuani's leg was broken early in the 2011 season in what's still the most gruesome on-field moment in league history. If you didn't know that, now you do – and don't Google it. You don't want to see it.)
"If he stays" was the other part of Evans' statement, and that would've been a giant "if" for Zakuani. He was the No. 1 pick in the 2009 MLS SuperDraft, was an instant starter for the Sounders and would certainly have acquired overseas interest. He had 4g/4a as a rookie, then 10g/6a in his second year at age 22 – a year in which he was the highest-scoring wide midfielder/winger in the league, playing primarily on the left of Seattle's 4-4-2, though sometimes inverted on the right and sometimes as a second forward.
It was a different time in the league's history, and specifically a much lower-scoring time in the league's history. 10g/6a in 2010 is equivalent to about 14g/9a in 2019, and that's Diego Rossi territory. And, yeah, calling Zakuani a left-footed Rossi – I'd posit Zakuani was a little bit better off the dribble, and not quite as goal-dangerous in his off-the-ball movement – feels about right. This is the best old clip I could find, and yes, I'm a little angry I couldn't dig up an acceptable compilation tribute:
He was a young, electric star who might've generated an eight-figure move to a big European club. He looked like he was beginning a Best XI season in 2011 with 2g/2a in five games before everything changed. He is a Mount Rushmore star who could've, should've and would've been.
Another what-if to consider: What if the US men's national team had Zakuani for the 2010s? He was born in the DR Congo, and represented them in a friendly in late 2010. But friendlies don't cap tie players and he already had his green card at that point. This also happened:
"At the end of 2010 I played in a friendly for my birth country — Congo — in a friendly vs Mali in Paris. After that, someone from [USSF President Sunil Gulati's] office reached out to my agent... and told him I shouldn’t play in a competitive game for the Congo because the US were interested in me once my citizenship came through," Zakuani told me on Tuesday.
"My intention was to play for the US if things had gone well."
He was the first person who came to mind for this piece. Here are four other stars who should've been...
Alain Sutter (Dallas, 1997-1998)
The Designated Player rule officially became a thing in 2007 with the arrival of David Beckham, Cuauhtemoc Blanco, Juan Pablo Angel and a few others, but early-days MLS had several imports scattered throughout the league who were, essentially, DPs. One of them was Carlos Valderrama, the original face of MLS and a star in every way. One of them was Marco Etcheverry, the original best player in the league and the face of the most successful dynasty in league history.
The star in Dallas in 1996 was supposed to be Hugo Sanchez, the great Mexican striker who's still a legend for El Tri and Real Madrid. But Hugo was 38, washed up and gone by the end of the year.
Then Dallas upgraded in 1997. They got Sutter, the 29-year-old Swiss international who went from little-known Bundesliga player to borderline global icon after his performance in the 1994 World Cup.
As with Zakuani, there's no appropriate compilation. As with Zakuani, I'm only going to show you a goal:
Sutter, a classy and elegant left midfielder who was much more of a playmaker than goalscorer – he'd be a No. 8 today – moved to Bayern Munich after the World Cup. He didn't quite make it there, but then moved to a smaller Bundesliga team in SC Freiburg and was excellent for two years before heading back to the US.
"An excellent Bundesliga starter in the prime of his career" is the type of player pretty much any current MLS team would make room for as a DP. Sutter lived up to the tag not by producing a ton of goals or assists (2g/8a in 1800 minutes in 1997), but by spreading play around, being brave about getting on the ball and always controlling the tempo. He was the best player on the Dallas team that beat Etcheverry's D.C. United for the 1997 U.S. Open Cup and was one of the best players in the league.
It would be his only trophy and only full year in MLS. Four games into the 1998 season, during training, Sutter stepped in a rut in the Burn's practice field. He never played again and, at age 30, his career was done. Dallas wouldn't win another trophy for almost two decades.
Sutter already was a star, but if he hadn't gotten hurt, there's every chance we'd remember him alongside Jason Kreis as one of the faces of the Dallas franchise. There's also a chance we'd remember him alongside Etcheverry, Carlos Valderrama and Preki as one of the league's early greats.
Justin Mapp (five teams, 2002-2016)
Mapp had a very good career, scoring 22 goals and adding 65 assists for five teams (mostly Chicago and Montreal) across 15 MLS seasons. He won a Supporters' Shield and two Open Cups with the Fire, and two Canadian Championships with the Impact. He was Best XI in 2006 at age 21, and was a part of the US men's national team that won the 2007 Gold Cup. He earned eight US caps in all – seven of them that year.
There are many, many many USYNT phenoms who never enjoyed one-tenth the career that Mapp did. There are many reasons for Mapp to be proud of the career he had.
But I'm pretty sure I'm not crazy for thinking he could've been a big, bright shining star who made multiple Best XIs and collected 50+ USMNT caps:
That combination of close control, acceleration, speed, vision and touch was not otherwise available in the US pool at the time. Or now, really. Mapp still had it after more than 300 pro games as he hit his 30s. That clip is of the older, slower, less athletic version of Mapp, mind you.
He wasn't dangerous only when he was playing downhill, by the way. This, from one of his last games as a pro, is utterly outrageous:
Again: Mapp was really, really good. He was the type of player who sparked legitimate joy when you watched him play. He was fun.
I always thought he could've been much more than that, though.
Jose Villarreal (2012-2017 with the LA Galaxy; 2018 with Orlando City)
Villarreal is one of those USYNT phenoms who never had one-tenth the career of Mapp. He was a starting forward (sometimes center forward, sometimes second forward, sometimes on the wing) for Tab Ramos's first U-20 team back in 2013, and scored eight goals in 11 games. He was the star of the Galaxy's original academy class, and started getting minutes here and there for the Galaxy dynasty under Bruce Arena in 2012, back when he was just 18 years old.
Those sporadic minutes never grew to anything more than that despite moments of brilliance:
Villarreal spent part of last year with Las Vegas in the USL, but I watched and he didn't really have it anymore. He's now, at age 26, playing in the Philippines.
I wouldn't have staked my life on Villarreal becoming a star, mostly because I was concerned about a lack of athleticism. There are many hurdles for great youth players in becoming a great pro, and one of the biggest is the ability to create that half-yard of space, especially in the box. Maybe, in retrospect, Villarreal was never going to have that.
But he could ball. He really, really could.
Freddy Adu (2004-2013; 3 MLS teams, plenty of overseas teams)
You can't write an "I thought he was going to be a star..." column without mentioning Freddy. Please don't forget how good and talented he was:
As Dax says, Freddy was a star. He got too much hype, but he got too much hype for a reason. And it went to his head, and it (was one of the things that) ruined his career, and it's why he's remembered as a cautionary tale rather than as a talent.
Remember the talent, though. There are actually so many highlights that I'm not sure which one to go with: the incredible through ball on the Donovan-to-Dempsey goal vs. Panama in the 2011 Gold Cup; the secondary assist on Dempsey-to-Donovan later in that tournament vs. Mexico (surely we'll see those three guys together in the attack at the 2014 World Cup!); his full-field sprint-and-assist as a 14-year-old vs. Argentina in the 2003 U-20 World Cup; his show-out in a friendly vs. Celtic for D.C. United as a 17-year-old in 2006; or the event that really convinced the world (and Benfica in particular) that he was ready: the 2007 U-20 World Cup, particularly his performance vs. Brazil.
It is still the best game I've ever seen from a USYNT player.
The turning point for Freddy was supposed to be in 2012 with the Union. He was 23, had come back to MLS after a strong Gold Cup the previous summer, and the team was kind of built around him. He had his chance, and it really looked like he was about to take it:
It turns out, though, that wasn't the turning point. It was the high point from which his career just started accelerating downhill. His most recent stop – likely his last stop – was, as with Villarreal, with Las Vegas in the USL. As with Villarreal, the spark he'd once had was gone.
