Move over Landon Donovan, there is a new darling on the pitch for U.S. soccer.
Sporting Kansas City midfielder Graham Zusi has established himself as the rising star of the beautiful game South of the border, and is now being paid as such. He recently signed a contract extension that is, for all intents and purposes, a Designated Player deal in all but name, and that will keep him at Sporting Park until 2017.
Zusi, 26, has become an attacking force for SKC since being drafted 23rd overall in the 2009 MLS SuperDraft, recording 15 goals and 29 assists in 115 regular-season appearances for Sporting, and another three assists in five playoff appearances.
He's also emerged as a regular for Jurgen Klinsmann and the U.S. national team, featuring prominently in the USMNT's 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign. He currently has 14 caps for the national team, and has scored one goal, pulling double duty over the last couple of weeks, playing for both club and country in the 2014 Gold Cup.
The two-time NCAA division 1 men’s soccer championship winner (2005, 2008) with the University of Maryland was recently voted to the 2013 All-Star team by the fans.
He also returned from an appearance at the ESPY Awards in July, where he was nominated for Best MLS Player, but left with no hardware as Thierry Henry took home the award.
Hopefully on Saturday, Zusi leaves Stade Saputo empty handed as well as the Impact hand SKC a loss and crawls closer to first place in the Eastern Conference Standings.
