I had some of my boys over on Friday night to play some cards. It was shaping up to be a good night: Tons of beer, Crack chips, Little Caesar's pizza (they now have meat lovers as a Hot'n Ready option), Sounders game.
I was outside talking to T-Gasp about the deck that The Wife wants me to build when I heard some groans from inside. I figured it was either a Colorado goal or terrible Sounders miss. Sadly neither was correct. Regardless of whether you are a soccer fan or not, if you live in Seattle you know what happened. It was pictured on the front of the Seattle Times sports section: Steve Zakuani had his tibia and fibula broken on an amazingly clumsy and aggressive tackle. It was a gruesome injury- one that I wish I had not seen replay of.
This post is not to condemn Brian Mullan for his tackle. He has always struck me as a hard nosed but not dirty player (in fact, most of the post game interviews confirmed this) so I am prone to think that it was more 'clumsy' than it was intentional. Most Sounders fans are calling for a suspension of a minimum 10 games with a maximum suspension matching the length that Zakuani misses. They are well within their right to feel this way. I on the other hand know that Mullan won't get more than 5 games. I mean, the precedent has been set in both MLS and overseas: you will get banned for a few games, but the punishment never will match the crime. For the Sounders that sucks. For Mullan, it is not as simple as that. I am in no way siding with the guilty party, but it's not like Mullan is getting away easy - his 'legacy'(not that someone who his stature really will ever have a legacy, but I just can't think of another word) is tarnished. No longer will he be thought of as the hard-working Midfielder who won 2 MLS Cups with Houston. No, now he will forever be known as a leg-breaker; as a career killer. I am not suggesting that this is not warranted. I am not suggesting that it equals the pain that Zakuani will feel, but hopefully Zakuani will be back on the field, running at people. Mullan is done.
So what does this mean for the Sounders? My first instinct was to be contrarian and suggest that we still had a shot at winning the title. Losing Zakuani was a big blow, but finally the team that has appeared to be sleepwalking at times had something to play for. They could rally around their follow teammate and vow to bring home the title. Right when things started to go south, Steve could show up at training and give the team an emotional lift. I was all ready to say that.
And then it hit me. By typing that I would be undervaluing what Steve meant to this team. His loss is HUGE because there is no one else in the league like him. Sure, there are speedsters all over the place, but none of them had his skills. None of them made defenders crap their pants when he was running at them and they were backpeddling. For all the little things he didn't do (win headers, play defense), Zakuani was arguably one of the two most irreplaceable Sounders (Keller being the other). He simply added another element to this team and it will be sorely missed. His loss certainly helps clear up the midfield logjam a little - now we can have Friberg and Rosales on the field at the same time (or of course El Flaco if you believe he is out of Sigi's doghouse) - but we are one more injury away from being amazingly thin.
What might not be stated is the effect of Steve's injury on on Fredy Montero. Anyone who has watched this team knows that Fredy plays the best when he is the only option; when he feels like he is the man. Towards the end of last year, the case could be made that Zakuani was the Alpha-Dog on the team. I don't think it was a coincidence that Fredy finally got on the scoreboard once Zakuani was out of the game. I think that Fredy will play with more purpose and more confidence. That is a good thing...until of course he starts to play with too much confidence. Then things could go south and we wouldn't have Steve to pick things up.
I think the team is certainly going to take a step back. I know that they were playing the defending champs on the road. I know that had just witnessed their teammate suffer a horrific injury. I know that. I understand that. I just don't feel overly good about a 1-0 win in which we played a man up for 85 minutes. AND it was at altitude, meaning that we should have worn them down. I know they are used to playing a mile above sea level, but come on...not with 10 players. We should have been able to pick them apart after being up that long.
The bottom line is that his loss may have killed our chances at MLS Cup. The boys in rave green are still a quality team, but if they can't replace Steve, they will be sitting home again this October, wondering how they were eliminated so early in the playoffs.
I think I might have to disagree with you on a one thing, watching the game it was very intentional on Mullan's behalf to take out Stevie Z. I would agree that he didnt go in to break his leg but he definitely went in to take man, ball, anything as he was a little too fired up after not getting a call seconds earlier. I was sooooo mad listening to that tool Kyle Martino go on and on about how Mullan was a stand-up guy and not a dirty player, and then listen to Mullan himself after the game shite on about how he would make that tackle over and over again. What a douche. Just man up and say "I was reckless, nowhere near the ball and I regret the injury caused by me." and then maybe I wont think of you as a dirty scumbag. When Johnny Evans took out Holden last month (which was an actual attempt to win the ball but ended up badly hurting Holden), he at least apologized to Holden and also said it was a bad tackle and one he wasn't proud of. Mullan IS a dirty player for not swallowing his pride, looking at the replay and seeing what a mistake he made and owning up to it. Martino is a coward for not calling him out on FSC and just made Mullan out to be an unlucky party. I was a little pissed at Sigi too for being so non-descript about it "uhhh, Ive coached Mullan, he's an aggressive player", wtf? Make the players want to bust a gut for you by standing up and calling it out for what it was!
ReplyDeleteOf course, the general Sounder nation is over-reacting about suspensions et al. Simple matter is, these are the risks that you take when you play, Mullan will get around 6 games and a nice fine and thats pretty much all I would expect. He will also expect a very warm welcome at Qwest later on in the season :-)
As for Stevie Z and the worries about getting back from it, Luis Valencia (similar speedy winger) had this similar injury happen to him last September (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBWeLdIoLqc) and he was supposed to be out for over a year but is back already terrorizing defenses in the Premier League. Fingers crossed for his recovery because I definitely agree with you on that part, the Sounders look a little dodgey without him and I didn't like how we looked out of control of a game on a big field with a man advantage for 85 mins.
I was wondering if you had seen it. (You're on the other side of the pond right now, right?) I thought the call was terrible by both Martino (at least it wasn't Christopher Sullivan) and Dellacamra. One thing I didn't mention was Mullan's reaction to the call.
ReplyDeleteHe should have come out with a real apology and not the half-assed one that he did. Now maybe he was in denial, but at some point you need to man up and take responsibility. I try to think about how I would handle it and I like to think I would be aware enough to realize I messed up. I would like to think that I could admit it. But maybe he isn't at that point right now (I can't imagine what breaking someone's leg does to your psyche). Still, someone around him (say the PR department) needs to step up and tell him what to say. He missed a big opportunity. And now he is going to pay - the scene at Qwest on July 16th is going to be ridiculous (oh crap, I won't be at that game...). Good thing this isn't Philly or he might seriously need a security force
As for your link, I refuse to look if it is video of his foot breaking. If it is of him terrorizing opponents this year, then great.
No still stateside, we head out tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteMaybe its just me, but I think being in denial on something like that is a bit rich. He shouldn't need anyone to tell him what to say, it should be his conscience that tells him, yeah I screwed up, I need to be clear that its not really me, just a mistake. Instead, he goes all Charlie Sheen and states "Ive made that tackle a 100 times, and I'll probably do so again in the future". Well at least you're being up front about your intent to maim people I suppose. I think it will be interesting at Qwest if Ozzie Alonso or Leo Gonzalez decide to give him a SoDo handshake on a 50/50 ball. I hope not as I would like to think we are above that but after theyve seen the tape and seen what happened to Stevie, emotions Im sure will be a little higher than normal.
The video is of him breaking his leg (almost the exact same type of compound fracture as Zakuani) so pass on it if you will, important thing is that you can recover and be as strong as ever.