In front of a typically vocal northwest
crowd on Saturday, Steve
Zakuani made a touching return to MLS. He appeared as an
eighty-sixth minute substitution and impressed: the first pick in the
2009 draft looked his usual energetic self. Zakuani had missed the
past fourteen months after sustaining multiple fractures to his right
leg, courtesy
a reckless tackle by the Colorado Rapids' Brian Mullen.
His return wasn't special because he
further increases depth in a formidable front line, nor because the
occasion snapped
the team out of a nine-match winless streak. His return was
special because when the final whistle shrilled, Zakuani and Mullen
searched
each other out and hugged, exchanging jerseys in one of the most
touching moments in MLS history.
Century Link Field achieved a small
claim to fame in 2011 when
the crowd set off seismographs during an NFL playoff game. On
Saturday, reverberations were felt around the league as first
Seattle, then the league offered Zakuani a warm welcome.
Sportsmen are often expected to display
a stoic aggression that touches on bluster. Occasionally, decency is
lain at the altars of gamesmanship and achievement. However, often
the most powerful gestures on sports arenas aren't dripping with
machismo but those where a player takes the opportunity to do the
right thing. On Saturday, MLS was fortunate to see one of those moments.
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