Steve Zakuani halts comeback attempt

Steve Zakuani will not be playing for the Seattle Sounders this year. The former No. 1 MLS SuperDraft pick announced on his Instagram account that he’s cutting short his comeback attempt, acknowledging that he just doesn’t think he can be ready for the start of the season.

Although Zakuani looked like he belonged with the group during the first week of training sessions, he also failed to get onto the field in either of the preseason games. The writing was probably on the wall at that point.

In a lengthy post, Zakuani expressed confidence that given enough time that he felt he could return to a MLS-quality level. But the 29-year-old also freely admitted that he’s not there now and that he’d feel guilty taking up a roster spot on either the first team or even S2.

“While I definitely saw that I still have quality and can play, I'm not sure how effective I could be right now,” Zakuani wrote. “Given several months, I think I could reach a really good level but I don't have the luxury of time, the season starts in March, not July. And because of that, I'm not willing to give up the life I enjoy now with broadcasting, running my foundation, and planning my annual charity game, to spend a few more months training and hoping everything goes well towards a comeback.”

Instead, Zakuani says he’ll return to the Sounders broadcast team and “continue to be an ambassador for this great organization.”

As great of a story as it would have been to see Zakuani suit up again, his logic isn’t hard to follow. The Sounders have a host of players in training camp who will be fighting for the final few roster spots and giving him a spot probably means taking minutes away from someone like Seyi Adekoya or Henry Wingo.

This also means that Sounders fans will be treated to one of the most astute analytical voices the broadcast team has ever had. Zakuani has proven himself a very promising on-air talent and hopefully this means he’ll have an even bigger role moving forward.