Youth and college Zakuani was born in
Kinshasa,
Zaire—now the
Democratic Republic of the Congo. When he was four, his father, Mao Zakuani, moved his family to
London, for both political and professional reasons, as a translator. The family switched homes often and lived with extended family for long periods. They eventually settled in a north London neighborhood with other African families, where Zakuani attended
White Hart Lane School. At the age of nine, Zakuani attracted interest from
West Ham United's youth program. He later tried out for
Queens Park Rangers's youth team, and joined the
Arsenal Academy in 1997. Zakuani became cocky and brash while not focusing on schoolwork before being released. His off-the-field issues culminated in serious injuries when he was involved in a crash on a stolen moped. Zakuani was unable to play for 18 months. After losing interest in soccer and renewing his scholastic efforts, he watched motivational speaker, and evangelist,
Myles Munroe with a teacher. This inspired Zakuani to renew his commitment to becoming a professional player and, although unsuccessful, he tried out for the senior teams of
Queens Park Rangers,
Wigan Athletic,
AZ Alkmaar, and
Real Valladolid. In his freshman season, he scored six goals with the
Zips and received a professional offer from
Preston North End. He was already committed to the university and declined the opportunity. He also became the second sophomore to be named ''
Soccer America's'' men's collegiate player of the year.
Professional Seattle Sounders FC Zakuani was selected by expansion side
Seattle Sounders FC as the number-one pick in the
2009 MLS SuperDraft on a
Generation Adidas program contract. He declined offers from two English clubs so he could sign with
Major League Soccer; the deal allowed him to set money aside for future college tuition. He started 24 of 30 regular season games in
2009 and played in the
Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup final, when the Sounders became the second MLS team to win the
tournament in their inaugural season. Zakuani provided a much-needed attacking presence from the wing; he was the third-best scorer with four goals throughout the regular season. The press considered him a candidate for
Rookie of the Year because he had the highest number of goals and assists of all new players. The award eventually went to
Omar Gonzalez. Although Zakuani was already known as a top young player, coach
Sigi Schmid wanted him to improve his on-field decision making and increase his fitness before the next year. Fans around the league voted the strike against Chivas as the Goal of the Week. Zakuani also won the award for his perfectly timed break past the defensive back line for a one-on-one situation with the goalkeeper while scoring a goal against
Toronto FC. He also recorded the fastest-scored goal in club history with a fourth-minute tally against
Columbus Crew, beating the previous record he had set the season before. Zakuani was again in the starting line-up for the
2010 U.S. Open Cup final, which Seattle won to become the first team since 1983 to repeat as Open Cup champions. On 7 November 2010, he scored the Sounders' first ever playoff goal in a 2–1 loss to the
Los Angeles Galaxy. He received his
green card after the season; this helped the team because MLS limits the number of international players available to each team and receiving permanent resident status exempted him from the cap. Zakuani scored two goals and had two assists in his first six appearances of the
2011 season. On 22 April 2011, a harsh challenge by
Brian Mullan led to Zakuani fracturing his
tibia and
fibula three minutes into a game against the Colorado Rapids. He was airlifted to hospital and underwent surgery the same day. During recovery, doctors feared that his leg would require amputation because of
compartment syndrome. Mullan initially defended the tackle, saying he would make the challenge again. He later apologized in the face of increasing scrutiny and received a 10-game suspension (matching the longest ban in MLS history to date) and a $5,000 fine. Nelson Rodriguez, an executive vice president of MLS, said in a statement that the disciplinary committee "felt the egregious nature" of Mullan's foul justified the punishment. 'Mullan's tackle is the type of play we need to eliminate from our game, and the level of discipline is consistent with our efforts to do so.' Zakuani missed the remainder of the season, and this injury marked the beginning of the end of his career as a starter in pro soccer. Zakuani's injury was one of several to key players throughout the league that year, leading to criticism that MLS play was aggressive to the point of "thuggery". On 7 July 2012, after 15 months away, Zakuani returned in a match against Mullan and the Rapids. His return as a substitute with five minutes left in the game met provoked emotional cheers from the fans. Having already publicly forgiven Mullan, the two hugged and exchanged shirts after the whistle. Within two months, he appeared to further his recovery with an assist against
FC Dallas and then scored a goal against
San Jose Earthquakes. He finished the
2012 season with one goal in 320 minutes over eight matches and went on to play in three playoff games before the team was eliminated. During the
2013 season, Zakuani made only nine appearances across all competitions before being sidelined with a
sports hernia. In that time, he recorded one assist in league play, and assisting in the game-winning goal against Mexico's
Tigres UANL in the
CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinals. He was later placed on injured reserve and twice underwent surgery on each side of his groin. Zakuani's contract was allowed to expire, effectively ending his five-year career with the Sounders, during which he started in 67 of 78 appearances in league play. At the time, he was the club's third-leading scorer with 17 goals. In January 2017,
The Seattle Times reported that Zakuani had been training with the team for some time, with coach
Brian Schmetzer describing his situation as "somewhere between a 'trial' and just pure training". A month later, he announced that he would not return to professional soccer and instead continue his broadcasting duties with the Sounders.
Portland Timbers On 12 December 2013, Zakuani was selected by
Portland Timbers as the number two pick in the
MLS Re-Entry Draft; a yearly draft that allows teams to select players who are out-of-contract or have had their options declined by their current teams. The Timbers traded up for the opportunity. Zakuani was reunited with
Caleb Porter, his former Akron coach, who had become the Portland manager. His pay was cut by $60,000 to $120,000 a year. Zakuani was expected to receive additional minutes immediately because first-choice winger Rodney Wallace was recovering from injury. Zakuani appeared in the Timbers' opening match of
2014 against
Philadelphia Union as a substitute in the 85th minute. The Sounders and Timbers are
fierce rivals; when the teams met in the
2014 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. Zakuani assisted former college team-mate
Darlington Nagbe in the Timbers' only goal during the 3–1 loss to his previous club. Zakuani scored his first goal for Timbers on 19 August 2014, scoring the opening goal in a 4–1 win over
Alpha United in the
2014–15 CONCACAF Champions League. After the match, Porter spoke to the media about the need to bench Zakuani because of his persistent muscle strains. He retired at the relatively early age of 26; his retirement after his initial promise led
Sports Illustrated to describe his career as a "roller coaster". but considered his chances of playing for England "a long shot". Later in his career, he expressed interest in playing for the United States, saying, "of the three, I prefer the States as this is where I made my name as a player". In 2010, Zakuani accepted a call up from Congo for a friendly match against
Mali. In a press release, Zakuani called it the highest honor of his young career. It was a challenging decision for him but the wait to become eligible to play for the United States was too long. The game was played in Dieppe, France, in November 2010. Zakuani started the match and came off at half-time with Congo in the lead. Mali rallied in the second half, beating Congo in a 3–1 loss. ==Playing style==