Gyasi Zardes (born September 2, 1991) is an American professional soccer player. He currently plays for American club Columbus Crew SC of Major League Soccer as well as the United States national team.
Zardes began playing for the Galaxy youth system in 2008, before leaving the following year. He began playing college soccer for Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners in 2009, and played there for three years. In December 2012, he signed for the Galaxy senior team as a homegrown player. He was called up to the United States national team for the first time in 2015.
Video Gyasi Zardes
Early life
Zardes was born in Hawthorne, California to Linda and Glen Zardes.
Maps Gyasi Zardes
Club career
Early career
Zardes played in the U.S. Soccer Development Academy for the Galaxy Academy U-18's during the 2008-09 and 2009-10 DA seasons as well as with the Galaxy U-20s in the 2009 USL Super-20 campaign. After declaring himself a red shirt freshman at CSU Bakersfield, Zardes led the Galaxy U-20 team to the national championship in 2010.
After tallying five goals and a team-best seven assists in his first season of college soccer, Zardes burst onto the scene as a sophomore in 2011, scoring 18 times in 20 games while helping lead Bakersfield to a berth in the NCAA Division I Tournament for the first time in school history. His 18 goals that season were the fourth most in Division I college soccer that year and he was selected the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Player of the Year and a semifinalist for the MAC Hermann Trophy, which is awarded annually to the top player in college soccer.
In 2012, Zardes followed up his breakout season by scoring 15 goals and adding nine assists, each of which were team-highs, in 17 games, while helping the Roadrunners record a winning record for the fourth consecutive season. He had two or more goals in four of his 17 games, including seven goals in a two-game stretch in mid-October.
LA Galaxy
LA Galaxy signed Zardes as a Homegrown player on December 20, 2012. On April 15, 2013, Zardes made his debut as a substitute for LA Galaxy Reserves in a 1-1 draw with Seattle Sounders Reserves. On April 27, 2013, Zardes made his debut for the first-team as a substitute for the Galaxy in a 2-0 win over Real Salt Lake. On May 11, 2013, Zardes came on as a substitute in 67th min and scored his first goal for the Galaxy in a 3-1 loss against Vancouver Whitecaps. Zardes scored the only goal in a 1-0 victory over Chivas USA on June 23, 2013.
Zardes scored his first brace for the Galaxy against New England Revolution on July 16, 2014 in a 5-1 win. On September 5, 2014, Gyasi Zardes scored two goals in the Galaxy's 6-0 home win against Colorado Rapids. With his brace, Zardes made Major League Soccer history, passing Diego Fagúndez to become the highest scoring Homegrown player in a single season.
On December 7, 2014, Zardes became the first Homegrown Player to score in the MLS Cup final. Zardes scored in the 53rd minute after receiving a cross from Stefan Ishizaki. In extra time, captain, Robbie Keane scored as Galaxy triumphs the New England Revolution 2-1, making LA Galaxy the first team to win the trophy five times. Zardes was the sixth highest scorer of the season with sixteen goals, and just three behind Robbie Keane.
Columbus Crew SC
On January 20, 2018, Zardes signed for Columbus Crew SC in a swap deal that saw Ola Kamara head in the opposite direction.
International career
After a breakout 2014 season in which he scored 19 goals across all competitions, he received his first ever international call up to represent the U.S. in January 2015, for matches against Chile and Panama. Zardes made his international debut on January 28, 2015, when he came on as a substitute for Clint Dempsey in the 68th minute against Chile. On February 8, 2015, Zardes made his first start for USMNT in a friendly against Panama, where Zardes provided an assist to Dempsey in the second goal as the U.S. won 2-0.
On June 5, 2015, Zardes scored his first goal for the United States in a friendly against the Netherlands. Zardes was also added to the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup United States roster. In a Group Stage game against Haiti, Zardes provided the game-winning assist to Clint Dempsey one minute after coming on as a substitute at halftime. This would help the United States clinch Group A and would see them go through to the knockout stages. Only July 18. 2015, Zardes scored his first goal in international competitive play for the United States against Cuba in their 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup quarter-final match which ended in a 6-0 victory.
- As of match played June 16, 2016.
Personal life
In 2016, Zardes married his long-term girlfriend Madison Goodvin.
Career statistics
- As of May 9, 2018
International
- As of January 28, 2018.
Honors
Club
- LA Galaxy
- MLS Cup: 2014
- MLS All-Star: 2015
International
- CONCACAF Gold Cup: 2017
See also
- List of current Major League Soccer players with national team caps
- Homegrown Player Rule (Major League Soccer)
References
External links
- Gyasi Zardes at Major League Soccer
- CSU Bakersfield player profile
Source of article : Wikipedia
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