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Sporting KC: Top 10 Players of the Decade

By Nathan Dunn

Sporting KC's Graham Zusi and Matt Besler, right, celebrate with the MLS Cup after defeating Real Salt Lake in the MLS Cup Final at Sporting Park in Kansas City, Kan., Saturday, Dec. 7, 2013. Kansas City won on penalty kicks. (John Sleezer/Kansas City Star/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Sporting KC's Graham Zusi and Matt Besler, right, celebrate with the MLS Cup after defeating Real Salt Lake in the MLS Cup Final at Sporting Park in Kansas City, Kan., Saturday, Dec. 7, 2013. Kansas City won on penalty kicks. (John Sleezer/Kansas City Star/Tribune News Service via Getty Images) /
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LOS ANGELES, CA – MARCH 3: Graham Zusi #8 of Sporting Kansas City battles Diego Rossi #9 of Los Angeles FC during Los Angeles FC’s MLS match against Sporting Kansas City at the Banc of California Stadium on March 3, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. Los Angeles FC won the match 2-1 (Photo by Shaun Clark/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA – MARCH 3: Graham Zusi #8 of Sporting Kansas City battles Diego Rossi #9 of Los Angeles FC during Los Angeles FC’s MLS match against Sporting Kansas City at the Banc of California Stadium on March 3, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. Los Angeles FC won the match 2-1 (Photo by Shaun Clark/Getty Images) /

3. Graham Zusi

Drafted by Peter Vermes with the 23rd overall pick in the 2009 MLS SuperDraft out of the University of Maryland, where he won the NCAA national championship in 2005 and 2008, it is safe to say that Sporting KC got a great deal with Graham Zusi.

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The Longwood, Florida native was named to the MLS Best XI team in 2012 and 2013, MLS All-Star team from 2012 to 2015 and 2017 to 2019, and was named the MLS Breakout Player of the Year in 2011.

Another American international, Zusi has always been a calm head on the field who has provided the organization with some great goals. After spending the majority of his career on the wing, Zusi was turned into a right-back ahead of the 2017 season. After a stellar 2018 campaign in that position, it all went wrong, as it did for many, in 2019.

Zusi ranks second in the club’s all-time games played with 279, collecting 21,851 minutes. He is tied with Vitalis Takawira in tenth with 28 goals, but ranks second with 65 assists. Zusi has been apart of all four championship-winning teams that SKC has had, although he has just scored one goal of the three penalty shootouts in cup finals. Playing in two different positions at a high level, he is now considered one of the greatest SuperDraft picks of all time.

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