American soccer veteran Gyasi Zardes is calling it a career. After a playing career spanning nearly 15 years, Zardes announced his retirement from soccer on Monday.
The forward most recently played for Austin FC during the 2024 MLS campaign. He made 10 starts during that campaign, scoring three goals while recording two assists as Austin missed the MLS Cup Playoffs by five points.
His MLS career spanned four clubs: the LA Galaxy, Columbus Crew, Colorado Rapids, and Austin FC. Zardes won two MLS Cup titles, one with the Galaxy and the other in Columbus, where he also won the Campeones Cup in 2021. At the MLS level, Zardes scored 111 goals through 343 total appearances.
Zardes' USMNT career
At the international level, Zardes made 68 USMNT appearances from 2015 to 2022, scoring 14 goals over that span. Of those 14 goals, the most notable came off his face in a Gold Cup game against Guyana.
Did I mention that he scored off his face a second time?
Let me scroll back up real quickly ...
Back to the USMNT.
Zardes' appearances for the USMNT saw him take part in four editions of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, two cycles worth of World Cup qualifying, and one Copa América. Zardes was also involved in the USMNT's inaugural CONCACAF Nations League campaign.
Zardes won the CONCACAF Gold Cup with the USMNT twice, doing so in 2017 and 2021. The USMNT was eliminated in the semifinal round of the 2015 tournament; they then lost to Panama in the third-place match by way of a penalty shootout. The USMNT made it to the final of the 2019 edition of the Gold Cup, though they lost 1-0 to Mexico in the championship contest.
While Zardes was part of the USMNT lineup that failed to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, a campaign that ended a seven-tournament streak of qualification for football's biggest stage, he also made appearances for the USMNT as they qualified for the 2022 World Cup.
Zardes started all six games for the USMNT during their campaign at the Copa América Centenario. He scored one goal at that tournament; that goal came in the USMNT's quarterfinal contest against Ecuador. The USMNT ultimately bowed out in the semifinal round against Argentina; they would go on to finish fourth as a result of a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Colombia in the third-place match.
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