Sporting Kansas City midfielder Graham Zusi made his eighth appearance for the U.S. Men's National Team on Wednesday in their 2-1 loss at Honduras in FIFA World Cup qualifying. Out of the Blue takes a closer look at the cap By the Numbers...
23:
Minutes that Zusi played after entering for Jermaine Jones in the 67th minute as the third and final sub for the USMNT. It marked the fewest minutes logged by Zusi in his eight U.S. Men's National Team appearances to date and was the first United States loss in his eight appearances. The U.S. is now 6-1-1 with Zusi playing.
19
: Zusi wore the No. 19 uniform for the fourth time with the USMNT. All four of his World Cup qualifying appearances have come in the No. 19 kit. It is the fourth different number he has worn for the US, along with No. 7 (twice), No. 8 and No. 10.
6
: He became one of six KC players in team history to appear for the USMNT in the final round of FIFA World Cup qualifying and the first since 2005. The others: Preki (1997), Chris Klein (2001), Jimmy Conrad (2005), Josh Wolff (2005) and Kerry Zavagnin (2005).
3
: Fouls Zusi committed in Wednesday's match, tied for second most on the team behind only Jones. Together, they accounted for seven of 12 fouls committed by the U.S. in the match.
3
: Goals allowed with Zusi on the field for the U.S. Men's National Team in eight appearances. Oscar Boniek Garcia's game-winning goal in the 79th minute raised his goals against average to 0.56 in 485 minutes while on the field for the Yanks.
1
: Corner kick taken by Zusi on Wednesday. It came on the final play of the game and resulted in a header by Omar Gonzalez that went high of goal. Out of the United States' seven corners on Wednesday, Zusi's service was one of only two that directly resulted in a shot.
OPTA STATS
Zusi's touches were limited while the USMNT chased the equalizer late in the match, but the Opta data does show he successfully completed all four of his passes and his succesful cross (the last gasp corner) saw him finish tied for second most on the team on a day in which he was one of only three players to record a successful cross in the match.
