Staying postive

TUKWILA — Steve Zakuani’s recovery has had its ups and downs, it’s moments of despair and enough small victories to keep the Sounders FC midfielder optimistic.

Talking with reporters for the first time since breaking his tibia and fibula on April 22, Zakuani said he is confident that better days are ahead of him.

“Those times are behind me,” Zakuani said of the negativity he has felt at times. “Right now my mindset is good. My outlook is good. I’m feeling good and I’m making progress every day.”

The most visible sign of that progress was Zakuani slowly walking away from the practice field without the aid of the one crutch he had with him. Zakuani is currently able to ride a stationary bike, and can jog on a modified treadmill that reduces the impact on his injured leg, and he hopes to be doing light jogging by the end of July. As for when Zakuani might return, he isn’t going to make predictions.

One of the first things Zakuani told his doctors was: “Don’t tell me it’s going to be six months or eight months, I don’t want to hear that. Because if they told me six months and then after seven months I wasn’t back, I’d become depressed. I just wanted to work on my own timeline and I’ll be back and when I’m back. I’ve set no kind of timeline. … I’m not ruling anything out. I don’t know what’s going to happen. I’m just going to do my best to get back as soon as I can, and whenever that is, I’ll be happy.”

Zakuani said in addition to the broken leg, he for a while lost feeling in his foot, and still has only about 75 percent sensation.

“The main problem is in my foot really,” he said. “The fracture site hasn’t really been any issues. We had some nerve problems in the foot, so that’s been the main issue. That’s where I’ve had the most pain, loss of feeling, loss of sensation, so as that comes back in my toes, those are the main issues I’m dealing with, because I depend on my foot a lot for my job.”

Zakuani credits the outpouring of support from fans as a big help in his recovery, and said an email from David Beckham was particularly helpful, as was the encouragement he has received from Seahawks receiver Deon Butler, who is about four months ahead in rehabbing a very similar injury.

The injury was particularly frustrating for Zakuani because, prior to the injury, he was playing so well. After a promising rookie season, and a 10-goal year in 2010, Zakuani was turning into one of the league’s best offensive players in his third year.

But despite suffering a potentially season-ending injury when things were going so well, Zakuani bears no ill will toward Colorado’s Brian Mullan, the player whose reckless tackle caused the injury. Zakuani said Mullan, who was suspended 10 games by the league, has reached out to him, but that the timing has not yet worked out for them to talk. Whether he talks to Mullan or not and gets an apology, Zakuani won’t hold a grudge.

“I have no problem with Brian Mullan,” he said. “It was a bad tackle. I’m sure it’s something he’d love to take back. I’d love him to take it back too. But he did it. The second it happened you accept it and you move on.

“There was never any bitterness. All my energy was on getter better. The second that it happened on the field already I was already planning my recovery. … That was all my focus, and my focus was on making sure my family was OK and that I was OK, and it wasn’t on having any kind of hatred or bitterness toward Brian Mullan. That’s too much of a burden to carry.”

Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com.