{"id":13907,"date":"2024-10-29T18:23:14","date_gmt":"2024-10-29T22:23:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/i-houston.com\/?p=13907"},"modified":"2024-10-29T18:31:17","modified_gmt":"2024-10-29T22:31:17","slug":"a-u-s-national-team-footballer-from-houston-who-played-for-liverpool-and-leicester","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/i-houston.com\/en\/eternal-a-u-s-national-team-footballer-from-houston-who-played-for-liverpool-and-leicester","title":{"rendered":"A U.S. National Team Footballer from Houston Who Played for Liverpool and Leicester"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Millions of children around the world, especially boys, dream of becoming great footballers while playing in their neighborhood fields. A fair share of them even buy jerseys emblazoned with the names of their idols, like Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane, David Beckham, and Andriy Shevchenko, in hopes of fueling their ambitions. Today on <a href=\"https:\/\/i-houston.com\/\">i-houston<\/a>, let\u2019s dive into the story of a player who hails from Houston but went on to defend the colors of English clubs Liverpool and Leicester. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_74 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a364bba32d65\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a364bba32d65\"  aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/i-houston.com\/en\/eternal-a-u-s-national-team-footballer-from-houston-who-played-for-liverpool-and-leicester\/#Zak_Whitbread\" >Zak Whitbread<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/i-houston.com\/en\/eternal-a-u-s-national-team-footballer-from-houston-who-played-for-liverpool-and-leicester\/#Early_Career\" >Early Career<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/i-houston.com\/en\/eternal-a-u-s-national-team-footballer-from-houston-who-played-for-liverpool-and-leicester\/#Professional_Career\" >Professional Career<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/i-houston.com\/en\/eternal-a-u-s-national-team-footballer-from-houston-who-played-for-liverpool-and-leicester\/#US_National_Team_Appearances\" >U.S. National Team Appearances<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Zak_Whitbread\"><\/span>Zak Whitbread<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Born January 10, 1984, in Houston, Texas, Zak Whitbread, a future defender, spent only a few years in Texas before moving overseas to England and Singapore. His father, Barry, was also a football coach, leading Singapore\u2019s national team in the 1990s, where young Zak attended school and college.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Early_Career\"><\/span>Early Career<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.i-houston.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/03\/17135915\/img_64039bfef0014.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Even as a child, Zak was a fan of Manchester United, but his father decided to enroll him in Liverpool\u2019s academy when Zak was just eight. After 11 years of training, Zak was on the verge of making the senior team in 2003, though initially, he played with the Reds\u2019 reserves. His debut came during Liverpool\u2019s 2003 tour in a match against Thailand, where he made his first appearance as a substitute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Zak officially played for Liverpool\u2019s main squad in the 2004-2005 Champions League qualifiers, marking the beginning of his professional journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Professional_Career\"><\/span>Professional Career<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.i-houston.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/03\/17135914\/img_64039c035481b.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Despite his initial success, Zak struggled to secure a permanent spot on Liverpool\u2019s starting lineup and was loaned to London club Millwall for more game time. Between 2005 and 2006, he played for Millwall, eventually signing a full contract and spending four years with the Lions, which proved productive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2010, the Houston native moved to Norwich, but injuries limited his playing time with the Canaries. In 2012, Zak joined Leicester City, then an ambitious team aiming for the English Championship title. Zak played for Leicester from 2012 to 2014, and although his contract ended before Leicester\u2019s victorious 2015-2016 season, he played a role in the club\u2019s rise. In his first match with the Foxes, against Burton Albion, Zak even managed to score a goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"US_National_Team_Appearances\"><\/span>U.S. National Team Appearances<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While his professional accomplishments primarily took place abroad, Zak also represented the U.S. at home, playing five matches with the U-20 national team and scoring one goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">No one can say for certain how Zak Whitbread\u2019s career would have unfolded if his father hadn\u2019t urged him to join Liverpool\u2019s academy. His journey, however, serves as a testament to destiny, and Houstonians can take pride in knowing they once shared the streets with such a talented athlete.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Millions of children around the world, especially boys, dream of becoming great footballers while playing in their neighborhood fields. A fair share of them even buy jerseys emblazoned with the names of their idols, like Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane, David Beckham, and Andriy Shevchenko, in hopes of fueling their ambitions. Today on i-houston, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":479,"featured_media":12367,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4820],"tags":[6318,6315,6310,6312,6311,6314,6313,6316,6319,6317],"moimportance":[32],"motype":[4825],"moformat":[88],"class_list":["post-13907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sporty","tag-american-football-in-uk","tag-footballer-from-houston","tag-houston-footballer","tag-international-football-careers","tag-leicester-city-player","tag-liverpool-footballer","tag-premier-league-usa-players","tag-us-national-footballer","tag-us-soccer-player-in-england","tag-us-soccer-team","moimportance-golovna-novyna","motype-eternal","moformat-copywriting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-houston.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-houston.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-houston.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-houston.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/479"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-houston.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13907"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/i-houston.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13907\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13912,"href":"https:\/\/i-houston.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13907\/revisions\/13912"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-houston.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-houston.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-houston.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-houston.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13907"},{"taxonomy":"moimportance","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-houston.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/moimportance?post=13907"},{"taxonomy":"motype","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-houston.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/motype?post=13907"},{"taxonomy":"moformat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-houston.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/moformat?post=13907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}