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As Sporting Kansas City easily defeated the Red Bulls on Wednesday night to pad their lead in the Eastern Conference, it also reaffirmed that Graham Zusi is indeed one of the league’s best players.

Zusi, 26, is enjoying a breakout season for Kansas City in 2012 and is a major reason the club will be in contention for both the M.L.S Cup and the Supporter’s Shield, which is awarded to the team with the most points in the regular season.

In fact after winning the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup in August, it is possible that Kansas City could walk away with all of the league’s hardware in 2012.

“We’ve been a team who has been consistently on top of the Eastern Conference throughout most of the season,” Zusi said. “I think that consistency is something you can take into the playoffs. Going into these final weeks of the regular season, we’re going to make a push for the Supporters Shield.”

Wednesday’s matchup against the Red Bulls received a lot of attention with first place on the line. Despite New York and its high profile stars, Kansas City cruised to a 2-0 win and Zusi was clearly the man of the match after playing a part in both goals.

Zusi has scored only three times this season, but it is his playmaking and possession-oriented game that have been such key components to Kansas City’s success.

In Kansas City’s system, head coach Peter Vermes gives Zusi a lot of freedom. He is naturally a central midfielder but his role is very fluid and he is allowed to move in and out of different positions.

“I find myself in multiple positions throughout the game,” Zusi said. “It’s more like a roaming position. I can go from the right to the left and to the middle. I am starting to get use to playing wide on the right side.”

Zusi’s standout play this year at Kansas City has also coincided with his increased role with the United States national team. In January he received his first callup from Coach Jurgen Klinsmann for a pair of friendlies.

Despite the fact most top American players did not attend the January camp, Zusi was among the best players and even scored the only goal in a 1-0 win over Panama.

Klinsmann was impressed enough to call Zusi back for an important camp in May before the start of World Cup qualifying. While Zusi did not play in those games he trained well and subsequently played in the U.S team’s win over Mexico in August.

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Zusi gradually earned his coach’s confidence and after a loss to Jamaica in a World Cup qualifier earlier this month, Klinsmann named Zusi to the starting lineup for a crucial qualifier against the same Jamaican team just four days later.

The Orlando-native rewarded his coach’s faith and put on a very strong performance in what ended up being a 1-0 win that perhaps saved his team’s qualifying campaign.

“It was the most important game for me,” Zusi recalled. “I think if you don’t have a little bit of nervous energy there is probably something wrong with you. I was more excited than anything. I took it and it propelled me.”

Klinsmann was quick to praise him afterward and said he can help the team moving forward.

“We’ve kind of developed him over the last eight-nine months,” Klinsmann said. “He has certain strengths that we need. We needed players that shoot from long range. We needed players that take people on and he’s able to do that. We saw him in the last couple of camps growing in his role. He became more mature, more confident.”

What was perhaps most noteworthy about Zusi in the win over Jamaica is that he was the only player in the starting lineup currently playing in M.L.S. On a team with players mostly from top European Leagues, Zusi’s performance stood out.

Zusi admits to being proud of his international accomplishments as an M.L.S player but he believes that the strength of a player’s league can be overstated when determining his status under Klinsmann.

“There are plenty of M.L.S players who have been on the national team and who have done well,” Zusi said. “Some of our best players have come from the league. I don’t think it’s a matter of where you’re playing as long as you’re playing well.”

While it is true that many of the best players on the U.S team, such as Clint Dempsey, Tim Howard, and Michael Bradley, began their careers in M.L.S, the fact is that most of these players quickly left the league after earning starting spots on the national team.

Over the past decade the number of M.L.S players on the national team has dwindled and Zusi is aware that the decision of moving abroad could be in his future as well.

“I’d absolutely be open to moving overseas,” Zusi said. “You’re obviously trying to play at the highest level possible. Whether that is domestic or foreign, you have to continue to strive to get the highest level of training and games you possibly can. If that takes me overseas, then that’s where I’ll go.”

For now, Zusi is happy with the progress he has made in 2012 where he has taken his game to another level. While he is hesitant to think too far into the future, the World Cup is less than two years away and that will be a motivating force in the months and years ahead.

“That has been my aspiration and goal my entire life,” Zusi said of the World Cup. “The fact that it is a possibility just blows my mind. All I can control is my play right now. Since I’ve been involved with the national team since January, my main goal was always just to improve on every performance. I think I’ve been able to do that.”

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