Zak Whitbread

Football player infobox
playername = Zak Whitbread


fullname = Zak Benjamin Whitbread
height = height|m=1.88
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1984|3|4|df=y
cityofbirth = Houston, TX
countryofbirth = U.S.
currentclub = Millwall
clubnumber = 6
position = Defender
youthyears = 1992–2003
youthclubs = Liverpool
years = 2003–2006 2005–2006
2006–
clubs = Liverpool → Millwall (loan)
Millwall
caps(goals) = 00 (0) 25 (0)
37 (3)
nationalyears =
nationalteam =
nationalcaps(goals) =
pcupdate = 1 June 2008
ntupdate =

Zak Benjamin Whitbread (born March 4, 1984 in Houston, Texas, U.S.) is an American Association football defender. He plays in England for League One side Millwall.

Football career

Although born in the United States, Whitbread has spent most of his life in England and Singapore. He has lived in Liverpool for the majority of his life, except for the five years he spent in Singapore when his father, Barry Whitbread, was the coach of the Singapore national football team during the late 1990s. (Under his guidance the team won the Tiger Cup in 1998.) In Singapore, Whitbread attended the United World College of South East Asia.

While growing up on Merseyside, Whitbread was a fan of Manchester United, but because Liverpool was his father's team of choice, he joined the club's Centre of Excellence at the age of age eight, and eventually worked his way through the Academy from under 15s through under 19s before joining the reserves in 2003.

His first match in the Liverpool jersey took place in 2003 in an exhibition match against Thailand during the club's Far East Tour. He came on to the pitch after the start of the second half. It wasn't too long after his trip to Asia with the first team when he first played for the U.S. National Team

This opportunity came in August when he traveled to Spain to join the under 20s at the L'Alcudia International Tournament, where he started three of the five matches Thomas Rongen's squad played. Owing to his solid performance he was named in Rongen's side for the 2003 World Youth Championships in December. He started every match and scored his first goal for the U.S. to help the squad reach the Quarter Finals.

His play led to his inclusion with the mostly Major League Soccer based side that unsuccessfully tried to qualify the U.S. for the Athens Games this summer. Unfortunately, he was only able to play in one match for Glenn Myernick due to an injury he suffered during training.

He played for the United States under 20s team in the 2003 World Youth Championship, and has since been promoted to the under 23 squad. Whitbread made his first team debut in the 2004-05 season, and played a number of games alongside Sami Hyypiä in Liverpool's 2005-06 Champions League qualification campaign. He spent much of the 05/06 season on loan at Millwall, and moved on a permanent deal in June 2006. He has recently been rumored with a move to Everton and Blackburn.

External links

*soccerbase|id=35631|name=Zak Whitbread
* [http://www.premierleague.com/fapl.rac?command=forwardOnly&nextPage=enPlayerProfile&playerId=278317 Profile at premierleague.com]
* [http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/team/past_players/players/whitbread/ Liverpool FC profile]
* [http://www.lfchistory.net/player_profile.asp?player_id=905 LFCHistory.net profile]