As US Soccer prepares for a new cycle to prepare for a World Cup, one name continues to pass along my consciousness in regards to potential contributors - Freddy Adu.
A standout at the youth international level- Under-17, Under-20, and Under-23 - perhaps this cycle is when Freddy comes of age in our full US National team.
Mike Woitalla of Soccer America wrote recently about what went wrong with the development of Freddy Adu.
A couple of years before YouTube, when watching a video on one's computer was a new experience, a highlight clip of Freddy Adu hit the Internet and presented a fuzzy image of what looked like a little Pele in a U.S. youth national team jersey delightfully tricking his way past opponents and scoring goals.
Fast-forward eight years: the player who became a millionaire at age 13 has left us wondering what went wrong. Adu turned 21 this summer and recently had an unsuccessful trial with FC Sion, a Swiss club that averages smaller crowds than MLS teams.
Those early images of Adu’s brilliant skills had American fans hopeful that he would become a true U.S. soccer superstar. Certainly MLS embraced the notion, making him the league’s highest-paid player when he signed in 2004 at age 14. MLS -- then with only 10 teams -- hyped up Adu when it desperately needed attention and the boy was a media hit, appearing in commercials (with Pele, no less), on MTV, on the “Late Show With David Letterman.”
His MLS colleagues bitterly resented the fame and fortune the boy had achieved before proving himself on the field. And although Freddymania drew crowds for a while, Adu's play would fall well short of expectations. In 98 games, he scored 12 goals and made 19 assists in three and a half MLS seasons. He played a small role in D.C. United’s 2004 title win. He moved to Real Salt Lake in 2007 but left halfway through the season for Portugal’s Benfica, which paid MLS a $2 million transfer fee.
Adu played 11 games for Benfica, which then loaned him out to Monaco (9 games), Belenenses (3) and Aris (9). Adu scored three league goals in those three years. He's still under contract with Benfica, but not wanted there. The good fortune that smiled upon Adu for so long has faded.
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