General

Freddy Adu, Global Superstar, Is Over

Dec 30, 2009, 9:15 PM UTC

â†µRemember when Freddy Adu was like 10 years old and in Sierra Mistâ†µcommercials with Pele? Yeah ... there are molecules in Pele's jock thatâ†µAdu finds slippery these days. After an erratic tenure in MLS that hadâ†µmany -- read: your author -- harboring a grudge against DC United coach Peter Novakâ†µfor refusing to let his butterfly run free to spray assists all over theâ†µfield, Adu transferred to Benfica, the Yankees of Portuguese soccer.â†µTheir interest seemed to confirm the massive hype that had been swirlingâ†µaround Adu since he was in middle school. â†µ

â†µâ†µThen, as is the way of seemingly all Americans who head to Europeâ†µexcept for freakin’ Giuseppe Rossi -- who plays for Italy despite beingâ†µborn and raised in New Jersey -- he sat on the bench, and sat on the bench,â†µand got loaned out. Last year he was at Monaco, which is a respectableâ†µclub in the French first division. He didn’t play much, though, seeingâ†µonly nine appearances. â†µ

â†µâ†µThis year, Adu was loaned out to a smaller Portuguese club. How isâ†µthat working out? They just cut him: â†µ

â†µâ†µâ‡¥The Portuguese sports daily Record reports that the 20-year-oldâ†µâ‡¥American is headed back to Benfica, the club that twice sent him off onâ†µâ‡¥loan. The move comes after new Belenenses coach Toni has decided to getâ†µâ‡¥rid of Adu and Brazilian Igor (sent back to Sevilla) to reduce the sizeâ†µâ‡¥of his roster.â†µâ†µâ†µAdu, for his part, says “dont worry” on his Twitter account. â†µ

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â†µUnfortunately, it's time to worry if you care at all about Adu andâ†µthe US National Team. Adu made three appearances for the last-place teamâ†µin the 10th-best European domestic league and was then cut as deadâ†µweight. The promise everyone talks about and that he would occasionallyâ†µdisplay when matched against opponents his own age ...
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â†µâ†µ... has gone from evaporating to just plain evaporated. No one’s evenâ†µcomplaining about his exclusion from the USMNT any more. â†µ

â†µâ†µIt’s not over-over for Adu and the USMNT. Remarkably, Adu isâ†µstill just 20 years old and could be in college instead of searching forâ†µhis sixth professional club. At the 2014 World Cup, he’ll be 25 and inâ†µ2018 a mere 29, so there is plenty of time for the guy to developâ†µwhatever je ne sais quoi he lacks right now. â†µ

â†µâ†µBut global superstars don’t struggle to find playing time on badâ†µteams in Portugal at 20. In soccer, the sort of searing talents that makeâ†µup the world’s best players seem born, not made, and if you’re not aâ†µserious player by the time you exit your teens you aren’t going to takeâ†µthe world by storm. Freddy Adu may have a long and productive career, butâ†µhe’ll never be the thing everyone said he would be.â†µ

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This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.

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