Benefit of Doubt in Adu’s Corner
If Freddy Adu has learned one thing in his young life, it’s just how fawning the sporting media can be.
Tough questions? Forget it.
Consider, for example, this one asked earlier this week:
“Hi, Freddy. Congratulations on your bold choice to accelerate through high school and go pro at 14. I’m excited to see you soar. My question is twofold: Why a career now at 14 and why not wait until, say, 17 or 18? And also, if you were a speaker at a career day at an elementary school in Los Angeles, what kind of advice would you offer?”
A million-dollar endorsement contract from Nike, another hefty but undisclosed contract from Pepsi and a $500,000-a-year contract from Major League Soccer make up the obvious answer to the first question.
But Freddy has been well coached and he gave the safe, predictable answer, talking about wanting to “go to the next level and challenge myself.”
As for advice to kids, Adu is still a kid himself.
Listen to another soft question and to Adu’s answer:
“Freddy, I’m curious to know how you are like every other 14-year-old?”
“I do the same stuff,” he said. “I hang out with friends. I try speaking with girls, like any other kid. I play a lot of video games and talk trash back and forth. I don’t know. Just normal stuff.”
Not many 14-year-olds, though, would consider filming a television commercial with Pele, being profiled on “60 Minutes,” swapping e-mail with Olympic gold medal-winning sprinter Michael Johnson or being a guest of David Letterman normal stuff.
Perhaps it’s because of Adu’s age that reporters have gone easy on him. Perhaps it’s because he has yet to actually achieve anything on the soccer field that they focus on what MLS Commissioner Don Garber calls “lifestyle” questions rather than pointed soccer questions.
But in the backs of many minds, one significant unasked question stirs restlessly: Is Freddy Adu the real thing or is he a marketing creation?
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Adu learned how to control a soccer ball in the seaport city of Tema, Ghana.
“In Ghana, we used to play on the street every day, these six-versus-six games with older kids,” Adu told England’s Sunday Times.
“That’s what made me what I am, because those games were where all the kids used to do their moves and learn the individual side of the sport.”
When Freddy was 8, his family moved to Maryland and the concepts of teamwork and organization were grafted to the individual flair he had picked up in Africa.
It made for a telling combination, one that led the Sunday Times to label its story, “Bigger Than Pele?”
By last year, Adu had advanced far enough to play for the U.S. in the FIFA World Under-17 Championship in Finland and, after that, with the U.S. under-20 national team at the FIFA World Youth Championships in the United Arab Emirates.
Thomas Rongen, coach of the under-20s, said Adu exhibited “a natural feel for the game” and Adu more than held his own in both competitions.
But he was not outstanding enough to be called up to the U.S. under-23 national team that tried -- and failed -- to qualify for the Athens Olympics.
And he still is a long way from being called up to the U.S. national team. Still ...
“A blind man on a galloping horse can see his talent,” Ray Hudson, the former D.C. United coach, told England’s Guardian newspaper.
Watched by European teams since he was 10, Adu would have headed back across the Atlantic had MLS not signed him and made him the league’s youngest and highest-paid player.
A week ago, when he made his debut for D.C. United, he became the youngest athlete to play an American professional team sport since another 14-year-old named Fred -- Fred Chapman -- played baseball for Philadelphia in the American Assn. in 1887.
Almost inevitably, comparisons have been made between Adu and LeBron James, the NBA rookie star who was playing in high school last season.
“We’re in the same situation except I’m not making $90 million,” Adu joked earlier this year, then offered another insight.
“Some people thought he wouldn’t be able to do a lot of things, but he came in and proved them wrong. In a way, [James’ success] does add to my confidence, which is great, but we’re in two completely different sports and in my sport, it’s a bit more grueling, to be honest.”
Grueling and also physical, which could pose a problem for Adu at 5 feet 7 and 140 pounds.
At the MLS draft, he was asked whether opposing players would single him out and use sheer force to throw him off his game.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if they did,” he replied. “They’re supposed to, that’s just part of the game. Yeah, I feel like I might have a big X on my back.”
He also has a plan for dealing with it.
“I’ll use my quickness,” he said. “I’m not here to try to body up with anyone. If I’m not there, they can’t hit me.”
Peter Nowak, D.C. United’s coach, used Adu for only the final half-hour of his team’s season-opening victory over the defending champion San Jose Earthquakes.
Nowak said he intended to develop Adu slowly.
“Media and fans think he’s going to come on and perform miracles,” Nowak said. “Professional sports don’t work this way. Freddy understands this.
“I’m sure the season is going to be long enough for him to show his strengths and show the people and the world that he’s a very special young man.”
D.C. United plays the Galaxy at the Home Depot Center tonight, and Galaxy Coach Sigi Schmid expects Adu to play -- not based on marketing considerations, but on ability.
“Freddy is obviously a very talented player,” Schmid said. “I think it’s very realistic to expect Freddy to play in a vast majority of their games and to be a player who finds a way to impact games because he’s got great individual skills and talent and pace.
“He’s the kind of guy who, even if he comes off the bench with 30 minutes to go, can have a big impact.”
That was not the case last Saturday. Adu did nothing wrong but neither did he dazzle anyone.
“It was my first game,” Adu said. “Everyone was chanting my name and everyone wanted me to get out there and perform miracles. But it’s not like that. It’s a man’s game. It’s a professional’s game. You can’t just go in and start taking over games like that this early....
“When I got out there on the field, everything was much faster than it looked like from the bench....
“But this was the first game. I’m not worried. As time goes by, I’m going to learn and just get more comfortable.”
It seems inevitable that Adu one day will wind up playing in Europe, but for now, his intent is to help MLS grow.
“I would love it if soccer was a very big sport in America and people knew who players were, like they know some of the NFL and NBA players,” he said. “That would be awesome.
“But it’s not like that yet and it’s up to us players to make it that way and help this league out any way we can.”
Meanwhile, the impression overseas is that Adu, at the moment, is more hype than hope. As the Sunday Times put it, “The millionaire aged 14 is being used to sell the game to the masses.”
Not so, said Garber, the MLS commissioner.
“He is not our savior,” Garber said, “because soccer does not need to be saved.”
But it needs something, as Garber suggested at the draft.
“If we looked in the long term, we do believe that Freddy will break through much of the clutter, if you will, that exists in sports today and gives us some of the pop culture appeal that the league has not been able to achieve in eight or nine years,” he said.
“We’ve never had the kind of attention in the non-sports press that we’ve had since Freddy signed with the league.”
Doug Hamilton, the Galaxy’s president and general manager, said Adu’s potential was the selling point.
“What we’re marketing is his ability,” Hamilton said. “We’re not selling anything other than somebody who has shown glimpses of being very special.”
Tonight, Los Angeles fans can judge for themselves.
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The Adu File
* Name: Freddy Adu
* Club: D.C. United
* Position: Forward
* Height: 5-8
* Weight: 140
* Born: June 2, 1989 in Tema, Ghana.
* Drafted: No. 1 selection in the 2004 MLS draft.
* Professional debut: April 3, 2004, as a substitute in D.C. United’s 2-1 victory over San Jose.
* National team experience: Joined the U.S. under-17 residency program in 2002, finishing second on the team that year with 22 goals as a 13-year-old.... Starred in the Under-17 World Championship in 2003, getting a hat trick to lead the U.S. to a 6-1 victory over South Korea, then scoring the winning goal in the 89th minute of a 2-1 decision over Sierra Leone.... Led the under-17 team in goals with 23 in 2003, including three against Poland in a tournament in France.... Called up to the U.S. under-20 team in November when an injury opened a roster spot before the FIFA World Youth Championship in the United Arab Emirates. Started four games in helping the U.S. to fifth place, and assisted on the lone U.S. goal in a 2-1 quarterfinal loss to Argentina.
* Personal: Has a younger brother, Fro, who also plays soccer.... Moved from Ghana to the U.S. when he was 8. Now lives in Bethesda, Md., with his mother, Emelia.
