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From: Mike on 12 May 2010 14:02
http://m.si.com/news/archive/archive/detail/2552885/full;jsessionid=C33CD277641DAD0A38D32D70982AF079.cnnsi1b

Adu still struggling to establish himself as a starter in Europe

By Grant Wahl

This story appeared in the April 19, 2010, of Sports Illustrated.

Stray dogs. Freddy Adu sees them everywhere in Thessaloníki.
Scavenging trash in the vacant lot by his practice field. Wandering in
packs outside the hotel he called home for two months. Shadowing
pedestrians with enough menace to spark visions of giant-needled
rabies shots. Greece's second-largest city is beautiful in many
respects: the seaside beaches, the bustling restaurants, the sigh-
inducing women. But no matter how hard Adu tries, he can't avoid the
stray dogs.

They are a constant backdrop to Adu's own fight for survival in the
Darwinian world of European soccer. Six years after making his
professional debut at age 14 with MLS's D.C. United, Adu is still
trying to find consistent playing time with the Greek club Aris, his
fourth European team in three years. He lives a dual existence. To
mainstream U.S. sports fans he remains one of this country's best-
known soccer players. Adu has nearly 350,000 Twitter followers (more
than any other soccer star in the world except Brazil's Kaka). He has
sat on David Letterman's couch, been the subject of a 60 Minutes
profile and gotten a shout-out in a Jay-Z lyric.

Yet barring a major surprise, Adu, now 20, will not be on the U.S.'s
23-man World Cup roster in South Africa. With unproductive stops in
Portugal and France before Greece, he has strayed from the path that
he and so many others had envisioned when he signed a $1 million Nike
deal in 2003 and became the highest-paid player in MLS before he had
ever kicked a ball in the league. As a rookie Adu appeared with Pele
in a national ad campaign for Sierra Mist and had a sponsorship deal
with Campbell's Soup. In '03 former MLS deputy commissioner Ivan
Gazidis (who now runs England's Arsenal) called Adu "probably the best
young player in the world."

There are so many questions. What happened? Why has Adu shown promise
in major competitions at the youth level but failed to establish
himself professionally in Europe? Does he have a future with the
national team? And how many more opportunities will Adu get overseas?
"I believe in him. That's why we signed him," says Antonio Calzado,
Aris's international general manager. "But is this the last chance for
Freddy to get to the top? Probably it is."

Yet if this sounds like a sad story, then why does U.S. goalkeeper Tim
Howard maintain that Adu "has skills with the ball that not many -- if
any -- American players possess"? And why is Adu so upbeat? "I'm only
20," he says, flashing his magnetic smile. "People panic sometimes
when things don't go right. I don't. I've still got a long way to go,
but I'm on the right track now. I'm finally, finally on the right
track."

***

Game time in Thessaloníki. It's a glorious spring night, perfect
weather for the crosstown rivalry between Aris and PAOK, and Aris's
Super 3 fan club is leaving nothing to chance. As the players march
onto the field, the hard-cores in the east stands ignite a fireworks
display that makes it look as though the entire section has been
napalmed. Nothing in the U.S. -- or in the rest of Europe, for that
matter -- is quite like it. "It's crazy here, man," says Adu. No
kidding. Since Adu and fellow American Eddie Johnson joined Aris in
January, they've been sprayed by shards of glass after opposing fans
shattered the roof over their bench, and scurried for cover in the
players' tunnel during a battle royal between bottle-throwing
supporters.

Aris, in fifth place in the Greek league, defeats PAOK 2-0, sending
the Super 3 into flare-burning, rocket-launching ecstasy. But for the
third straight game Adu stays rooted to the bench. After starting four
times on the left wing and scoring two goals in February, Adu has
played twice in the last eight games through Sunday. The prevailing
view among Greek journalists and fans is that Adu has good technical
skills, especially with his favored left foot, but he plays "too
young," with an underdeveloped awareness for tactics, defensive duties
and knowing when less is more on offense.

The scouting report among coaches is that Adu is capable of a
dangerous pass or shot but that he's not fast and doesn't have much of
an engine for the modern game. The Aris coach, Hector Cuper, argues
that Adu also needs to be tougher mentally. "I think Adu is paying a
little bit for the acceleration he had to professional soccer," says
Cuper, who has coached Italy's Inter Milan and led Spain's Valencia to
two Champions League finals. He notes that in European clubs' youth
programs, "you are allowed to be more free, to prepare more
technically," but at the senior level "you have to win. When someone
jumps directly to this level, you must be a phenomenon from your head
to your feet. If you aren't, it's very difficult. He has to be very
strong psychologically."

Adu showed promise for U.S. youth teams, notably during the Under-20
World Cup in 2007 (where he captained the team and led an upset of
Brazil) and the '08 Olympics (particularly in a 2-2 tie against the
Netherlands). So the question persists, Why hasn't that success
carried over to his pro career? "I watch video of me playing well in
the Under-20 World Cup or the Olympics, and I'm like, Man, how can I
not be playing here?" Adu says. "It's taken me the last year and a
half to figure it out. I was always satisfied with making one or two
plays during training and thinking I had a good practice. There's so
much more to it than that. Coaches see the times you cut off passing
lanes or got behind the ball. Those are things that tell them they can
count on you for 90 minutes."

Until Adu finds regular playing time at the club level, it's hard to
envision that he'll get called back to the national team. He was on
the U.S. roster for last year's Confederations Cup but didn't see the
field, and he hasn't been in a U.S. camp since struggling with the B
team at last July's Gold Cup and barely playing at the club level last
fall. "It's a case of a young player who has aspirations but still
hasn't been able to establish himself," says U.S. coach Bob Bradley.
"When you go to Europe, nothing is ever going to just get handed to
you. It's that ability to establish yourself within the team, with the
coaches. He's in the midst of all that, and when you add on the
pressure of the early recognition and the hype, that makes it in some
ways harder."

Now that he's 20, it's easier for Adu to interact with his teammates
off the field, and Aris players say they enjoy sharing a coffee or
going to dinner with him. It was more challenging for Adu as a 14-year-
old at D.C. United, where he says he "only felt comfortable with a
couple of people. There were some guys who never warmed up to you
because of everything you had." Adu showed only flashes of his
potential in MLS, scoring 12 goals in 3½ seasons with D.C. United and
Real Salt Lake, and he joined Portugal's Benfica on a $2 million
transfer in 2007. At first he saw occasional action there, scoring two
goals in 11 appearances, but Benfica went through three coaches in
2007-08, and the last of them (Fernando Chalana) did not play Adu at
all after he returned from the Olympic qualifying tournament.

Things really went downhill when Benfica loaned Adu to Monaco of the
French league for 2008--09. Jerome de Bontin, a French-American member
of the U.S. Soccer Federation's board of trustees, had taken over as
president at Monaco, and he wanted to add Americans to the team.
"Maybe the highlight of his stay was the first day of practice," says
De Bontin. "Freddy scored three beautiful goals. Everybody in the
academy was excited about him, not to mention the fact that he was a
riot in the locker room." But Monaco's coach, a Brazilian named
Ricardo, started Adu only once that season. Says De Bontin, "Everybody
had the same analysis. He had incredible talent, yet he was lacking
standard tactical knowledge that most players his age had. It was tied
to the fact that he became professional at 14 and in some ways stopped
learning at 15."

While Adu was not an automatic starter during his MLS days, the
league's small rosters could never replicate the constant battle for
playing time on European teams with no roster limits. As U.S. Under-20
coach Thomas Rongen says, "Our creative players have a tough time
sometimes adjusting to the day-to-day of competing in Europe, which is
different from our youth national teams or MLS." Rongen adds that
while Adu at his best can change a game in the attacking end, "a lot
of coaches say he is still to a certain extent a luxury player." The
modern game values athleticism and requires even the best players to
have some defensive responsibilities, and, Rongen says, "that was an
area where Freddy really needed to grow and become better." Nor has
Adu proved himself to be such a phenomenon offensively that a team in
Europe (or, for that matter, MLS) would choose to build around him.

Last fall Adu went out on loan again from Benfica, this time to
Belenenses, a team at the bottom of the Portuguese first division. It
was a hastily arranged deal that came together on the last day before
the transfer deadline. "I didn't even have a chance to talk to the
coach before I went there," says Adu, who started just once and soon
began seeking a way out. In January he joined Aris on an 18-month
loan. Adu now has until the end of the 2010-11 season, when his
contract runs out, to prove himself in European soccer. "It's like
they gave you a lifeline," Adu says. "I started four games in a row,
which is the most I have since MLS. I feel like a new person, and I'm
happy again." It wasn't the only change Adu made; he also dumped his
agent, IMG's Max Eisenbud, and rehired his previous one, Richard
Motzkin.

If Adu can't make an impact as a pro in Europe over the next year, he
will most likely return to MLS. The question these days is how to view
him: as a sixth-year pro who hasn't lived up to the hype or as a 20-
year-old who still has potential? De Bontin hopes Adu can be another
Franck Ribéry, the late-blooming French midfielder who played for
several mid-level teams before rising to the top of the soccer world,
starting for France in the 2006 World Cup final and starring for
German powerhouse Bayern Munich. ("Freddy has enough talent to
succeed," De Bontin says.) Adu certainly thinks such a track is
possible. "I want to be one of the best players to play this sport one
day," he says. "I still have the chance to do that, and I want to work
hard to get there."

It is an odd twist, the hope that an athlete who turned pro at 13
could become, in the end, a late bloomer. But if Freddy Adu is going
to make it, that's how it will have to be.
From: Mark V. on 12 May 2010 15:40
On May 12, 11:02 am, Mike <yard22...(a)yahoo.com> wrote:
> http://m.si.com/news/archive/archive/detail/2552885/full;jsessionid=C....
>
> Adu still struggling to establish himself as a starter in Europe

Interesting article. I'm surprised that Wahl didn't address
speculation about Adu's actual age. If he really is 23 to 25, then
that diminishes the likelihood of a Ribery-like late blossoming. I
predict he'll never be a star. But with hard work, he could reach a
point where mid-table Portuguese and Greek clubs want to keep him!
From: Jim Goloboy on 12 May 2010 23:47
On May 12, 2:02 pm, Mike <yard22...(a)yahoo.com> wrote:

> (snip)

FWIW Freddy has been the preferred starter for Aris in the playoffs so
far.

I wonder if he suffers to some extent from the fact that small/slow/
skillful doesn't fit European expectations for American (or African)
players. EJ, who hasn't been productive in Europe (although a couple
goals the last few weeks), but fits the mold, has no trouble getting
on the field when he first arrives at a club and gets plenty of
chances before playing himself out of the lineup.

From: Sven Mischkies on 13 May 2010 11:01
Mike <yard22192(a)yahoo.com> wrote:

> The prevailing
> view among Greek journalists and fans is that Adu has good technical
> skills, especially with his favored left foot, but he plays "too
> young," with an underdeveloped awareness for tactics, defensive duties
> and knowing when less is more on offense.


So he's the american Balotelli? ;)


Ciao,
SM
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From: Starcade on 13 May 2010 18:39
On May 12, 12:40 pm, "Mark V." <markvande...(a)yahoo.com> wrote:
> On May 12, 11:02 am, Mike <yard22...(a)yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> >http://m.si.com/news/archive/archive/detail/2552885/full;jsessionid=C....
>
> > Adu still struggling to establish himself as a starter in Europe
>
> Interesting article. I'm surprised that Wahl didn't address
> speculation about Adu's actual age. If he really is 23 to 25, then
> that diminishes the likelihood of a Ribery-like late blossoming. I
> predict he'll never be a star. But with hard work, he could reach a
> point where mid-table Portuguese and Greek clubs want to keep him!

A - dud.

And if he lied about his age, what's to say he's even 23-25??

Mike
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