How many 8-10 year olds have a clue who Adu is? Parents would have to tell their kids the story, and if it’s honest, it’s sad.
Well given his gristly history with coaches, I'd be worry about a freak accident or death if he were coaching my kid...jk
When coaching youth, I found kids really responded when bringing in a guest trainer. Someone who played at a higher level and was more skillful than me. Helped them work on technique, see some new things, etc. Looks like Freddy is doing some private training.
Adu is the poster child for all-time failure as a US soccer player. He should be held up as a warning to all future US soccer players not to emulate his career.
🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/0RlG1EZd9L— @FreddyAdu (@FreddyAdu) April 21, 2019 Always great to be back in Maryland! #NLS pic.twitter.com/FZE2fxYjQL— @FreddyAdu (@FreddyAdu) April 21, 2019
Sporting the LV Lights T-Shirt Their reaction is everything lol. Always give back to the game that has given me so much! @nextlevelsoccer 🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/bfhtRtnF9e— @FreddyAdu (@FreddyAdu) April 21, 2019
Hey Freddy has played at Monaco and Benfica. I could only dream of failing so badly. He was overhyped and overrated, and it wasn't his fault. But he still played for some big clubs. Good for him!
Freddy is the poster boy for what can happen to a talented kid when he is told by adults that he's the most wonderful thing ever before he is mature enough to handle such praise.
I think he also lacked the engine for the senior level. It isn’t something everyone can attain. Certainly he could have worked harder at that aspect but probably didn’t come as easy for him as most at the level he was trying to compete at.
He is the poster child for what happens when, to paraphrase his Monaco coach Ricardo (?), “steps in his footballing education [are] skipped”
Freddy is a good kid with a lot of talent, but who lacked grit. His career had two points of failure. The first was at Monaco. Benfica were happy with his development, but decided to loan him out to Monaco in 2008. His coach and supporter Ricardo Gomes left Monaco and went back to Brazil in May 2009, and then Freddy went back to Benfica. If only he had made the most of his time at Monaco! That's when things really started to go wrong for him. He lost his drive. A couple of years later he's playing for Caykur Rizespor in Turkey's second division and doing well. He helped them to gain promotion to the first division. Sadly, he went back to MLS instead of staying in Turkey, and that's when his career went on life support. If only he had stuck it out in Turkey!! He needed some David Goggins in him! [google it]
Imagine paying good money to let Freddy Adu influence your kids... I'm gonna copy-paste a comment I just made elsewhere: I think everyone from that 2012 Olympic qualifying team (Adujello, Shrek Bray, Dix Mixerud, etc.) got f***ed up by being around the original f*ckup Freddy Adu. I'm not even joking. Dude was the freaking CAPTAIN, how braindead is that... I remember on social media at the time guys like Juan and Mix all became good buddies with Adu... Not only did they fail to qualify for the Olympics but pretty much the entire roster turned into underachievers. https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/20...l-roster-for-2012-concacaf-olympic-qualifying
Adu got to live the dream. If he'd been in a car crash after the U20 WC or after hit that big switch against Mexico etc. He wasn't a star but putting food on the table for a decade plus playing a game ain't bad.
I'll always remember him fondly for Gold Cup '11 alone. There was a brief second there when the promise looked like reality.
Interesting thought. But I’ll vote that they were all over-hyped by fans and media. And therefore they looked liked failures. In the end, they just weren’t as good as we were made to believe - or that a Stoke City contract implied.