You should care if you want Freddy's team to have at least six UCL games this season or merely be in the UEFA Cup. The former means more money, prestige, and opportunity for exposure on Europe's biggest club stage. Whether Freddy will play in these matches, though, is unclear, but it's at least good to have the opportunity.
I guess, but honestly I'm not expecting much PT for Freddy in the CL games this year, and probably not a lot accomplished when he does play. I'd like to see him work his way into the regular league rotation, though, and start to get comfortable. That would be a good rookie season for him.
Adu learned some lessons already about what to expect. IMO, I'd be happy about the first game if I were a USA fan. It mattered, and he saw a lot of time, and he got a wake up call about what he needs to do to close the gap between himself and the competition. He'll get better and he'll get more time in the future as he improves. It should be a good benchmark to compare his first match, a champions league qualifier and his performance in it, to what his last match will be in this season (probably not a champins league match, as Benfica has no chance of winning it.) But regardless, see how/if he grows.
So, it wasn’t a great exhibition, but a good game. We clearly had the luck of the game, and did what had to be done to enter the champions league. With a 2-1 result in the first leg at home, we got an relatively early 1-0 score in the first chance we got, and defence was our most important task as Copenhagen needed 2 goals and clearly wasn’t having the luck in their side with their offense . Defense was a little shaky with 18 year old junior Miguel Victor and the adapted midfielder Katsouranis (as our 3 center backs were injured). I liked the game of Di Maria, very quick, I’m looking forward to see more from him. I was hoping for Adu to come out in the game for 5 or 10 minutes, but it didn’t happen. Still, chances are being given to everybody, Coentrão had his chance, Adu played in difficult match, and now Di Maria.. There are also new signings to watch. If Adu isn’t in the short plans of Camacho, I think he should play for the juniors a bit, like Anderson did for Porto.
one difference, porto has some of the top players in their squad. Assuncao is very underrated, and dominated the midfield of chelsea and arsenal last season. Quaresma alone is a MASSIVE difference, lucho, lisandro lopez, leandro lima, bosingwa, fucile. Porto have a superb squad. Sporting as well, their midfield is the youngest, but probably one of the most talented in the competition with moutinho-veloso-vukcevic-celsinho...add to that liedson and they look very good. Benfica needs one more forward that can play on the right and cut in like di maria does, and a centre midfielder that can connect defense to offense..hopefully maxi perieira is it, or else were screwed until diego souza comes back in december.
If Benfica stays alive in the CL, it's more likely that Adu (and other reserves) will get time during the league games.
What about the loan case here, folks? What is the point in Adu getting scrub minutes at Benfica. I'd rather see him play all the time vs. the same competition (loan to other team in league) vs. sparse minutes for Benfica and some/few European minutes. I think he's going to have a hard time- at least until winter- to get major minutes..
Why? It's crazy to think he should be loaned out so soon after joining the club. He's a squad player and that's pretty good considering his age and where he was a few weeks ago. The club said they were going to bring him along slowly and they are. There was no need for him to play tonight. He wouldn't have brought anything that Benfica needed to this match. Especially once they went up 1-0.
Anyway, once again, Portugal has 3 teams in the Champions League! on par with Germany, and Spain (if Sevilha looses to AEK). POTE 1: AC Milan (Ita) Barcelona (Esp) Liverpool (Ing) Inter Milão (Ita) Arsenal (Ing) Real Madrid (Esp) Manchester United (Ing) Chelsea (Ing) POTE 2: Valência (Esp) Lyon (Fra) FC Porto (POR) Sevilha (Esp) ou AEK Atenas (Gre) PSV Eindhoven (Hol) AS Roma (Ita) Benfica (POR) Werder Bremen (Ale) POTE 3: Celtic (Esc) Schalke 04 (Ale) Estugarda (Ale) Steaua Bucareste (Rom) CSKA Moscovo (Rus) Sporting (POR) Lazio (Ita) Marselha (Fra) POTE 4: Glasgow Rangers (Esc) Shakhtar Donetsk (Ucr) Besiktas (Tur) Olympiakos (Gre) Dínamo Kiev (Ucr) Fenerbahce (Tur) Slávia Praga (Che) Rosenborg (Nor)
I should have been more clear. If he's not getting time as the season progresses, I would rather he be loaned than sit from a development perspective.
Ah, lets wait. We have plenty competitions to play: Bwin League, Champions League, Portugal's Cup, Carlsberg Cup = plenty games for everybody depending on how far we get EDIT: some highlights http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n86dUUnlCNE
Gonna be tough but not nearly as bad as if they were in the third or fourth pot. Beasley is going to have his hands full at Rangers no matter how the draw goes.
Best guess would be.... people who open this thread. Why would you be reading (or posting) here if you didn't care at least somewhat?
So we've got Americans on 3 Champions League teams who could get minutes, correct? PSV, Rangers, and Benfica. Any more? Are there any Americans on Slavia Prague? I know there are Americans in the Czech league other than Philipakos at Most. I don't see any on Yanks Abroad, but there were guys like Erik Hort over there. According to trusty Dave's Yanks Abroad list there are 2 Americans at AEK Athens, but due to their ages they must be academy players: Chronis Andreas 1989 AEK Athens Greece 06/07 Darsinos Alexander 1990 AEK Athens Greece 07/08 We've got a reserve player of course on Werder Bremen. Heider Marc 1986 Werder Bremen Germany 06/07 We've also got a youth player in Turkey as we know, because he posts on these boards. Castillo Rodolfo 1990 Fenerbahce Turkey 07/08 We used to have Robbie Russell at Rosenborg, but not any more.
Way premature in both his career as well as this season to describe anything as unfulfilled potential. Anybody who thought he was going to get off the plane and step onto the pitch and produce was fooling themselves into thinking that Portugal's league and FC Copenhagen were worse than the Polish U-20 team. When he practically did step right off the plane into that first CL qualifier, I was stunned and not at all surprised to see that he played a mediocre at best game. Adjusting to life, language, environment, and team does not usually happen instantly.
I was thinking about this and I think it's going to take him a couple of finds to get his feet on the ground, not only does he have the language barrier to overcome, but also the style of play... Something I did notice from the u-20 championships is the south american players it seem to me are groomed for the style of play that they have over there in Europe and I feel that this is something that Adu needs to improve on... The interchanging play is so much faster than the MLS... But I do believe that he can do it if he really wants to succeed as a footballer... He definitely has the qualities needed, good first touch... Now it's all about his tactical sense on the field... It's all about his state of mind and how he comes out of this... Hopefully he won't pull a Donovan and start whining about how he's not playing and wants to come back to the US...
He's going to let us to the whining for him. Adu will get his chances this year, of that there is no doubt. How much he makes of those chances is the open question.