We really need an All Adu forum... http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/inside_game/grant_wahl/news/2003/02/27/wahl_soccer/
Good stuff. Can't wait to see this kid. CANNOT wait! But at the same time, I hope his development is tempered somewhat so that he's not rushed into things and burns out. Playing in MLS at 15 years old? And it sounds like his mother wants him to really go to college and get a degree before his soccer career kicks in to full gear. That should be an interesting battle.
"Adu: My goal is to try and be the youngest player ever to start for the U.S. national team in like a World Cup or something. If I can somehow miraculously get on that [2006] team, I would work so hard just to earn one start. The ultimate goal is to win a World Cup. But for 2006, if I could just get out there.... " Sounds so good.
[/quote]Is Freddy really 13? It's the most common question I hear when people ask me about Freddy: "How can that kid be 13?" SI looked into it, going so far as to hire two people in Ghana who checked at Bengali Hospital in Tema (Freddy's birthplace) and at Ghana's national birth and death registry. We found no evidence that would disprove Freddy's stated birthdate of June 2, 1989. Indeed, 2 June 1989 was the date on the official record of Freddy's birth at Ghana's national birth/death registry in Accra. (Granted, the document was filed in 1996, a year before the Adus came to the U.S., but that's nothing out of the ordinary in a country that is woefully disorganized when it comes to official records.) As for Bengali Hospital, SI's investigation turned up no records of Freddy's birth there -- again, not a surprise given the level of disorganization. Here's my take on the age issue: If anyone is going to allege that Freddy and his family are misrepresenting his age, then you have to provide legitimate evidence (read: documents) to back it up. Otherwise, I don't want to hear about it, because we looked harder than anyone else has and didn't find any chicanery.[/quote] I feel like making this my signature. Pretty impressive that SI went to those lengths, they still got it in a lot of areas when it comes to reporting
looks like the younger adu has had a change of heart... a few years back he said he wanted to play for the homeland even though his older brother wanted to play for the USA, but now his younger brother says <through mom and brother> that he wants to play on the USA national team as well. can you say two fredua adu's on the 2010 world cup team?
That's probably all the "Unknown Caller" ones I get. I'm going to have to start answering those... Scumby
Oh please. Doesn't everyone here know that the musings of a 10-year-old are absolutely final and irreversible?
Any day now I expect to read about this kid wearing a throwback Beckenbauer strip as he tools around in the new Hummer his mother bought him. LeFred?
Can't wait to see him either. College soccer for Freddy? And I'll be suiting up for Real Madrid next week.
I dount very seriously it will happen, especially since making the 06 WC team is a goal of his, but it's not beyond reason that the kid play some college soccer. I mean, he's gonna finish HS at age 15. He could play two years of college ball and still join MLS (or go to Europe) at the ripe old age of 17. Hell, he could play 4 years of college ball and still be a younger MLS player than Metros rookie Ricardo Clark, all of 20, currently is. Like I said, I doubt seriously it will happen because the money AND the player development will be too good to pass up in favor of playing at Maryland or wherever (can you imagine the recruiting battles if he did go to college?), but he can't sign any contracts before he's 18 without momma's consent and if she really wants him to go to college and puts her foot down, it could happen. BTW, why isn't this thread - and any other Adu thread, for that matter - in the youth national team forum?
I thought about moving them all there, but they keep cropping up -- there's too much interest. Since there's talk of him making the next WC roster, I guess it's relevant...
Jeez it's hard to believe we're talking about a 13 year old playing in the next World Cup which is a little over three years away. But remember Norman Whiteside was only 16 when he played for Northern Ireland in Mexico in 1986. And he was pretty good too. He is still only 33 now but his career was cut short by injuries. Mexico 1986 is a long time ago.
I mean, he's gonna finish HS at age 15. He could play two years of college ball and still join MLS (or go to Europe) at the ripe old age of 17. Hell, he could play 4 years of college ball and still be a younger MLS player than Metros rookie Ricardo Clark, all of 20, currently is. I pretty sure there is an age limit to playing college athletics. BigSoccer is becoming All Adu all the time.
If you read the article, it mentions that one of his few advisors is his uncle Anthony Yeboah. Could it be that he's TONY YEBOAH's nephew!!!????!!!
I couldn't care less how old he is. The only matches I care about are senior team matches, and it doesn't matter how old he is when he plays in those. If it eventually comes out that he was overage for some youth tourneys and we end up forfeiting matches, so what? It's a small price to pay to have a genuine phenom play for the US.
everyone in Ghana is named Tony Yeboah. It is like being named Kim in Korea. Or Frddie Adu. Hell, there are 2 Freddie Adu's in his family.
People keep bringing this up, and they keep being wrong. Mexico was NOT banned because they used underage players. They were banned because the FA was a key part of the conspiracy. The USSF is obviously not furthering the conspiracy, if there is one (and I doubt there is.) Besidese, it's unlikely that if the Adus have lied about his age by even 2 years, that he'll ever be overage.
Clearing a couple things up, it is Freddy's older brother (not mentioned in the article), that wants to play for Ghana. His younger brother would like to follow Freddy and play for the U.S. The other thing, if you read the article carefully he gives the impression of being in Europe by 06, and I'd be surprised if he plays more than a year or two in MLS. It doesnt make any sense for him to play more. I'll make my bet now saying he's playing in Europe before Germany06.
The one thing that would concern me about a 15 year-old kid being placed in a rigorous professional environment would be ther wear and tear on a body that isn't even fully developed. Too often you hear stories about young phenoms whose careers were cut short by injuries. Maybe it's because they played too many games with the "big boys" when their bodies weren't yet ready for that kind of use and abuse. Of course, if the kid is being brought along very slowly then that changes things. But that doesn't sound like that will be the scenario for Adu. I guess we'll have to wait and see.