they will have a segment on sportscenter tonight discussing if Adu is the next Pele. it will be on 6pm est.
i'm all for soccer receiving more media attention/scrutiny, but this (too much hype) seems a bit much to me... just hope freddy continues to handle it with his - what seems to be - usual aplomb...
good, i hope they talk him to death...it only means more national team talk. free pub <with tony's barbs about adu's age> is always welcome nationally. ps. they wished him a happy birthday! <michael ripped tony, ha>
well even if it is too much hype it will end up shedding light on other aspects of soccer, the youth teams, and the national team.
from pti, "freddy was born in ghana in 1972 and drives the team bus to games" showed a clip of him juking what looked to be a newcastle youth defender and him training with the us-17s
Once El Diablo takes him under his wing (after Etcheverry signs for 5 more dreaded years), Adu will be the next Sam Forko.
Great Spot. As far as his age is concered, well, there will always be doubters. Probably one of the best soccer spots on Sportscenter.
There was a sick tape of him juking about 5 DCU defenders in preseason training weaving into the box, then puting a shot a little over the bar. Pretty incredible to see him do that against professional players twice his age.
As an MLS diehard, it is imperative the league sign him for at least for a few years before he heads off to Europe (at a lucrative transfer fee). I say kneeled, eyes raised to the sky...
The segment showed his birth certificate with his birth year written in ink. A(n) (Hispanic?) "former goalkeeping coach" whom I did not recognize questioned his age, saying that Africans are prone to fibbing the ages of players in international tournaments. (IMHO that was a dodgy point bc the segement said Freddy had not play organized footie until he came to the U.S.) For his part, Freddy said he was insulted by these people bc they were basically calling him and his mother liars. The segment showed close-ups of Freddy, and in my eyes, he looked youthful enough to be 14. Anyway, the extended footage of his play was exciting.
It was the same piece they ran with the "Outside the Lines" thing. They were not going to discuss "is Freddy the next Pele?" on sportcenter and as they have no one on their staff who know squat about soccer anyway and think such a discussion would bore most of their viewers and likely would unfortunately.
Am I the only one who finds amusement every time they have to mention that because he signed the deal with Nike, he is no longer elegible for college ball?
Almost as amusing as seeing him on the Parade High School All-America team. But he will never experience the joy of challenging for the NCAA College Cup!
A lot of the media here still hasn't learned that signing pro contracts young or going to academies and youth teams with a pro team is the norm in most of the soccer world and college is the odd thing outside the US.
after hearing him talk and seeing more of him and what he has to say, i truly believe he's only 14. every child star goes through people questioning age and it's time this nonsense stopped.
I think the american media is catching on to this rather quickly nowadays, with the huge influx of foreign players in the NBA they are realizing that these kids are signing pro contracts at 16-17 and developing quicker than american players because the practice and competition is better than college ball here. I can't believe all the similiarites between basketball and soccer, now that bball is such a global sport. I would say 2nd most popular in the world by far.
saw the full piece on sportscenter last night. thank god they didn't do the "is he the next pele" angle but rather "is he america's next superstar?" in the lead-in they showed some clips and my girlfriend who was watching too simply said "wow". she's never done that before watching soccer i don't think. some incredible jukes. then they showed the whole piece and as this was my first extended viewing of adu (obviously not in game setting), i was completely blown away. this kid is for real. and in addition to being a great soccer player he has a joyous smile, as does his mom. but i was totally blown away by the soccer highlights showing freddie turn defenders this way and that. hard to believe a 13 year old, now 14, could be THAT good. but i believe!!!! if he stays healthy, freddie will change the face of american soccer. (of course i'm not the first one to say that at this point.)