I found Part 1 of Grant Wahl's new podcast on the prodigy of Freddy Adu really interesting. Should be a very good series.
Listened to the second episode of American Prodigy today. I couldn’t believe Adu’s ‘mental conditioning coach’ Trevor Moawad would go on the record that he believed “the kid has to play” and “earn[ing]... minutes” with D.C. United was “not the deal the league made... with Sierra Mist and with Nike.” Tells you a lot.
Every time I scroll past this picture, I think, "No, this is Freddy years from now, still waiting for a call from a fourth-division team in some obscure backwater country."
Have listened to the first 4 episodes of Grant Wahl's Freddy Adu podcast and man, what a blast from the past. It really reiterates how US soccer and MLS really screwed the pooch with this guy and credit to Freddy for shouldering all their crap and never giving up even as his star faded dimmer and dimmer. It shows him in a new light for me...he was a golden link in an otherwise iron chain. He was by all accounts, a bonafide top youth prospect who was tasked with: 1) save the MLS 2) propel US soccer to the next level 3) become an American pop star 4) develop as a player 5) develop as an adult...all at 14. But every copper, silver, and golden link we've had since can trace their game back to Freddy. There's a great interview with Ebobise (sp?) about how he saw Freddy, suddenly, as the young black player that gave his own soccer playing relevance. He reckons he never would've stuck with the sport if not for seeing Freddy (and any of us that played in those days know what a 2nd class sport soccer was). And who knows who else trades in their shin pads for something else. Freddy has every right to be aggrieved about it all but still comes across as a happy, care free guy, albeit a bit wiser and hardened by all that's happened. Highly recommended listen. And all of this is not to say, "man, we really missed out on a global superstar" but Freddy today, with the current climate and infrastructure, would be playing at a decent professional level, and certainly would've had a much better shot at developing like a normal great prospect and playing and living with kids closer to his age than he did. He both started and missed the train. I can imagine going back to your hotel room alone-- as a 14 year old!-- as Ben Olsen and Mike Petki and Kovalenko all go out for dollar beer night and try to pick up the cigarette girls.
The whole manufactured superstar thing was not good. But I’m skeptical an okay three year start in MLS damaged his development to such a degree that multiple opportunities in Europe couldn’t begin to “rehabilitate” Adu into a solid pro.
I'm not sure he developed into a "pro" in the first place. There were stories about his days at DC United that he didn't take advice from pros or anyone else but we mainly dismissed that.
Also kinda confirmed by the podcast. I think it's 3-fold: The MLS in ~2004 was not nearly as professional nor nurturing of young talent as today. I think the next youngest guy on the team after Freddy was Kovalenko who was in his early 20's. There were no reserves, no youth team, no plan, no safety net. Freddy seems like a naturally gregarious guy. There's a story of him wanting to go to a club with the guys and them saying no, obviously not, and then showing up only to find him already at the club in the VIP section. I don't think Freddy was a drinker or anything, but I think he liked to be around people and play with his new found fame. Freddy got money and fame immediately and he thought that should translate to respect from his coaches and minutes on the field. Both had to be earned and that was conveyed to Freddy as "grind your way in, get beat up, devote yourself to the team" which was contrary to Freddy's personality and what Freddy was having whispered into his ear, and to his soccer experience in the States up until that point. Listened to the latest episode while making dinner last night and Freddy for the first time was nearly in tears talking about what a mistake it was leaving Benfica for Monaco. He and Angel Di Maria were vying it out on Benfica at the time and Angel stayed while Freddy left (at the behest of a cousin advising him). The rest as they say is history.
Am I the only one who finds this podcast so far to be a heap of pointless fluff? Grant Wahl has unearthed absolutely nothing we didn’t already know. How do you interview so many people and basically have them say nothing new?
There's probably value in that for folks that haven't followed the entire saga as closely as some of us have; or even for them, having all the info compiled into one narrative.
Some of the interviews are great and it's amazing to hear from guys like Olsen and Petke who have gone on to be MLS coaches and they still kinda sound like inarticulate boneheads. In their mid-20's or whatever they were probably insufferable. The early 2000s still feels like the neanderthal dark ages of the sport -- little to no guidance for youth, vets who vowed to "take lumps out of" the rooks, sports psychology and mental coaching were after thoughts or poorly implemented. Oh Fred, you were before your time.
One of the quotes that has stuck with me through all of these years was Ricardo’s (?) comment while he was at Monaco...”there were steps in his footballing education that were missed.” At the time it didn’t mean that much to me. But as the years pass I become more convinced....his problem was playing first team football, and playing/practicing with first team squads....his entire career. He was never placed in an environment to learn....where he was deliberately placed in situations where his weaknesses were exposed, where he was forced to address them. First team football is about figuring out how best to win this weekend. First team football isn’t a place where you try to expose young players weaknesses so they can learn from them. he would have been much better off playing for Benfica’s youth team when he went over at 18. Instead he, an probably his advisors, were convinced that he just needed to find a place where he could play on the first team. And went around the world trying to find it during a critical time when he should have been playing games where the goal was to improve on weaknesses in preparation for eventually playing in pro matches that matter. the first team isn’t the place to to do that. I liken it to him being a teenage math whiz being asked to join a group of engineers designing an airplane. He had the skills needed to be an engineer. Perhaps the best engineer among the group, But without the engineering education...he wasn’t going much value. Simply getting older doesn’t make a difference. He reached a point of being exactly who he was going to be real early.