Welcome Back Freddy

The Gold Cup roster is out and there are at least a few mild shocks.  Teal Bunbury –who would definitely have made the Canadian team– and Timmy Chandler are lacking from the roster.  It is also a bit surprising that we are seeing Real Salt Lake’s Nick Rimando instead of MSV Duisburg’s David Yelldell.  Omar Gonzalez is still MIA from the US roster for major tournaments. Robbie Rogers, coming off a strong start to his MLS season with the Columbus Crew, earned a surprise call up.   Even Chris Wondolowski snuck on the list ahead of Bunbury, Herculez Gomez, and Edson Buddle.  However, the one shock that sent viral insanity through the Twitterverse is the news that Freddy Adu is back! [fontofficeblogs]

For the record, I am obsessed with Freddy Adu.  When he was 14, I thought that he was going to be the American Pele.  Those expectations would be unrealistic for Lionel Messi, let alone Freddy Adu.  For the past few years, really since the 2009 Gold Cup, Adu has been lost in the soccer wilderness.  Over a year ago, I wrote a long piece about him,where I tracked his faltered growth.  Much of his not living up to his potential was an overabundance of hype for a 14 year-old, which left him lacking a chance to really grow.

Leaving MLS should have been good for him, a chance to escape the wake of his hype, but Benefica had similar ambitions for Freddy.  Since signing with the Portuguese giant, he has struggled through loans in Monaco, loans to Portugal’s lower divisions, loans in Greece, and being forced to tryout for a loan offer in the Netherlands, which he never received. Despite his promise, Adu was never able to find a home.

Now, he is in Turkey’s second division with Rizespor.  For the last few months, Adu has taken the team on his back and they have ridden him to within a breath of Turkey’s first division.  He is scoring goals, he is getting assists, and for the first time ever Freddy Adu has found a situation that is suited for him.  He is being able to play as a #10, he is unpressured by the hype thrown on him by DC United, by Real Salt Lake, by Aris, by Benefica, by dozens of other teams that would not even give him a loan offer, and due to this he is excelling.

A good Gold Cup performance from Adu just might reignite the hype that once surrounded him.  However, that would not be the best-case scenario for him.  At 21, following the hype he is finally living up to part of the potential that got him in advertisements with Pele and featured on the fronts of magazines when he was only 14.

Either way, the inclusion of Adu is a risky call up for Bob Bradley, one that could make him look like a genius, or a fool.  Freddy Adu has made many people look like both, on and off the pitch.  Now it is time to see if the 21-year-old-never-was can finally make good on his promise, or continue to be the world’s youngest has-been.