What was it about Freddy Adu’s move to Turkey last winter? On the surface, it seemed too easy to dismiss as Adu’s next step toward an inevitable return to the U.S. with his tail between his legs after yet another disappointing stint abroad in a seemingly endless quest to establish himself in Europe.
But Adu and those who knew him well were certain there was something else in store, and both the stories from prior to his move and the slowly accumulating evidence pointed in a different direction.
That said, it was still a massive surprise to see Adu’s name on the U.S. roster that was unveiled this afternoon. Even U.S. head coach Bob Bradley admitted it.
“Freddy had fallen out of the scene a little bit, and typically, playing in the 2nd division in Turkey doesn’t bring you back into the scene,” Bradley said. “It’s not like now you can point to a play or a game or anything that’s really happened then other than the knowledge that still that he’s shown certain abilities in the past, even when now decisions didn’t go his way. That didn’t mean in our minds the story was over. This was part of decisions for different rosters and different tournaments. We never thought the story was over, but again, now we will find out where it will fit for right now. The fact that we think this is a good chance to size it all it up again doesn’t mean that it’s automatically all there either. There are still challenges for Freddy to show that the things he’s been able to do at times, let’s say at the youth levels, that they can really make a difference, whether it’s for the senior national team or a top club. Those are still things that we all need to assess, and yet it works well sometimes that now you think the gut feeling sometimes that this is a good time to size this guy up again. That probably for a lot of people is a surprise.”
If you clicked on the link above, you saw comments from IMG Academies director of performance Trevor Moawad, who has known Adu since he was 11 and has witnessed Adu’s growth from child phenom to professional. Moawad has traditionally stayed out of the media but felt compelled to speak up when Adu landed in Turkey. I spoke to him again this afternoon, shortly after the conference call with Bradley ended and shortly after Moawad had spoken directly with Adu in Turkey.
“There are two types of goals: there’s outcome goals and process goals,” Moawad said. “I don’t think that any of the way Freddy has prepared this year has been for outcome-based goals. He wasn’t trying to get a spot in the Gold Cup. I think his focus was much more about getting to Europe, maximizing this opportunity and really making his five months, wherever he was going to end up. The fact is that it was pretty complicated, not because teams didn’t want him, because it was extremely challenging how you could negotiate certain things within the parameters that Benfica had set.
“He wasn’t benched in Greece,” Moawad said. “He didn’t not make in Switzerland. He didn’t not make the team in Germany. He legitimately just couldn’t get things worked out in a way that fit the timeframe that he had. A lot of what I think the public perception that was out there was just incorrect so I don’t think he was as far away as people perceived him to be. I think he was just in the middle of soccer politics in Europe, and I think also to some degree, he hadn’t always put his best foot forward. I think that’s clearly true.”
It remains to be seen what happens next for Adu, who began Monday by tweeting a birthday message to his younger brother, Fro, and then lost the first leg of a promotion playoff series match, 4-0. If it’s a sign of maturity for Freddy, who will turn 22 himself in less than two weeks, his job with Rizespor was his focus while the call-up was a bonus.
“I’m not really surprised at the outcome, but I know he certainly wasn’t aiming for this,” Moawad said. “In speaking with him, he was extremely happy. But at the same point, he was really more focused on what can his team do this Thursday to find a way – we were talking about the [2009] Confederations Cup, and how nobody expected them to do what they did as he was on the bench vs. Egypt, and he was thinking about how can I get these guys ready to play so we can come out and make things happen.”
Adu is already doing that for himself, and while others seem to be late to the party, Bradley has certainly taken notice.
