Report: Freddy Adu Tour To Makes Pit Stop With NASL’s Rowdies
By Sean Maslin
Freddy Adu may be finally coming back to the United States. After stops in Brazil, Serbia, Finland, Portugal, France, Greece, and Turkey it appears that the former soccer prodigy is coming home. According to goal.com, the former D.C. United and Chivas USA striker is set to sign with the Tampa Bay Rowdies of the North American Soccer League.
Adu is currently playing for KuPS in the Finnish first division. He has played sparingly for the club since signing with the side in March, making only 5 appearances and featuring mostly for their second division team.
He recently made news for his excellent free kick strike for their reserve team which was treated with some level of astonishment and s certain level of mockery given his fall from grace. Here was the former ‘future of U.S. Soccer’ playing in a reserve league in Finland, a respectable European league but by no means one of the top in the world.
After wowing the American soccer world as a teenager playing for D.C. United at the age of 14, Adu became an instant celebrity in the United States. Scoring 5 goals in his first season with United and playing a role in their 2005 MLS Cup victory only propelled interest in the kid. He also served as captain for the United States U-20 side that made it to the Quarterfinals of the 2007 U-20 World Cup.
But Adu has never really lived up to the hype. In hindsight the expectations placed on him were probably a little much. The idea that a 14-year old kid should be given the burden of bringing the U.S.A. to the front of the world soccer world is a bit ridiculous and pretty unfair.
That being said Adu has not done himself any favors in recent years. Although his C/V shows that he has “played” for clubs like Benfica, AS Monaco, and Bahia he has struggled to find playing time for years for any European club. The last time that Adu really featured for a squad was with the Philadelphia Union in 2012. After seemingly restoring his career in 2012 with the Union, making 24 appearances scoring 5 goals, he fell out of favor with the club and was off again for another world adventure in 2013.
Despite everything that has happened to Adu he is still just 26 years old and still has plenty of footballing left in his career. He will also be playing with his former U.S. U-20 coach Thomas Rongen, one of the best coaches in U.S. Soccer history. Rongen is a former coach of D.C. United and famously coached American Samoa to their first-ever victory during World Cup qualifying.
If Adu is turn his career around he needs playing time and a coach that believes in him. Tampa is coming off of a strong 2015 spring season which saw the team finish second (5-4-1, 19 points) and score 15 goals (second-highest in the league). Adu has always been at his best as an attacking midfielder, when he can use his wizardry on the ball to find attackers in space. If Freddy can develop a rapport on the pitch with Stefano Pinho (5 goals) and Jose Angulo (3 goals) then the Rowdies will have a chance to challenge the New York Cosmos during the fall season.
Freddy Adu may never be the savior of U.S. Soccer but he still has the chance to be a respectable soccer player. Should he help the Rowdies win a fall season title and an NASL playoff spot then perhaps his story might have a happy ending.