Paul Oberjuerge at the New York Times Goal blog has a nice interview with Freddy Adu today, in which Freddy says all the right things.
Quotes, with my thoughts on the matter, after the jump.
“I’m fine,” Adu said Friday afternoon at the hotel where the United States national team is staying here. “A lot of people probably think because I’m not playing a lot that my confidence is low, or this and that. No. I’m fine. Confidence is at where it should be right now. I’m training very, very hard and if the coach calls my name, I’ll get out there and do what I can do to help the team, try to make a difference. And if he doesn’t call my name, I just keep working. And that’s the mentality I’ve taken on.”
It's been said before, but I'll go ahead and mention it again. The kid is nineteen years old. Despite that fact, plenty of National Team fans have written him off, given up on him ever becoming a worthwhile player. While I'm not of that opinion, I can certainly understand it; Freddy's exit from MLS wasn't exactly smooth, and he's barely sniffed the field at either Benfica or Monaco. The recent ousting of Monaco's club president, the man responsible for obtaining Freddy, hasn't helped matters (Jerome de Bontin, who carried the interim tag).
Freddy addressed the age issue directly, pointing out that his pro experience doesn't carry much weight with Monaco's coaching staff.
“Obviously, I’m at the beginning of my career, contrary to what anyone else thinks,” he said. “I’m 19 years old. In any other country, everywhere else, you’re a prospect. And that’s what I am right now in Europe. I’m a prospect. I’m not a seasoned veteran. They don’t see me as somebody who has played five years as a professional already. They see me as one of the prospects and I have to earn my way into the team and into the lineup, and that’s what I’m in the process of doing.”
Freddy's confidence appears to be bolstered by his call up to the Nats, and while it's unlikely he'll play (we'll get to BB's quote on that in a moment), training for a WCQ with the full A squad has to make himself feel better about things. I'm guessing the kid is a lot more frustrated then he is letting on, though give him points for being professional about it. Everyone that wants to bury him should at least admit that he's showing the right attitude. Whether or not that means he ever reaches some level of quality is yet to be seen.
On to Bradley's quote about Freddy getting a call up:
“No part of a qualifying match includes in any way the idea that it’s a great time to look at someone,” Bradley said. “We’re playing to win. Playing with the maturity we need to have to play and win and hopefully get to the World Cup final.”
That first sentence is possibly to most convoluted thing a National Team coach has ever said, and my head is still spinning after reading it. Still, it's fairly clear that Bob's just saying that qualifying matches are serious business, and that young inexperienced players are unlikely to get much run (or, get ready for Ching up top again).
“I believe the perception, the U.S. fan’s perception of Europe is a little different,” he said. “When you’re there and you see the day-in-day-out way of it, you see how good some of these players are and how good the competition is. It’s not easy. At all. People really do think you can just walk in and play and it really doesn’t work that way. Take two players, look at myself and Jozy. We’re in the same situation. And even Michael Bradley. Michael Bradley goes from Herrenveen where he scores something like 20 goals or whatnot and goes to Germany, and he was playing in spurts, at one point, until they started starting him. Finally being a full-time starter. It’s not easy. You’ve really gotta earn it. You really have to grind it out. And that’s what we’re trying to do. That’s what I’m trying to do.”
He's got a point about Jozy, one that I've made here before. Jozy is up against the same challenges as Freddy, and it would be difficult to say who is in the better situation. As for Bradley, it appears he's ruined the curve for Jozy and Freddy; while he had to work himself in at Gladbach after moving from Herrenveen, he's still managed to work his way into the starting lineup. American fans will have less patience for what's happening with Adu and Altidore when Bradley is actually playing and they're not.
Still, I've yet to give up on Freddy, and I'm hoping things change for the better in the not-to-distant future. The prospect of a return to MLS has been mentioned, and while I think it would be good for the league, I'm not sure Freddy would be too keen on the idea. It's pretty clear that he still believes he can prove himself in Europe, and it's not quite time to throw in the towel.
