As good as advertised

U-17 opener couldn't have been better for Adu, U.S. team

LAHTI, Finland -- A hat trick by Freddy Adu. A 6-1 win over a feared South Korea team. A two-point lead in Group D. The U.S. couldn’t have asked for more from its opening game here in the Under-17 World Championship. Let’s dive right into some Q&A:

Q: Was Adu as good as advertised?

A: No doubt. The 14-year-old U.S. prodigy scored a remarkable goal to equalize at 1-1 in the first half. With his team reeling from an 11th-minute own goal, Adu took a pass 45 yards from the South Korean goal, blazed through a thicket of enemy defenders and beat goalkeeper Cha Ki-Seok with the strike of the tournament so far. It was a holy s---, world-class goal, the kind that would cause even mainstream American sports fans to take notice.

The crazy thing is, even though Adu added two more late goals, he was probably right when he said he could have been better. The U.S. coaches told me afterward that Adu got overly frustrated with South Korea’s physical play and started going down too easily in attempts to draw fouls.

As they added, though, it’s hard to be critical after such a scintillating performance by both Adu and the team. American soccer fans can’t help but be giddy at the prospect of seeing Adu in a national team jersey for the next two decades. While I try not to make too many comparisons between Adu and LeBron James, there’s a parallel between today’s U.S. game (shown on Spanish-language Galavision, Freddy’s first game action on national TV) and the first time James appeared on national TV last December.

As was the case with James, people can hear the hype about a special talent for only so long; ultimately, they need to see it with their own eyes. Thanks to Galavision, hardcore American soccer fans were able to see Adu today, and they certainly weren’t disappointed.

Q: Which other American players impressed?

A: A number of Yanks had good games -- forward Jamie Watson, midfielder Eddie Gaven, defender Jonathan Spector -- but one guy who really stood out was defensive midfielder Danny Szetela. During the game, I was sitting with scouts from several English Premier League teams who are smitten with Szetela -- at 16, the second-youngest player on the U.S. team behind Adu. Big, strong and fast with excellent anticipation on defense, the New Jersey native is a handful. Plus, one U.S. coach tells me Szetela is eligible for a Polish passport, which would make moving to Europe much, much easier. Considering Szetela wasn’t even in the starting lineup a few months ago, his ascendance is impressive.

Q: Were there any concerns at all?

A: Well, the main one is yellow cards. The U.S. absorbed three cautions on Thursday, all of them to top players (Adu, Spector and Szetela) and all of them after the Americans had gone up 3-1 in the 54th minute. That shows a lack of experience in these types of tournaments, in which the last thing you want to do is to put yourself in danger of missing elimination games by drawing a second yellow.

For all of his bona fides as a pro with the L.A. Galazy, I didn’t see as much as I expected from playmaker Memo González. He drifted a lot, and he needs to make more of an impact Sunday against Sierra Leone.

Q: Speaking of which, how do you see that game unfolding?

A: Sierra Leone is legit, judging from its electric 3-3 tie against Spain -- in which Spain went up 2-0 early, only to go down a man, watch the Sierra Stars go up 3-2 … and then equalize late. Striker Samuel Barlay made sure Adu wasn’t alone atop the scoring charts, providing a hat trick of his own, and you can’t help but smile over the quality play by a country that is only now beginning to recover from a devastating 10-year civil war.

In fact, Sierra Leone brought a chaming little four-page press kit that included some sweet club names for its players (Real Friends, Ports Authority FC, Real Republicans FC) and some disarmingly honest bio info on coach Musa Kallon ("He is just a high school graduate.") Kallon -- whose brother Mohamed has played for Inter Milan -- happens to be the coach of Kallon FC.

To go back to the original question, I see another high-scoring game that will pit Sierra Leone’s manifold technical and attacking skills against the U.S.’s superior organization (and a few attackers of its own). Should be an entertaining match.

Q: Can this U.S. win it all?

A: It’s hard to say after one game, but the Americans did beat a South Korea team that 1) had torn through some solid opponents in preparation for this tournament, and 2) whitewashed this same U.S. side 3-0 just two months ago. With kids these age, emotions tend to be more unpredictable and swing wildly at times, so you never know. But from my conversations with the American coaching staff, they feel even better about this team’s cohesiveness than they did with that of the 1999 team featuring Landon Donovan, DaMarcus Beasley and Bobby Convey. That crew reached the U-17 world semifinals. This one might have what it takes as well.

 

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