By ADAM TROXTELL
While the latest saga of his career might be on the more obscure side, Freddy Adu is finding some success in Finland so far.
The 25-year-old American started and played 74 minutes minutes for Kuopion Palloseura (KuPS), and it turned into the club’s second straight win of the season. A 71st minute goal from Saku Savolainen handed KuPS a 1-0 win against VPS on Thursday to take the club to fifth place in the Finnish Veikkausliiga.
Adu started last week in KuPS’s 1-0 win against KTP over the weekend, though he was subbed off in the 65th minute. He has not featured on the score sheet so far, but Adu might get another chance on Sunday against PK Keski-Uusimaa in a Finnish League Cup game.
Adu joined KuPS at the end of March. It is his 10th different club to play for over an 11 year period.
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What do you make of Adu’s performances so far? How do you expect him to fare in Finland?
Share your thoughts below.
So far so good.
Bob Bradley, CAP HIM NOW!!!
Freddy actually looked pretty good against VPS. Still not 100% fit, but his touch was decent and he created a cpl of chances. Let’s see where he’s @ in a month.
Snarky comments to be expected I suppose, but can’t see why anyone would wish Adu anything but the best.
It would really make for a better world if folks grasped how frequently players who emerge at an earlier age don’t go on to have great careers. The Guardian recently ran a feature on the 10 youngest players to appear in the Premiership. If I remember correctly, only one, Aaron Lennon, has had any sort of decent career. I am sure there are all sorts of reasons, but one of the biggest is that players need lots of playing time at the right level to improve and so often young players don’t get that sort of opportunity — wrong coach, wrong type of team, too many other players who need playing time and so on.
“can’t see why anyone would wish Adu anything but the best.”
this had me stumped for a while as well, but someone here (think it was Rob re: Julian Green) admitted it simply came down to wanting to be Right On The Internet. they make a proclamation that “freddy’s done” or “julian’s all hype”, and then start tearing him down, hoping that will convince others that they were correct.
doesn’t make it any less pathetic, but at least it’s an explanation.
+100
I have nothing to add to that Nate….I think you pretty much covered it. It makes you wonder “why the hate”…..
Freddy has played maybe one or two “real” games in two years.
Anyone expecting him to have anything resembling game fitness is seriously unrealistic, never mind the fact that no one has ever accused Freddy of being a fitness freak.
I don’t think anyone hates him. Maybe his former managers do. US soccer media always follows him because his profile here remains high even though the interest is of the “inability to turn away from watching a car accident” variety.
A lot of people find his unrealistic fans for the most part seriously irrationally delusional. Anyone, as Jordan Morris just proved, can have a meaningful great game or two for the US. The real trick is sustaining it. We will see about Morris.
Freddy never could keep it up. It doesn’t matter what the “fans” wish for him. It matters more what he wants to do about his situation.
Adu is a flawed player, kid with some serious talent allied with some probably fatal holes in his game. Because he is “only” 25 many still think he can still turn it around. However, as a 10 -11 year senior professional his “game” does not appear to have evolved very much. After all that time certain habits become second nature and it seems like many of the habits Freddy acquired were bad ones.
I’d like to see him do well and eventually get a regular gig at a reasonable level, wherever that may be. Whether that is in the AL, CSL, JL, KL, RPL or UAEAGL, USL or with Real Madrid is irrelevant.
If he still wants a professional career at a reasonable level he needs counter his awful image by proving he can sustain a regular gig.
Beggars can’t be choosers and Finland is about as a good a place as any.
Please, listen to yourself. You assert that no one “hates” Adu but your posting reeks of hostility. Adu is just another young soccer player who took a risk, signed with a big club and didn’t find an environment where he could prosper. Europe is filled with them. Benfica alone has dozens of such young players under contract and most of them won’t make the big time. Only about 5% of the 16 year olds tied to big English clubs are still playing professional soccer when they are 21. Failing to make big time soccer is not the result, necessarily of character flaws or moral deficiencies. It says so much about the lack of knowledge and sophistication among American soccer fans that they expect every prodigy to pan out and acted shocked when it doesn’t happen. The conclusion to draw from Adu’s situation is that professional soccer is a brutally competitive occupation, not that Adu is necessarily a screw up.
Ian Woodville
As you say “Please, listen to yourself.”
Hostility? Where? Have you looked in a mirror?
This thread is not about Adu trying to make it in “big time soccer”.
It’s about him trying to get a job in soccer just about anywhere.
“The conclusion to draw from Adu’s situation is that professional soccer is a brutally competitive occupation, not that Adu is necessarily a screw up.”
No sh+t?
American fans may not have your level of knowledge and sophistication but they expected Adu to be something because the kid is seriously talented. You are saying Bob Bradley doesn’t know a talented soccer player when he sees one?
Adu’s fans are disappointed because it seems like at 25-26 the kid has to go to Finland to get someone to put him on a field on something approaching a regular basis
You do not get on the rosters of 11 clubs, some of them legendary like Benfica, in 10 years and still be under 26 years old if you are not seriously talented. You do not have 17 caps and 2 goals for the USMNT if you are not seriously talented.
Those same facts also indicate that for whatever reason, Adu has failed to take advantage of his serious talent. It is a reasonable assumption that either there is a fatal flaw in his “game” or he has some other defect, such as insufficient desire or suspect “professional” judgement on his part or on the part of the people advising him.
Adu could have been and may yet be “something”. That he is not one yet is a failure on his part. It doesn’t mean he is an axe murderer but it still is a failure.
Seriously, do you ever read what you have written and given a second thought? Someone does not succeed in a highly competitive profession, so it must be a character flaw on his part? Wow, that is so mean-spirited and, dare I say, ignorant. By your reckoning, most of the really young players who have appeared in the Premiership are all fundamentally flawed because their careers haven’t panned out (see my original post). Really! Again Europe is full of soccer players who have a fair bit of talent and yet are playing in the lower divisions if they are playing at all. Non-league sides all over England include players who were once on the books of Premiership teams. Do they all suffer from character flaws?
Ada’s strong suit is his passing ability but how many players have you seen recently whose best quality is their passing ability? Today’s West Ham-QPR game, for example, included almost no one. Of the midfielders, only Joey Barton seemed able to pass consistently. Cresswell left back for West Ham can pass well but when QPR wanted to shut him down they had Barton mug him on every occasion. Perhaps not two of the world’s best teams but still in the Premiership and I doubt whether many American players could make either roster.
Good passers who are not physically imposing don’t feature much in the modern game. In MLS only Justin Mapp comes to mind and he, not coincidently, has been the subject of more than a little of same sort of abuse that Adu receives.
“Seriously, do you ever read what you have written and given a second thought? ”
Take your own advice.
Freddie Adu is Kenny Powers. Made his money, wasted away his talent, and now makes his epic comeback just to drop the ball on the mound (whatever the soccer version of that is) and walk away into the sunset.
Looked more like he was dropping something else on the mound. Wow, that is a bad level of soccer…and he was somehow managing to be bad even there.
I think you can safely stick a fork in Freddy Adu. Which is a shame. There was a certain 45 minutes he played for the Philadelphia Union where I really, truly thought he was going to make it back. Then, of course, he ended up getting a red card for his second dive, went off in a truly spectacular display of childlike histrionics, and that was pretty much…that.
Dude did have the talent. The mentality…obviously not so much.
Don’t call it a comeback. Call it a career. Freddy just needs to get as much soccer played in the rest of his limited time as a professional footballer, and he’s found a place to do it. Hope he keeps it up. Forget Pele, forget the national team, forget winning world cups. He needs to find his level, and stick with it.
This is so sad. Looks like my Sunday league team.
is he getting more money playing for that team than any MLS team here?
Not unless he’s throwing games. This ‘league’ was semi-pro until a few years ago, when it was bought by a gambling house. That alone, of course, does prove anything, but if you want to see what happens when gamblers run a league, hang around a Miami Jai alai field sometime.
I love it. Keep it going Freddy!
The fact that this video was made and already has over 1,100 views is all you need to know about why outlets like SBI continue to pump out stories about him.
i laughed for 30 seconds straight after clicking on the link and realizing someone had made a video isolating all of his touches. i then proceeded to laugh as he spun and fell on the ground, tried a back heel that was way too far from his teammate and pretty much looked solidly average the whole time. and people want him on the Gold Cup team from just THAT???? wow…
Aliens come down to Earth and are threatening to destroy the planet. They challenge us to a soccer game for the fate of humanity. For whatever reason, you have to choose between Julian Green, Miguel Ibarra or Freddy Adu for one of your wide-attacking-midfield positions. Who out of those three do you select?
Simple Answer: MIKE DIt-KA!
The windy city thanks you.
Mini-Dit-ka or regular sized Dit-Ka?
Today-Ibarra, he’s gotten the most games recently and is sharp
A month from now- who knows. If Green starts getting games, probably him. If he doesn’t and Adu keeps playing, him. Also, who’s playing around them? None of them are known for defending, so I want to know who’s playing behind them.
You took this way too seriously.
+1
Nothing is more serious than the utter destruction of all life as we know it on the planet earth.
Who would be left to post on SBI?
Since you clarified the role as a wing player, probably Julian Green. But if you had just asked which of those three players, regardless of position, honestly – I’d select Freddy Adu. The guy has a history of doing nothing on the club level and then coming out of the woods and helping the national team. See: the 2011 Gold Cup.
Adu was the best player on that Gold Cup team
Best of luck to him.
Think I had more fans at a lot of my high school games, but I’m happy for the guy. Lived quite a life, made some good cash, traveled a bunch, living the dream, hope he can get back to relevance for his sake.
Well this is just down right amazing; not one but two games in one season! You think he will go for three? Impressive for a 26 year old player with 10 years professional experience.
Sarcasim as side; good for him, the sky is the limit for a consistent freddy adu.
When is the last time Adu received two straight starts? Perhaps in second division turkey?
Two straight starts? wow
LOL. I know right.
And here we thought he was making another insane choice. Perhaps he is achieving wisdom as he moves into his 40s.
wow, where have you been? thought you got banned or something; haven’t seen any comments from you in a while. granted, this “birther” comment isn’t one of your finest, but hey, it’s something.
Awesome, keep doing what you are going Adu. He is playing OK thus far, nothing special but just supporting the play (still a lot of falling down though…lol),
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BneC0iyjgY
The spin and flop is probably the highlight haha
Adu will always be our Pele
Thanks for the link. After watching that video, I’ve already seen all I need to see. Adu needs to be in that Gold Cup 23 man-roster! I can see the headline already: “Comeback kid Adu leads USA to Gold Cup glory”.
that can’t really be your thought after watching that video…..
great link! ok is a fair assessment, glad to see some defending/flowing up on loose balls in there. that other team looks like a Scottish team, so many hacking tackles.
I hope you guys are being sarcastic. That speed of play was pretty slow, and even so Adu’s first touch is really, really rusty. I wonder what an ACC school team could do in this Finland league.
He is absolutely not match fit from those highlights. His touch and sense of awareness/spacing is off. Not really surprising since he hasn’t played top level soccer for a while now.
He is misused as an outside midfielder; doesn’t have quickness and down the field speed to beat players. I meant his quickness is off due to not being match fit. He needs to play as #9 under the foward. He is deadly in the box, not outside of it.
When he gets more games under his belt, he will get the playing rhythm/touch back.