Silence

If you closed your eyes and listened, you would hear nothing. The reverberations of the emergence of Freddy Adu have gone largely unnoticed by public America. If you didn’t stalk the Bigsoccer forums for a play by play thread or catch an illegal Japanese TV stream of the Benfica games you would know nothing. But that is the beauty of American Soccer, so unknown yet it can be so prevalent.

Don’t expect the silence to last much longer. It is already breaking across the shores. With his goal yesterday, Freddy Adu is now the third leading scorer in all competitions for the storied Portuguese club S.L. Benfica, all coming in limited substitution minutes. With all of these goals, Freddy has managed to tie or win the game. Pure impact on demand is what he is providing, and the Benfica supporters and club are embracing. But let’s pretend your just a normal ole’ American, you don’t watch much soccer, let alone the Portuguese league.

Ah, but you say you have heard of Manchester United and Real Madrid. Or you say you stopped watching after the USA bombed out of the World Cup. Yes, you have also heard of Freddy Adu, but only a few years ago, “What happened to that kid?” The silence you hear is the irrelevance, that is soon about to be washed away.

What Freddy Adu has done in his very limited time at Benfica has been flat out astounding. A few years ago, every US Soccer fan would plan out the career of Freddy Adu, starting at his ripe age of 14. Many dreamed he would end up as one of the best players in the world when he hit his prime. Well, his career has not been the fairytale some envisioned when he first showed up at Bradenton, nicknamed by some “The Next Pele”. But the fairytale is written by the author, who are you to say he isn’t in the midst of writing fairytale right now?

Freddy is entering that phase most of us knew he could, he is simply too gifted not too. The other things are there now, the motivation was not there in the MLS. It was an awkward situation for such a talented kid. While his soccer prodigy peers were off in storied youth academies around Europe, he was stuck in the MLS trying to live up to unattainable expectations.

The silence is lingering, but not for long. The murmur will grow to a roar. If the hard work continues, the impact will follow. Many envisioned Freddy to go from teenager to a world soccer icon, the in-between was what was left out. That is what Freddy is writing now. It could be a short chapter. World football and super clubs are on notice. America is waiting