U.S. soccer fans have been waiting for this one for a long time. At an early age, child soccer supernova-turned-implosion Freddy Adu was consumed whole by the hype machine of U.S. soccer. He fizzled out, and now, finally, he's starting to admit a twinge of regret.In an exclusive interview with Ives Galarcep, published on Goal.com today, the now 26-year-old Adu made mention of a comeback (as he has in the past, ad nauseam)—but this time was different. He also spoke to the cause of his failures:"Everything that I've been through and everything that hurt my career, I brought it on myself because I didn't dedicate enough time to it," Adu said. "You can say, 'Oh, I had a lot too early,' or say whatever you want. But at the end of the day we all need to grow up at some point, and that has just all hit me this offseason. It really did."In 2004, at age 14, Adu became the youngest American to play professional sports in any league in 100 years. He was hailed as the next Pele, was dating a pop star, and held a $1 million sponsorship with Nike. But, in over a decade of squandered potential, the Ghanaian-American bounced around from MLS to Benfica, in Portugal—where he was subsequently loaned out to French, Turkish, and Greek teams—then back to MLS, only to get sent off to the Brazilian league, a Serbian league, then on to … need I go on?Many people blamed the hype itself, claiming that he was too young to handle the pressure. Maybe the world coddled him too much, thus setting him up for failure? In the interview with Galarcep, Adu says, "It wasn't my choice or decision to be compared to Pele when I came into [MLS]." On the other hand, people have also pointed to Adu's lack of drive as the real issue.In the interview, Adu claims that he has finally found something of a stride in the NASL with the Tampa Bay Rowdies (check out this lovely assist), who have nurtured him. Now he sees that environment as a sort of a launching pad. After all, given the typical expiration date of a soccer player, Adu could still have close to a decade of playing time ahead of him."I've looked back on these past few years and I've wasted a lot of time, wasted years of my career, just not dedicating the time I should have to the sport," Adu says. "That's time wasted. Lucky for me, I started so early that time wasted doesn't mean I'm 33 or 34 and it's too late for me. I'm only 26 and I can change and correct the things I've done wrong, and that's what I'm focused on right now."Hopefully he can get back some of the spark we all saw in him way back when.
Advertisement