Freddy Adu Limps Back to Portugal

Freddy Adu was carrying a limp as he made his way through the tunnel beneath RFK Stadium Wednesday night. The 20-year-old midfielder had played 64 indifferent minutes for the U.S. national team in its CONCACAF Gold Cup match against Honduras. It was his replacement, Charlie Davies, who was part of the combination that ultimately unlocked the visitors' defense and helped the Americans to a 2-0 win.

It smelled like a lost opportunity, and in fact, it turned out that Adu's Gold Cup was over. U.S. coach Bob Bradley announced, and Adu confirmed, that he is on his way back to Portugal to join Benfica for its preseason. After a quiet year with the Portuguese power and an anonymous one-year loan with Monaco, one is left to wonder when the former prodigy, now a pro for five years, is going to make an impact.

Adu was on the Confederations Cup roster but didn't play. "It's been hard for him with his club teams, and it's very difficult when you're not playing regularly to come in and perform at the level of the games that we played in South Africa," Bradley told reporters this week in Washington.

But the Gold Cup presented a more realistic opportunity. Grenada is hardly Brazil. So Freddy was given the chance to direct the U.S. attack in last Saturday's opener and, while outshone by Columbus Crew midfielder Robbie Rogers, fared reasonably well. He scored his second international goal and looked relatively comfortable against very inferior opposition.

Then Wednesday night against Honduras, a far more capable opponent, Freddy drifted. Playing up top with Brian Ching, Adu struggled to find space and time to demonstrate his considerable ball skills and often seemed bottled up and stifled. He still does not seem to have the size or the speed to separate himself consistently from decent defenders. He hit a few nice corners and had a seven-yard header in the 34th minute that forced a save from Honduras goalkeeper Donis Escober, but was the obvious candidate for removal when Bradley decided to make a change in the 64th minute of a 0-0 game.

It was unclear why Adu was limping and whether or not that injury hampered him last night. But there is no denying that Adu needs to start making an impact, wherever he plays. I first met him when he was a 12-year-old in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, and he had made national news for piquing the interest of Inter Milan. I covered him when he played for his small private high school team and after he joined D.C. United in the spring of 2004. The expectations and pressure put on the kid were totally unreasonable -- anointing him as the "savior" of U.S. soccer was ridiculous. But now he is 20 and is a seasoned professional. It's time for Adu to step up and perform.

"Obviously, it's important to get preseason in with your team," he told FanHouse Wednesday night when asked about his return to Europe. "It gives you the best chance of being a part of the team for this season so both the coaching staffs, my coaching staff here obviously and the coaching staff in Portugal, thought it was important."

He said he has not yet spoken personally to Benfica's new coach, Jorge Jesus, who was hired last month. Adu said his agent had been in touch with Benfica staff, and he seemed confident that he would get a chance to show what he could do. He scored twice in about a dozen appearances for the Portuguese club in 2007-08, but played even less for Monaco.

"There's reports in the papers that I might get my chance in Benfica," Adu told reporters this week. "I know they're watching ... I have a friend in Portugal who was telling me [the goal against Grenada] was all over the news and whatnot ... So they do watch. You can't take anything for granted."

He admitted this week that he had taken several things for granted early on, when the Freddy hype far outweighed the substance. "I haven't always gone about it in the right way," he said. "But now, and in the past couple years, I've really sat down, basically just thought about everything, and I'm really just trying to apply everything, to be a better professional. It all starts with habits. You have to change certain habits you have when you're a kid."

Speaking to NBC's Universal Sports, Adu said: "Going to Europe opened my eyes. In Europe, you're just another young player regardless of how famous you are or how much money you earn. They're going to treat you like any other young player so you really have to fight for your place. Going through that has made me a much stronger person and a much better practice player. I'm taking training a hell of a lot more seriously now as compared to back in the day when decisions did go my way more often."

It remains to be seen whether or not that's just talk or if Freddy really has seen the light. Although to blame his stuttering career on attitude and training habits actually may be the easy way out. It may be that his skill set simply doesn't translate to the professional, 11 v. 11 game. That could be the harsh reality. It's time for Adu to start proving otherwise.

It has been mentioned here before, but it's worth noting the success of Charlie Davies, the Boston College product who got his experience playing at humble Hammarby of the Swedish league starting in early 2007. No headlines or spotlights there, just games. And his performance in South Africa demonstrated how important getting games can be.

"I think it's important for players to be playing," Davies said last night. "If you want to continue to develop as a player I think it's really important that you get games in and are able to work on the parts of the game that you weak at. So I think every player is different, of course, with the club situation, sometimes maybe the coach isn't rooting for you but some guys I think are really taking it seriously this upcoming season and look forward to playing and making a difference."

Adu should take note, and if he doesn't see the field regularly in Lisbon, he should be willing to go anywhere he can play, whether it's Sweden, Bulgaria or back to MLS. He needs to play.

"It was very important to be to be part of the Confederations Cup roster because I got to be there and I got to see basically the 'action'. I had a front row seat for all of that," Adu told FanHouse. "It was important because that's where I want to be as a player and to see the way those teams play ... and the guys that are playing in the position I play. To see the way the guys play, you learn a lot from it and I'm just happy I was there to be a part of something very special.

"And I'm happy to be a part of this Gold Cup roster too because, thank goodness, I got a couple of games in. You just have to keep working hard and take it one step at a time and hopefully you get there. But obviously the most important thing is playing."

Bradley obviously knows that and is letting him leave when the tournament is only two games old. Adu realizes it as well. Now is the time, not later, when he must make it happen.