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It's time to stop
calling Freddy Adu the next Pele. Instead of saddling the
14-year-old with a comparison he can never live up to, perhaps
it's better to think of him as the first Freddy Adu.
Adu is clearly gifted with a tender first touch, startling pace
and a playful imagination that makes him a joy to watch. He's
also got charisma, intelligence and a winner's attitude. That
doesn't mean he's going to score 1,200 career goals and win
three World Cups.
There is no such as thing as the next Pele, or the next Diego
Maradona, Johann Cruyff or Zinedine Zidane. They all occupy
their own pedestal and their genius can't be explained in
rationale terms, any more than you can explain the Beatles or
Beethoven. They haven't just played soccer, they re-defined it
for their generation and the ones that followed.
Can Adu achieve that? Maybe we'll know in 10 years.
Adu wasn't as good with the United States Under-20s last
Wednesday at Lockhart Stadium as he was with D.C. United two
weekends ago in Los Angeles, where he nearly scored a late
game-winner. Still, the friendly against a Haitian select team
was animated by his presence.
Adu's insistence in taking on defenders, and his ability to get
by them (at least the first one) emboldened his teammates to
make runs they might not otherwise try. He liberated the game
and brightened it with possibility, especially when he got the
ball in open space.
He had a similar effect on his three MLS games, each of which
was compelling and well-played. That should be enough for fans
right now.
The game in this country has been granted a gift. We'll miss its
value if we magnify Adu out of all sense of proportion. In three
years, he'll still only be 18 and we'll know better who to
compare him to.
My guess is he'll be more like Manchester United's Ryan Giggs or
France's Thierry Henry -- fleet, elegant and tireless going to
goal. Adu's own model of excellence is Brazil's Ronaldinho.
Forget about Pele. We should be so lucky to have an American who
might become as good as any of those current players.
A star is gorged
It's all too apparent that Maradona will eventually die
tragically rather than triumphantly. Maradona's condition has
improved from critical to serious since he was hospitalized last
Sunday with a swollen heart, but at age 43, the Argentine legend
appears to be going the way of Elvis Presley before he died --
addicted, bloated and sadly disengaged.
Arguably the game's greatest player, Maradona's years of cocaine
use have ruined his appearance and much of his reputation. In
the essay Miracles and Anthems (Harper's, January 2003),
Uruguayan author Eduardo Galeano aptly characterized Maradona's
rise and fall under the sub-head "Birth."
"At dawn, Dona Tota walked into a hospital in the barrio of
Lanus. She was carrying a child in her belly. In the entranceway
she found a star, in the form of a brooch, lying on the floor.
"The star sparkled on one side, not the other. That happens with
stars when they fall in the dirt and are left to wallow in it.
On one side they glow silver, conjuring up the nights of the
world; on the other side they're just plain tin.
"That star of silver and tin, gripped in her fist, accompanied
Dona Tota in labor.
"The newborn was named Diego Armando Maradona."
Notable
Haitian forward Jean-Phillippe Peguero and Jamaican
defender Tyrone Marshall provided a World Cup qualifying preview
with their respective MLS teams last Saturday. Peguero scored
for Colorado in a 1-1 draw against Los Angeles, but complained
afterwards that he couldn't get behind the Galaxy defense
because Marshall kept tugging at his jersey. Both players will
return home to family in Broward County when Haiti hosts Jamaica
on June 12 at the Orange Bowl. ...
Former Fusion defender Ivan McKinley was hospitalized with a
concussion after his first game with the A-League's Charleston
Battery. The league's newest team, the Puerto Rico Islanders,
drew more than 6,000 for its franchise opener, a 1-0 loss to
Toronto. ...
The United States "hosts" Mexico Wednesday night in Dallas,
where the crowd will be mostly Mexican. The United States will
field an MLS roster that will include Landon Donovan and
DeMarcus Beasley, while Mexico will counter with star forwards
Cuauhtemoc Blanco and Jared Borgetti.
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