Throwback: Freddy Adu scores his first professional goal
One-time soccer phenom Freddy Adu scored in D.C. United’s 3–2 loss to the New York Metrostars on April 17, 2004 and became the youngest player to record a goal in MLS history.
Freddy Adu was popularly dubbed “the next Pele,” signed a Nike contract worth $1 million and joined D.C. United on a $500,000 salary all before his 15th birthday — but you know how this story goes.
The one-time soccer phenom never lived up to the hype. Sure, there were flashes of brilliance in Major League Soccer and at the youth and senior international levels, and former U.S. men’s national team head coach Bruce Arena even seemed open to the idea of making Adu part of the U.S.’s 2006 FIFA World Cup squad. But overall, Adu’s 14-year professional playing career is the story of talented young kid who was pushed too far into the spotlight and failed to deliver in almost every setting. A player, now 30, that has represented 10 teams in nine countries over the last 10 years.
Was it a marketing ploy to make Adu, then 14, the youngest professional athlete in America when Major League Soccer arranged for him to be taken with the first overall pick of the 2004 MLS Superdraft by D.C. United?
Probably.
But they also sold it well. The overwhelming majority of coaches didn’t express skepticism in Adu’s abilities. At the time, D.C. United had a habit of signing budding teenagers as well, like Santino Quaranta and Bobby Convey, who both went on to represent the club’s first team and the U.S. national team.
Adu got to play, too. He appeared in the 2004 D.C. United season opener and in every regular season game that year. His first goal came on April 17, 2004 in a 3–2 loss to the New York Metrostars, when he made a late run into the penalty area to slide in Josh Gros’ cross from the left side of the box. He scored five goals in the regular season, converted a penalty kick in the 2004 Eastern Conference finals, and came off the bench at MLS Cup 2004, which D.C. won 3–2 against the Kansas City Wizards.
Adu lasted two more seasons with D.C., got traded to Real Salt Lake, played in the U-20 FIFA World Cup and 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, and eventually joined Portuguese powerhouse Benfica on a $2 million transfer.
From there, it was downhill. Adu made 11 appearances for Benfica from 2007–11, going on loan three times and striking out at each landing spot. He waded from Portugal, to France, back to Portugal, to Greece, to Turkey, and then back to MLS with the Philadelphia Union in 2011. His nomadic streak restarted in 2013 when he joined Bahia in Brazil, then Jagodina in Serbia the next year, then KuPS in Finland the year after that, then the Tampa Bay Rowdies a few months later. Then came a two-year hiatus, followed by one season with Las Vegas Lights of the USL Championship.
Adu hasn’t played since 2018. With the exception of his stint in Philadelphia, he hasn’t appeared in more than 14 games with a single team since he left D.C. United in 2006.
