Hard to be normal

Adu, 14, joins U.S. roster for U-20 World Cup

Freddy Adu poses with his mother Emelia Adu holding a D.C. United jersey. AP More on Freddy Adu Complete Freddy Adu Timeline Grant Wahl: Adu signing an MLS coup Wahl: Adu takes the stage Wahl: As good as advertised at U-17s Wahl: Agent fields offers at U-17s Wahl: The beauty of Freddy SI Flashback: The world at his feet SI Flashback: Will U.S. fall for Adu? VIDEO: Adu raising U.S. hopes

NEW YORK (AP) -- Like millions of other kids, Freddy Adu will be driven to soccer practice by his mom next spring. Not much else is ordinary about this 14-year-old phenom.

Sure, he loves to listen to rappers Eminem and 50 Cent, has posters of David Beckham and Maradona in his room and lists Lord of the Rings as his favorite movie.

But Adu was the only teenage soccer player receiving an invitation from coach Thomas Rongen on Wednesday to join the U.S. under-20 team in the upcoming FIFA World Youth Championship.

And no other teen player will make hundreds of thousands of dollars in the United States and has been called everything from the next Pele to the LeBron James of MLS.

"If you're good enough, you're old enough," Adu said Wednesday, a day after signing with Major League Soccer. "If you feel like you're ready to go, hey, give it a shot."

Pending official FIFA approval, Adu will replace injured San Jose Earthquakes player Arturo Alvarez on the 20-player roster that will compete in the FIFA World Youth Championship in the United Arab Emirates from Nov. 27-Dec. 19.

The U.S. submitted its official tournament roster to FIFA on Nov. 14, but any listed player can be substituted with FIFA approval in the event of injury up to 24 hours in advance of a team's first match.

Alvarez has been suffering with a groin injury for the past two weeks and had a physical today with the San Jose medical staff that ruled him out of the tournament.

"This is a great disappointment for myself and the team, and obviously for Arturo," said Rongen. "After looking closely at the situation, though, it became apparent that Arturo was not going to be able to go to the UAE at 100 percent. He has been a big part of this team and we know that we will miss his contribution greatly."

Alvarez played in 13 games over the past two years with the U.S. Under-20s, nine of which were international matches. The 18-year-old forward became an integral part of the team during 2003, being named to the roster for all three of the international tournaments the Under-20s competed in across the U.S., Portugal and Spain.

"We are fortunate to be able to bring a player like Freddy into the team as it is a natural fit for us and he has similar qualities to Arturo," added Rongen. "I think he can provide us with the same type of play in terms of ball handling and effectiveness as a weapon off the bench."

Adu is currently in residency with the Under-17 team in Florida.

"I am extremely, extremely excited to be able to represent my country again in a world championship," said Adu. "When I represented the U.S. at the U-17 World Championship, I always thought, 'You never know when you will get another chance, it may never come.' And now, I am getting another chance, right away. I am very grateful for the opportunity and looking forward to it."

Adu's only appearance with the U.S. Under-20 team was against Japan on Oct. 8, in a friendly at a training field at The Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. Adu came on as a substitute in the 74th minute as the U.S. fell 2-1.

The team will travel to UAE on Nov. 22 and conduct a week of training before the tournament.

MLS ready for Freddy

Adu will start his career with D.C. United, hoping to earn a place in the starting lineup and play his way onto the U.S. team for the 2006 World Cup, which starts a week after his 17th birthday.

"I like to think of myself as having a pretty good chance," he said.

Already, MLS is ready for Freddy. His new team's opener on April 3 will be televised nationally by ABC. What viewers could see is a boy showing rare speed and skill against men.

At 5-foot-8 and 140 pounds, Adu looks too small to be a pro, but there's time for him to fill out.

"He's a very graceful athlete. His first touch and his vision are outstanding for a player of his age," U.S. national team coach Bruce Arena said.

Adu, who left Ghana in 1997 and became a U.S. citizen in February, was introduced by MLS at Madison Square Garden, where the soccer world gathered 12 years earlier for the preliminary draw for the 1994 World Cup.

He sounds far more mature than most 14-year-olds; he's scheduled to finish high school in March. But when you're regarded as the top soccer prospect in America -- the world, according to MLS deputy commissioner Ivan Gazidis -- it's tough to be just another teenager.

"It's been pretty hard, I guess, but I have fun with it," Adu said. "Sometimes you go out, you want to have fun with your friends and stuff, but you go out, people recognize you and just swarm you, and you've got to start to give autographs."

Manchester United, Chelsea and PSV Eindhoven tried to sign him, according to his agent, Richard Motzkin. But if he had gone to Europe, soccer's complicated rules probably would have limited him to a youth team rather than a top club until 2007, when he turns 18.

In MLS, he can play as soon as DC United thinks he's ready. It also allows him to stay at home.

"It just gives me chance to be me, really, be with my family and just be a normal kid," he said. "Everyone is like, 'Oh, could you have signed with European teams?' I could have, but I decided not to because I have a long way to go, and I want to mature and be at home for a little bit. And when the right time comes, I get the opportunity to go."

MLS gave him a four-year contract with a two-year league option. While no details were disclosed, league officials say that for "special" players, there are marketing agreements that give them more than the maximum salary, $280,000.

If he gets on the field with D.C. United next season, Adu would become the youngest player for a major American team since 14-year-old Fred Chapman debuted for Philadelphia of major league baseball's American Association in 1887, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

In a way, Adu's life will be more normal starting next year. He's mostly been away from his Maryland home since early 2002 to take part in the U.S. Under-17 team's residency program in Bradenton, Fla. He looks forward to returning home.

His neighborhood is far different than his surroundings growing up in Tema, Ghana.

Adu started kicking a ball when he was about 2 1/2 and learned to play in bare feet on fields littered with rocks and broken bottles, he said.

He came to the United States after his mother, Emelia, won a State Department visa lottery, hoping to improve the education of her two boys. Adu has a 12-year-old brother, Fro.

At first, he tried other sports. "I was hooked on basketball for a while," he said. At other times he thought it had been a mistake to move from Ghana, where soccer is king.

"It got to a point where I was just like, 'Oh, God, I'm never going to get a chance to play and have fun like I used to,"' he said. "But you know what, I was wrong about that."

It will take years for Adu to show whether he's soccer's next great star. Arena said it was impossible to forecast just how good Adu will be.

"There are young athletes in every sport in this country and around the world that are highly regarded by the adults at early ages that never meet the expectations of the adults," he said.