Ready for Freddy?

At 14, Freddy Adu is already the highest paid and most celebrated player in MLS. Now it's time for him to play his first game

By Grant Wahl

A creative scoring threat with the U.S. under-17 team, Adu is pointing to his D.C. debut on April 3. Eric Miller/Getty Images

"Show me."

Giggling like a teenager, his old-school fade cut glistening in the Tampa sun, Pelé -- global soccer ambassador, three-time world champion, ageless Viagra pitchman -- lobs a pass onto Freddy Adu's left foot. It's a perfectly weighted ball, as light as a baby's kiss, and yet it also embodies an anvil of expectations.

Show me.

They've only just met, the 63-year-old icon and the 14-year-old phenom, the best of all time and the prodigy whose besotted admirers -- from red-ink-stained MLS executives to corporate sponsors to wishful U.S. fútbol  fans -- envision him leading soccer's long-awaited charge into the American sports mainstream. On this sun-drenched day a few weeks before Freddy's April 3 debut for D.C. United on ABC, Pelé's request, playful as it may seem, echoes the demands of soccer observers from Maryland to Madrid.

Show me.

Freddy smiles and springs into action. Pop-pop-pop. Just like that, the anvil melts. It's all there: left foot, right foot, instep, outstep, a quick header and then another pop back to the master. "His left foot is fantastic," Pelé says, marveling at a precociousness that reminds him of his own. "It's like Mozart," he says. "Mozart started when he was five years old. If you are good, you are good. God gave Freddy the gift to play soccer. If he is prepared mentally and physically, nobody will stop him."

When Adu takes the field against the San Jose Earthquakes next week at Washington's RFK Stadium, he will do so as the youngest athlete in U.S. professional team sports in more than a century. A naturalized American citizen by way of Ghana (SI, March 3, 2003), he is fast becoming the first male U.S. player with crossover appeal. Some 2,000 Freddy!-screaming fans greeted the arrival of D.C.'s bus for his first exhibition last month in Tampa, where an overflow crowd climbed trees and fences to watch him perform. More than a dozen football stars, including Heisman Trophy finalist Eli Manning and Dallas Cowboys safety Roy Williams, have requested adu jerseys after seeing him play on the IMG Academies campus in Bradenton, Fla., where for the last two years he has lived and pursued his high school studies as part of the U.S. Soccer Federation's residency program. Already MLS's highest paid player (a $500,000 salary for each of the next four years, guaranteed), Freddy has been interviewed for 60 Minutes, chatted with Letterman and done that emblem of teeny-bopper cool, MTV's Total Request Live.

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To say that advertisers are excited by Freddy's potential, charisma and Magic Johnson smile would be an understatement. It's why Pepsi paid beaucoup bucks to bring Adu and Pelé together for a Sierra Mist commercial, and why Nike chairman Phil Knight, who signed Freddy to a $1 million endorsement deal last year, believes Adu could accomplish more in some respects than (take a deep breath) the Mount Swooshmore of Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods and LeBron James. "They have done great things within what you would call established American sports," Knight says. "Freddy has the potential to bring soccer almost for the first time into the public's consciousness. Soccer in the United States isn't really part of the culture. What it needs, I think, is a superhero, and he clearly could be it. Now, that's putting a lot of pressure on him, but the kid's got all the potential to do that."

When the head of a multibillion-dollar corporation speaks of you in such outsized terms, the message is exhilarating -- and a little terrifying. "It's pretty hard not to get caught up in it," Freddy admits. "Sometimes I have off days when I get too caught up in it. But that's why I have my family and my friends and my agent, to remind me of that." If that isn't enough, Adu's accelerated high school program set up by IMG, the Edison Academic Center -- through which he will earn his diploma next month -- has included community service at a child-care center, which requires another form of superhero work: taking three-year-olds to the bathroom.

We've grown accustomed to crowning teenage sports royalty in the 21st century, as if the instant success of our Chosen Ones -- 19-year-old James, 14-year-old Michelle Wie, 19-year-old Carmelo Anthony -- was somehow preordained. It's not. Former Olympic track champion Michael Johnson, who now works as a sports consultant, has met with Freddy several times to discuss the coming storm. "If you're a big star in a small sport in America, then you're going to be even more the center of attention," Johnson says. "I've tried to explain to Freddy that there's a lot of good but also a lot of bad that can go along with the position he's in. He has the opportunity to do what he loves and create a good future for himself and his family. But at 14 years old he's got more responsibility than most adults have. The odds are against anyone in that position, to be honest."

In Tampa, meanwhile, Pelé (who made his World Cup debut at 17) offered Freddy more advice. "Listen, you have become well-known all over the world," he said. "Now things will become more difficult. People will start looking at you. Coaches will look at you. The crowd will ask for more. You'll get a good contract and do commercials, and the people will start to press. So now is the time to be careful."

For all the hoopla, in fact, nobody is sure how good Freddy will be this season. Youth need not be an obstacle to soccer success; Pelé, Ronaldo and Diego Maradona, to name three superstars, were all thriving pros by age 17. (Closer to home, 22-year-old Landon Donovan has led the Earthquakes to two of the past three MLS crowns.) Adu certainly backed up his rep at last year's under-17 and under-20 world championships -- dangerous on the ball, he was the youngest player in both -- and U.S. coach Bruce Arena said Freddy "didn't look out of place" when he trained with the senior national team for the first time last month.

Questions abound, however. Can Freddy's 5'7", 148-pound frame withstand challenges from defenders more than twice his age? Will the publicity onslaught turn into an unbearable burden? And will fans, no doubt spoiled by LeBron, Carmelo and Michelle, turn on Adu should he struggle as a rookie?

"I think I could be an impact player this season," says Freddy, who has trained with United occasionally over the past two years. "When I'm out on the field, I'm not scared of anyone. I'm just going to move the ball -- boom-boom, one-touch, two-touch -- and when the right time comes and I've got somebody one-on-one, I'll take him. But I'm not always going to have the greatest game of my life. There's going to be games when I absolutely suck. That happens to everybody. So it'll be up to me to regroup and try to find a way to bounce back."

Early indications from D.C. United's preseason training were encouraging. Like any rookie, Freddy carried the ball bags and the water jugs without being told. He said all the right things about needing to earn his playing time and his teammates' respect. His only misstep came when he failed to persuade second-year striker Alecko Eskandarian to surrender his number 11 uniform. "Alecko's been wearing number 11 his whole life," says Adu, who will wear number 9 instead. "Everything's cool. If you want something, you have to work hard for it." It's worth noting, however, that Freddy still signs his autographs with the tagline usa #11.

For the time being, Adu must perform a tricky balancing act, practicing humility on the sideline and go-for-it bravado on the ball. "As much as it has to be a team on the field, it has to be you somewhat," Freddy says. "Because you want to crack the starting lineup, you want to be on the field when April 3 comes." That prospect seems assured. Adu has started every preseason game for which he has dressed, alternating between the withdrawn forward and slashing right-sided midfield positions.

First-year United coach Peter Nowak, a former Chicago Fire star who began his pro career in Poland at age 15, seems ideally cast for overseeing Adu's development. "Freddy's first two weeks were great," Nowak says. "He understands that the team comes first, and that everyone who deserves to be in the lineup will be on the field." If Nowak has a concern these days, it's that Adu has spent too much time in the weight room -- he has added 10 pounds of muscle in recent months. "We need Freddy to be Freddy, to be untouchable for defenders," Nowak says. "If he's built up like Arnold Schwarzenegger, he'll lose his speed and defenders will hit him anyway. He needs to grow naturally."

As for Adu's teammates, the adjustment to Freddy Mania has gone as smoothly as they could have hoped. "His ability on the ball is incredible," says 35-year-old veteran Earnie Stewart. "He's a great kid, too. I just hope he still gets to be a kid." Adds 26-year-old United midfielder Ben Olsen, "I wouldn't say he's taking over games, but he's done things that have blown some minds."

Now that Adu has earned the confidence of his team, he can focus on a more imposing challenge: his opponents, many of them veterans earning five-figure salaries, who may resent his newfound wealth and attention. "I'm going to have a big X on my back now, because some of these guys have been in the league a long time, and here comes this 14-year-old kid making this amount of money," Adu says. "But I didn't think it was going to be easy when I made this decision, and I'm ready for it. There's going to be a lot of mouthing off at me and a lot of hacking. That's part of the game."

In some ways, though, Freddy's new environment will make his life easier. For the last two years he has been away from his mother, Emelia, and 12-year-old brother, Fro, who remained in Potomac, Md., when he headed to Florida. Soon all three Adus (they immigrated to the U.S. in 1997 with Freddy's father, Maxwell, who no longer lives with them) will move into a new house in suburban Rockville, Md. The five-bedroom spread includes an opulent kitchen -- the better for Emelia to make Freddy's favorite jollof rice, a Ghanaian stew made with meat and tomatoes -- and a basement rec room replete with a pool table and enough speakers to turn the place into a 106th & Park set. "That's the coolest part," Freddy says. "I can hang out with my friends, play pool, listen to music and dance. It's going to be awesome, man."

Well, most of the time. Emelia, who won't shrink from assigning Freddy household chores, is setting a midnight curfew. No exceptions.

"AND ... ACTION!"

Back in Tampa, Adu and Pelé are winding up the nine-hour-long commercial shoot, bopping a ball back and forth, showing off all their tricks. Watching them juggle together is a wonder, like seeing two concert pianists playing the scales -- until Pelé gamely flubs an easy one. It's part of the script. Adu tears off screaming in triumph, as if he's scored the winning goal in the World Cup final. His seventh take is as energetic as his first. Talk about a natural.

The resemblance between Adu and the teenage Pelé is almost eerie, from their open, innocent faces, unmarked by time, to their low-to-the-ground playing styles. That's not all. Like Adu, whose June 2, 1989, birth date has been questioned (no evidence to the contrary was found in a 2003 SI investigation), Pelé once endured the same accusations. "When I was on the national team at 17, nobody trusted us," Pelé says. "He's not 17. But what are you going to do? In Europe they argue about Freddy's age, but he has his documents."

Not long ago Adu watched a retrospective on Pelé's career that included footage from the 1958 and 1970 World Cups. "The highlights are just ridiculous," Adu says, eyes wide with excitement. "He made everything look easy." Yet in the long run, none of Pelé's performances may be more important than the one Adu saw today: the hugs for strangers, the easygoing manner, the smiles-for-all diplomacy. "He treats everyone the same way," Freddy says. "That just tells you that you're never too big for the sport. He's the greatest ever to touch a soccer ball, yet he's so down to earth. To see him do that is unbelievable."

Indeed, the tables have been turned. Who could have known that Adu would leave their encounter thinking: This Pelé guy, he showed me something.

Issue date: March 29, 2004