Missing in action: Edu's wild ride

By Ridge Mahoney, Special to SI.com, Soccer America

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Thrust into the lineup in April, Maurice Edu (right) ended up being instrumental in Rangers' run to its first SPL title in four years. Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

In his career as a soccer player, he's flown thousands of miles to locations as exotic as South Africa, China, Switzerland and Cuba, yet Maurice Edu rates a bus ride as one of the most memorable experiences of his life.

In Scotland, teams travel to road matches by bus -- a luxury coach with plasma TVs, it must be said -- and such was the mode of transportation that took Glasgow Rangers home on May 24 after a 3-0 thumping of Dundee United at Tannadice Park to clinch its first league title in four years. One of the goals came from a free kick won by Edu when he was fouled just outside the penalty area.

As thrilling as it was to play the full 90 minutes, secure the precious victory, lift the trophy bedecked with the team colors in ribbons of red and blue and spray champagne in a private post-match celebration, during the bus ride back to Glasgow he recognized the magnitude and importance of his accomplishment for a team whose fan clubs around the world number more than 800.

"A lot of the players were really emotional," says Edu, who at the time didn't realize a knee injury he'd suffered during the match would require surgery and sideline him for the summer. "Obviously, it meant a lot to me, but some of the players and the fans have supported Rangers their whole lives. It's what they live for. To finally be able to say they're champions and hold up their medals and the trophy was great.

"On the way to Ibrox, our stadium, the streets were lined with fans, and as we got into the stadium, there were 30,000 or 35,000 fans in the seats, five or six hours after the game, waiting to celebrate with us. That just showed me how big this club is and how deep everything is for them. You can be told about Rangers being a massive club and how the support is tremendous, both here and abroad, and blah, blah, blah. But to actually feel it and see how much it mattered to everyone there was a great experience.

"If you were on the bus and looked around, face to face to face, even the guys who have just joined the club knew what it meant."

The waiting game

Edu had joined Rangers the previous August in a $5 million transfer just a few days after playing for the U.S. at the 2008 Olympic Games -- and less than 1½ seasons after making his rookie debut in MLS for Toronto FC.

He'd left Maryland to turn pro after his junior year with the '05 NCAA Division I championship and All-America honors to his credit, and racked up another award as the league's best rookie in '07. With only 38 pro games and seven appearances at the senior level on his résumé, Edu's career had accelerated at a dizzying pace, yet after joining Rangers, he languished on the bench for months.

Still, Mo Johnston, a Scottish league veteran who played for both Celtic and Rangers and Edu's former coach in Toronto, insists the timing of the move made sense.

"These young players who go over to Europe benefit themselves as well as the national team," says Johnston, who also coached Michael Bradley for a season before he left the MetroStars for Dutch club Heerenveen. "He comes out of college and is Rookie of the Year for us, then he gets called into the national team and plays in the Olympics, and then he gets a chance to go to Rangers. It took him some time to adjust and to get into the team, but everybody needs time to adjust.

"This is what our players need to develop once they get into the national team, to go to Europe and play for those clubs at the highest level. Look at how far Michael Bradley has come since he left MLS. You see players you used to coach going overseas and doing well for their clubs and for the national team. I like that."

Edu played just twice for Rangers before Christmas, getting 65 minutes in a 2-1 league victory over Kilmarnock in September and playing all 90 minutes as Rangers beat Hamilton by the same score in the League Cup last October. As the harsh Scottish winter approached and the days turned shorter and grayer and wetter, Edu worked hard in training and waited for his next chance from manager Walter Smith. And waited.

"In my case, it was good, because the manager was always communicating with me as were the coaches. I was in the loop," Edu says. "Even then it was hard, because you want to play games. As a pro, that's what you do and that's what you love to do. I just tried to remain confident and wait for my turn."

He kept in touch with friends and family back in the States, spent as much time as he could exploring the city on his own or with U.S. and Rangers teammate DaMarcus Beasley, and consulted with another American who had gone through much the same thing, Hammarby striker Charlie Davies.