Groundbreaker

BRADENTON, Fla. — He is a shameless academic truant, a juvenile delinquent in red cleats. Around the corner and down the road, his schoolmates at the Edison Academic Center wrangle with electrons and elements; here on the pristine emerald pitch of the IMG sports academy, Freddy Adu basks in the warm coastal sun, nary a textbook in sight.

“Shouldn’t you be in school or something?” Nick Garcia jokes.

Chemistry class, to be exact. Then again, Adu has a pretty good reason for playing hooky: The 14-year-old soccer prodigy from Potomac is making his unofficial debut with D.C. United, absorbing lessons from men twice his age during a preseason scrimmage against Garcia and the rest of the U.S. national team.

As far as excuses go, it’s at least as solid as a doctor’s note. And vastly superior to the proverbial hungry dog.

“It’s OK,” Adu says with a sly grin. “I’m caught up with enough class that I can skip at least one day.”

A day. A year. Adolescence. In Adu’s fast-forward world, the differences are almost moot. The top pick in January’s Major League Soccer draft, the 5-foot-8 striker is widely considered to be the best young player in the world, a potentially transcendent talent to rival basketball’s LeBron James.

Since moving with his family from Ghana to suburban Maryland in 1997, Adu has starred for the U.S. under-17 national team, spurned offers from international powerhouses like Manchester United and signed a six-year contract with MLS that reportedly will pay him $500,000 this season, tops in the league.

Like James, Adu is skipping college; unlike the NBA’s prize rookie, he’s bypassing most of his prep career, too. Adu expects to graduate high school in mid-March before suiting up for D.C. United’s nationally televised April3 opener.

In doing so, he will become the youngest player for a major league American team in more than a century — and perhaps the only pro athlete who can afford any car in the RFK stadium parking lot without legally being able to drive a single one.

“I don’t even remember what I was doing at 14,” United’s Ben Olsen marvels. “I was probably looking for a date or something. Freddy’s a rare talent.”

• • •

Adu sprints toward goal. It’s United’s second day of training at the IMG academy, headquarters of the U-17 team and Adu’s home for the last two years.

“Finish it!” United coach Peter Nowak exhorts, clapping his hands. “Finish it!”

Four attackers close in on a lone ‘keeper. A crossing pass swerves just behind Adu’s preferred left foot. In an instant, he pivots on his left leg, turns his back to goal and strikes the ball with his right heel. The ball pops up in the manner of a champagne cork, dipping below the crossbar before settling in the opposite corner of the net.

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