Strikers keeping Adu on sideline

D.C. United forwards Jaime Moreno and Alecko Eskandarian are keeping 14-year-old Freddy Adu off the field.

The most hyped and celebrated player in the nine-year history of Major League Soccer can’t crack United’s starting lineup as a striker because of Moreno and Eskandarian’s solid play. Each scored a goal in United’s 2-1 season-opening win last Saturday over the defending champion San Jose Earthquakes, making coach Peter Nowak’s decision not to start Adu look like the right one.

“They’re making me work a lot harder,” Adu said of his two teammates. “Jaime and Alecko have been playing very, very well, which certainly makes it hard for me. I’ve got to work a little harder, but I’m up to the challenge and that’s what’s pushing them to work even harder and maintain that form that they have right now.”

When United visits the Los Angeles Galaxy (1-0) at the Home Depot Center tonight, Nowak faces another lineup decision concerning Adu. With midfielder Dema Kovalenko forced to sit with a red card, Nowak could start Adu in the midfield as a wide left-flank player and move Bobby Convey into the middle.

Adu successfully played the left wing with Convey as an attacking midfielder at December’s World Youth Championships for the fifth-place U.S. Under-20 squad. But given Adu’s defensive limitations and the Galaxy’s wealth of attacking players, the 5-foot-8, 140-pound youngster probably will enter again as a second-half substitute. He played 33 minutes last week.

“When you turn the situation around [with Adu starting] and it doesn’t work, it was still the right decision,” Nowak said. “This is how I felt before the first game and I wouldn’t change it. Whatever happens on the field happens. It was our game plan and we did what was best for the team. We cannot start this controversy.”

Eskandarian, 21, certainly feels Adu’s pain. Like Adu, Eskandarian was the top-overall pick in last year’s MLS SuperDraft. He entered the league with much fanfare as college soccer’s Player of the Year after a superb 2002 season at Virginia in which he broke the school scoring record with 25 goals.

However, Eskandarian’s rookie season was a humbling experience. He had five starts with three goals and two assists in 728 minutes. For now, it appears Adu is in somewhat the same situation.

“I don’t know how it is for him exactly, but for me, it was obviously difficult not getting the playing time that I wanted and things like that,” Eskandarian said. “I think overall in the end, it made me a stronger person. At the same time, you always want your chance to prove stuff, and I wasn’t given that chance last year. Luckily, I’m glad that I have that chance this year, and I’m not going to let go of it.”

The chemistry between Eskandarian and Moreno surfaced in the 39th minute against the Earthquakes when the veteran played a 20-yarder over the top for Eskandarian to run onto in the box. Eskandarian finished Moreno’s offering with a 12-yard left-footed blast to the far right post for the game-winning goal.

“I don’t look at it as if Jaime and I are keeping [Adu] off the field because he’s also a very versatile player — he can play in the midfield and things like that,” Eskandarian said. “I’m sure his time will come. For right now, I’m not going to give this up. I’ve been working really hard and I’ve been very patient to get this opportunity.”

Adu said watching United’s other forwards score goals from the club’s bench wasn’t too deflating because the club won.

“That’s the most important thing,” Adu said. “If the team wins, that’s all that matters. I am a rookie. I’m not going to come in and be like, ’Oh God, I should be starting’ and feel all jealous because they are scoring goals. That’s not me.”

Adu said he has been through this before and is confident he will break into United’s starting lineup, but perhaps not as a forward.

“I went with the U-20s in the United Arab Emirates, and it was Eddie Johnson and Bobby Convey playing up top,” Adu recalled. “I had to earn a starting job, and I did it in the midfield playing wide left. There’s always a position open, and I know I can adjust to whatever position. If the forwards are playing extremely well and I can’t get in there and if I’m playing well enough, there’s always going to be a position open.”