D.C. United’s Freddy Adu will not start on his own promotion night.
The first 5,000 fans through RFK Stadium’s turnstiles today will receive an Adu bobblehead doll, but they probably will have to wait until the second half to see the 14-year-old in the flesh.
Adu played 89 minutes against a Haitian select team Wednesday at Lockhart Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., with the U.S. U-20 team. So far this season, each Major League Soccer game has been a test for the teenager from Potomac.
Entering his fourth MLS game today against the Chicago Fire (0-1-2), United coach Peter Nowak believes Adu, the youngest and highest-paid player in MLS, is still not ready to start.
“I’m not sure if he’s ready for it,” Nowak said. “If he plays 90 minutes, it’s a different pace, believe me. You see in his physical behavior how he grows up right now. We have to be really patient. It’s not like we’re going to throw him on the field and say. ’Here you go, this is it,’ doing whatever he wants. It’s not the way this works.”
Fuerto Charles kicked Adu hard in the eighth minute Wednesday, aggravating a right ankle injury. Adu was on the field for quite some time before getting up.
Adu says he’s fine, but Charles smacked an already tender ankle that has made the youngster less than 100 percent since United’s second game.
“I came in yesterday and did my rehab, it feels great, whatever,” Adu said.
Nowak’s timetable for Adu to start is unknown. Tactically, the coach makes a strong point in not starting Adu. After three games, Adu does not seem synchronized on his runs, nor does he have his positioning or spacing down.
Granted, Adu scored his first professional goal last weekend in United’s 3-2 loss at the MetroStars, but it resulted more from a defensive breakdown than a brilliant offensive effort. United rookie Joshua Gros rolled a cross through the 6-yard box that bypassed three MetroStars’ defenders before Adu cut in front of Chris Leitch and toe-poked the ball into the net.
“It’s up to Peter,” Adu said. “I can work as hard as I can in practice and just hope he puts me in the game. It doesn’t bother me. Every player wants to start and you can’t always get what you want, but you have to keep pushing for it. You have to make it hard for the coach not to start you.”
The biggest question is, how much longer will Adu be the most expensive bench warmer in the league? His playing minutes have increased incrementally from game to game.
“He can play 90 minutes, there’s no question, it’s only what and how,” Nowak said. “It’s something that you cannot predict. You have good days, you have bad days and some things go your way and some things go the other way, so we have to make sure everything goes in the long run.”
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