Mad Brit Diary

So much ado about Freddy's age.

(Sunday, December 14, 2003) -- The Mad Brit was pummeled last week by readers for a few sentences regarding the age of United States striker Freddy Adu.

There are a lot of sensitive folks out there who love their soccer stars. And the angry response of many to the suggestion of a Mad Brit reader that Adu is older than 14 made the MB felt like an Iraqi terrorist caught with a stolen RPG. He hasn't been so beaten up since a Stoke City fan robbed him of his favorite scarf on a cold windy concrete terrace long ago. Now the MB knows how Whitney Houston feels after a row with Bobby Brown, or Michael Jackson after being booked in a California prosecutor's office. Oh, the pain and brutality of being fingerprinted.

So we certainly touched a nerve. You Yanks love your Freddy. Maybe this kid is the real thing. Let's hope so. American soccer needs a lucky break. Maybe the Messiah has arrived. Adu nearly helped the United States under-20 men come close to downing the Argies in the desert last week. And that Bobby Convey -- who should be wearing a Spurs shirt and downing a pint at the local Anglers Arms -- put on a very good show.

It should be noted that questions about Adu's age were raised long before the MB touched on the subject. The teenager's representatives are certainly aware enough of a perception he might be older than 14 by suggesting bone scans have been performed to confirm his age.

A sampling of your e-mail can be found below.

On other subjects, Manchester United is looking at PSV Eindhoven striker Mateja Kezman. The Serbian star leads the Dutch league with 15 goals.

Liverpool's French coach, Gerard Houllier has been warned the club will accept nothing less than Champions League qualification. Liverpool finished fifth in England's Premier League last season and missed out on a Champions League spot, but did win the League Cup.

Tottenham Hotspur is looking to the future. The club's starting goalkeeper, American Kasey Keller is in the final year of his contract. Spurs are spying out Finnish keeper Mikko Kaven or Czech Republic goalie Petr Cech as a likely replacement.

Meanwhile, Keller's American teammate Brad Friedel had at least four coins hurled at him as his club Blackburn Rovers buried Birmingham City 4-0 on the road last week. The Premier League will investigate the Birmingham club for the reckless behavior of some of its fans.

Proving once again that the U.S is learning how to cash in on soccer, Soccer United Marketing, the marketing arm of Major League Soccer, will market and promote the InterLiga, an eight-team Mexican club tournament which determines two berths in South America's biggest club competition, Copa Libertadores.

Seven doubleheaders of the InterLiga will be played at five cities in Texas and California next month. The event will feature Toluca, Morelia, Chivas and Santos in Group A and America, Atlante, Tigres and Atlas in Group B.

Chicago Fire and Jamaica international midfielder, Andy Williams, 26, has been on trial at the England First Division's Coventry City for the last week. Williams earned two goals and seven assists for 11 points with the Fire in 2003.

Arsenal made an amazing turn around winning its group in Champions League with a 2-0 home win over Lokomotiv Moscow. The London club had just one point at the halfway stage in Group B, but won its last three games to seal the top spot. Robert Pires and Freddie Ljungberg got the goals that sent Arsenal to join Manchester United and Chelsea in the final 16.

Sadly, Celtic of Scotland was denied a spot in the final 16 when Juninho converted a late penalty kick for French champion Lyon to win 3-2. Celtic, which had twice come from behind and only needed a tie to go through, must be content with a spot in the UEFA Cup.

In yesterday's second round draw of the last 16 teams, Chelsea will face Stuttgart (Germany) in a two-game series, while United will play Porto (Portugal), Arsenal will meet Celta Vigo (Spain). The juiciest matchup of the last 16 may be favorite Real Madrid (Spain) against German giant Bayern Munich. In other series, Lokomotiv Moscow (Russia) takes on AS Monaco (France), Sparta Prague (Czech Republic) plays AC Milan (Italy), Deportivo de La Coruna (Spain) meets Juventus (Italy) and Real Sociedad (Spain) faces Lyon (France).

Daniel Sullivan says: "It doesn't make any sense for Freddy to lie about his age. That would only limit his opportunities abroad. For example, he would likely have to wait till he was 18 before he could legally play for an English Premier League team. Professional soccer careers are far too short for players to be lying about their age and shorting their eligibility by years in foreign leagues. If you had the kind of talent that Freddy does, would you sacrifice a couple of years of your international career for some extra hype? What does Freddy stand to gain by lying about his age?"

[Editor's note: The reason athletes try to make themselves younger is to add years to the end of their careers when they hope to be making peak salaries. This is prevalent in baseball when dozens of non-American players in the Major Leagues were found to have falsified documents, making them one, two and even three years younger.]

Juan Sabalanos says: "I'll bet you anything that there a lot of stories from all over the world about kids with talent equal or better than Adu who, for whatever reason, never made it. I remember reading somewhere that George Armstrong once said that Charlie George, an Arsenal forward. . . 'technically had it all' at the age of 13, and the only thing left was for Charlie to develop maturity, mentally and physically. People like George Best and Norman Whiteside weren't a lot older than 14 when they began to make an impact. I'm sure that this has been the case in Europe and most of the rest of the world for a long time. Kids have always developed at different rates. But you can see where Charlie wound up and compare that to Georgie and Norman's success. Whatever Adu's actual, carbon-dated, certified age really is, like Charlie George, he technically has the tools."

Jonathan Eigen writes: "While I do not pretend to be an expert on ages of youth players, I cannot think of any reason for Adu or his family to be dishonest about his age. They won a green-card lottery and had to put the birth dates of the family on their application. He was eight-years-old at the time with no predictions of soccer greatness. The only thing giving falsified information to the U.S. immigration authorities could do is to get the family sent back to Ghana."

Chris Webb writes: "Complete hogwash is all I have to say about the 'anonymous writer' and his assertion that Freddy Adu is 17 and not 14. . . Get over it. He's 14 and leave it at that."

Jason Mugg says: "Did you see the U17 World Cup? Freddy looked like a 14-year-old kid next to those 16 year old 'men' from Sierra Leone.

Scott Sargent writes: "Let me start by saying I don't care whether Freddy is 14 or 18, or anywhere in between. . . However, it is my understanding that the same group of Sports Illustrated staffers who broke the story on the true age of Danny Almonte (the New York Little League pitcher from the Dominican Republic who was found to be 14, not 12 ) checked into Adu's background and found nothing even remotely suspicious with any of the paperwork or the people involved."

Tkhkjk writes: "Sad how SoccerTimes has gone downhill with you. That's OK. (The U.S.) will be much better than England in a few years and you can talk it up with the Euro Snobs while making up excuses for losing.

Rich Perry writes: "Hello again. I have to respond on two things covered in your most recent diary. First, does it really matter if Freddy is actually 14 or not? Unless people think he was more than three years older than his stated age, he was still legal for the recent under-17 tournament. Does not everybody agree that he is not yet an adult and that he would still be considered exceptional if he were a few years older? I'm not saying that I know the latter statement is true, as I have not seen him play, I'm just inferring it from all the hype, and the fact that he is now starting for the (U.S.) under-20s.

"I will not be ready to anoint him the next messiah for a few years yet, but how about we at least give him a chance to grow, and then to fail miserably and let the entire soccer world down before we start ripping him and telling him that he has ruined the lives of so many people?"

Ken Cheng Gardiner say; "Freddy would make much more in Europe, particularly if he were older and could sign a professional contract with a Premiership team, or in another top league. . . I have to say I'm disappointed that you saw fit to post (an anonymous letter-writer's) conspiracy theory.

Kamarkman writes: "Is it possible he's really 17, as you seem to imply, or perhaps only 16? Yeah, it's possible, but here are a few observations. First, with (world governing body) FIFA cracking down on overage players (although even being 17, he still was still legally eligible to play in the recent U-17 world championships), but also frowning on falsifying birth records, the U.S. Soccer Federation has probably had a number of people look into the matter. Second, it benefits him more to embellish his age rather than diminish it, as it would bring him closer to 18, which is the age that players in Europe can be signed to a professional contract. Why languish for several years in MLS while you could potentially be making bigger dollars in Europe? Third, his mom, before Freddy matured into a talented player, would had to have calculatingly drawn up a long-range plan to wow the world, sucker Nike into a lucrative sponsorship deal, etc. This would all have to been done before coming to the U.S. Seems unlikely.

"Fourth. . . I've seen him play. . . While it's true that his coordination, quickness, agility, etc., may point to his being older than his stated age, his musculature and overall physical development were clearly behind all of his teammates."

Matt Cordingley is peeved: "Adu this, Adu that. He's bloody Ghanaian and about as American as Jack Charlton is Irish. I had quick feet like him when I was 14 and where am I now? . . . With a beer gut! Love your column, keep it up."

Nkoduah writes: "I won't even waste my time. You don't have a clue on football and there is nothing I can do. This makes me so mad when a fake 'soccer' fan thinks he knows football. . . I haven't seen the documents, but it has been WIDELY reported (quite some time ago, at that) that (Adu's) birth certificate is legit, and the documents at the hospital where he was born confirm his age. I will grant you that the documents may in fact not be accurate, but they are the only records that are out there to be reviewed. And even if he is 16 now, he is tearing up the U-20s now. Your point?"

Ryan Ahern writes: "Adu is in fact 14, more intelligent than most, and has the chance to be in an environment to help him develop at the highest level, here in America. The gap between England and America is closing fast, faster than most Brits would like."

Mike Paulsmeyer writes: "Thank you so much for what you are doing to soccer in America. About Adu, I would like for all the soccer writers to not say in a few years, 'Well, looks like all the attention and hype wasn't worth it.' or 'Well we sure did learn a lesson when it comes to younger players.' When it comes to Adu and all the attention he is getting right now, let's let his play demand attention. . . Don't get me wrong. I want America to be a consistently competitive team and at least a major regional powerhouse, but putting so much energy and attention on just Adu, I don't think is such a good idea."

J Guild says: "Don't you think this has been carefully investigated by now? . . . Youth soccer has plenty of jealous kooks who would try to knock down an Adu to get their child a shot at something."

John Cunningham writes: "Dear Mad Brit, I enjoy reading your column, thank you. Just for the record, I am a transplanted Irishman (and) been in the U.S. for 30 years now. Here are some thoughts of my own. No one knows how well Freddy Adu will work out, and there are examples both ways. It would be wonderful to see him star for the U.S. on the way to the 2010 World Cup final against England. I don't think you should compromise Adu based on age allegations from an anonymous e-mail. Journalists have researched this issue and they were convinced his age is legit. It is not unusual for someone with Freddy's background to be more mature than American 14-year-olds."

Charles Budd writes: "Yes, another email about Adu. The whole age thing seems much Adu about nothing. In soccer, why would he lie to make himself younger? If anything, that hurts his chances of playing top-flight European football sooner, due to the rules about foreign youngsters. If he really were 17, he could play for a European team now, and not have to wait. As for how good he is, he played in a friendly against Rovers youth team, one of the top youth clubs in England, came on in the second half and scored a hat trick within about 15 minutes."

Mike Mazzer says: "Seriously, if Freddy were not 14, wouldn't you think someone would have found out by now?"

James Patterson says: "I disagree with the assessment that Chivas will make a negative impact on MLS. In fact, I love the idea of letting other countries do the same and enter teams. American sports is fueled by rivalry. . . Whether they love them or hate them, they tune in to watch them win\lose. A Mexican team in America is an awesome idea, I already hate them."

Strom writes: "I agree with the writer in your column. I do not think Chivas should get special attention. There is definitely enough polarization in the U.S. versus the Latino community. Living in the Bay Area and being a soccer fan can be difficult. I, for one, am tired of going to international events and being spit on and have junk thrown at me, simply for chanting USA, USA. I have had people tell me that I was sitting in the wrong area. If you want to cheer for the U.S. , you are supposed to sit with Sam's Army. If Chivas has its own team, they will be international events. The only thing driving this is money and the decision definitely is not in the best interest of the soccer community. "

Greg Comeaux writes: "I have a brother who played for two seasons in the A-League. I also would like to see promotion\relegation from A-League to MLS. Unfortunately, anyone who attends A-League games would notice that although there are some teams will make lots of money, have large attendances, and large stadiums, the majority of the teams do not fit into this mold."

Sideney Watts says: "Hello, Mad Brit. Thanks for the thoughts on our game. Just a note: I agree with all the gripes regarding the MLS single-entity system, including the horrible "come one, come all" playoffs, lack of relegation and promotion, and league ownership of player contracts. No truly great teams are able to develop due to the salary cap, and MLS's interest in retaining parity among the teams. Without a true powerhouse, the fans have trouble feeling like champs or underdogs, and cannot see the quality of one team accelerate the development of the others. . . P.S. -- I agree that Adu is older than his stated age. The kid speaks better than I do with a bouquet of microphones shoved in his face.

Charley Kestenbaum writes: "You ask why did D.C. United dump Hudson? I think, as a D.C. United fan since Day One that Hudson is too volatile and emotional (and what a foul mouth on him!) to be the kind of calm, nurturing father figure Freddy Adu needs. . . I agree, Everton made a horrible blunder not holding on to (Brian) McBride last season. He was on fire! The key is his maturity -- as a relative youth, he had other stints in the English Premier League, but is now much more mature and wiser from all the international pressure games he has played. The price was right, too. I look for McBride to make another impact for Blackburn, maybe not as dramatic as last season, but just as valuable."

Heard a rumor, have a gripe or a tip? Feeling lonely? E-mail the Mad Brit at themadbrit3@aol.com.