Where’s Adu when it matters most?
September 5th, 2008, 12:39 am by bgomezIf U.S. men’s soccer coach Bob Bradley has Freddy Adu available, why not play him in one of his team’s most important – and historic – games in recent memory?
The explosive attacker will not dress Saturday when the No. 28 Americans, coming off a pool-play exit at the Beijing Games, travel to Cuba for the first time in 61 years, for a 2010 World Cup qualifier.
Six players who competed last month in Beijing – goalkeeper Brad Guzan, midfielders Michael Bradley, Maurice Edu and Sacha Kljestan and defenders Michael Orozco and Marvell Wynne – are part of the 20-person roster.
Omissions were Adu, 19, playing for French club AS Monaco on a season-long loan from Portuguese club SL Benfica, and Jozy Altidore, 18, playing for Spanish club Villarreal CF, which bought his rights from the New York Red Bulls of Major League Soccer.
“Many different factors get weighed when you put a roster together,” Bradley said Thursday on a conference call with reporters. “We weigh different factors – where a player is in his season, in his club, how much he has played lately.”
Pressed on Adu’s exclusion, Bradley said, “I don’t typically comment on individuals in terms of why they are not selected. … Freddy is a young player that has been part of our pool, will continue to be. And we’ll continue to assess how he’s playing and where he fits for every camp and game.”
The U.S. beat Guatemala 1-0 last month in its opener of the World Cup qualifying semifinal round. It will play a home-and-home series with Cuba, ranked 92nd in the world, and Trinidad and Tobago, ranked 80th, and a Nov. 19 game against Guatemala, ranked 99th, in Commerce City.




