Soccer Buzz

I never could get to the computer yesterday so I apologize. I thought I’d share some interesting items with you

Grant Wahl Interviews Freddy Adu About Making the Move to Benfica

The $2 million transfer may not sound like much, but there is a sell-on clause that would give the league a portion of a potential Adu transfer from Benfica.

Freddy never did dominate the league, but I’m not going to call his MLS career a personal failure. He was very impressive at times with DC United, especially in 2006, and I can’t find fault with him struggling in Salt Lake since that club has way too many issues for one player to overcome.

As he says in the article, he was often forced to play out of position in MLS. At DC, Christian Gomez was one of the best playmakers in the league, but coach Peter Nowak wanted to get Adu on the field anyway so Adu needed to learn how to play out wide in a 3-5-2, a position with immense defensive responsibility as well. Still, Freddy was able to produce some eye-popping moments of brilliance for DC. At Salt Lake, they played him on the wing with Mehdi Ballouchy playing as the number 10, which is the type of mind-boggling move that forced John Ellinger out of the coaching ranks early in the season.

Benfica often plays with a diamond midfield or a 4-2-2-2; both formations would allow Adu to play the type of central attacking role where he is most comfortable. Even if he does not become a starter immediately, he will get the chance to learn from veterans like Rui Costa as well play in a real reserve system. (MLS did not have a reserve system when Adu entered the league in 2004)

The Yankee Hooligan on the Beckham Backlash in Dallas

Okay, I understand that people really want to see Beckham, and that they put down good money to do so. Still, do people lack the common sense to know that there is a chance that any player can get injured and be unavailable to play? Beckham is going to be around for a while so it isn’t as if you’ve missed a once in a lifetime event, and besides, the fans in Dallas got to see a frickin’ 6-5 match. Now that’s a once in a lifetime type of event!

Anyway, Beckham is flying with the team to Toronto this weekend, and he might play. By the way, Tennis Coach provided a pretty good article explaining Beckham’s left ankle.