Adu: Bocanegra And I Must Represent Our Country Well

CelticKing · Oct 4, 2008

Adu: Bocanegra And I Must Represent Our Country Well

Despite not playing much for his new club, Monaco, American starlet Freddy Adu has admitted he has responsibilities that go beyond the soccer field.

Since his move to AS Monaco in France’s Ligue 1, US international Freddy Adu has made four appearances. They have not been overwhelmingly impressive stints, and the side lost to Paris St. Germain in his only start, this past Thursday in the French Cup.

The former D.C. United and Real Salt Lake star, Adu is one of the focal points of the club’s concerted effort to play younger players and expand the brand’s global reach. The club’s president, Jerome de Bontin, is a French-American who lived in Chicago for many years, and he has said he would like to the potential of the US market. To that end, Adu has his own blog on the team’s website, written in English and targeting his fans in the United States.

“Now that there are Americans in Ligue 1, American fans follow this championship,” Adu recently told Sport.fr. “Anything we do here is reported by the press, like when we were playing the USA.”

But the 19-year-old Adu -- who was just called in to the US national team for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Cuba and Trinidad & Tobago -- also recognizes his role as an American ambassador in France.

“Along with Carlos Bocanegra, who plays with Rennes, we represent the USA,” he said. “Watching us play, many people see us as a reflection of American soccer. We must do our best to represent our country well.”

So far, Adu seems to be doing just that. Coach Ricardo says that Adu has improved since arriving from Benfica, and Adu is slowly learning to speak French. But the expectations, as they have been since he signed with MLS as a 14 year old in 2004, are still very high for Adu to become a superstar on a Lionel Messi level.

“Yes and no,” he said when asked if he feels a lot of pressure. “I give everything in training to improve from day to day. I am only 19 years, I have a long career ahead of me.”

Whether he will stay at Monaco or not remains for a big portion of that career to be seen. He certainly has lots of praise for Ligue 1 -- “it is one of the best four world championships behind England, Spain and Italy” -- and says he would like to stay for a long time. But he needs to earn a starting spot, still.

“The coach is the boss,” he said. “It is he who makes the decisions and as a player, you must respect that. One must therefore continue to work hard to earn his place in the starting eleven, and that's exactly what I'm doing.”
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Colonel Ronan · Oct 5, 2008

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