Thursday, May 26, 2005
Growing pains for Adu and Nowak
The Washington Post's Mike Wise notes trouble afoot in Freddyland.
Wise isn't a regular commentator on soccer, and it shows through in his piece. It's awkward and full of fluff. Still, it contains a few snippets that raise some eyebrows.
Adu apparently has had a falling out with DC United's coach, Peter Novak, who gave the teenage star a tongue lashing in front of the rest of the team following their loss to the Revolution two weeks ago. Adu hasn't spoken to Novak since.
To add to the sense of crisis, Wise indicates that Trevor Moawad, Freddy's mental-conditioning coach from Bradenton's IMG Academy, is "very worried about Freddy's state of mind." Moawad's gone so far as to line up "a bevy of IMG clients to speak on Freddy's behalf" with Novak in order to rectify the row.
American fans shouldn't panic yet. The situation Novak and Adu find themselves in is a sticky one. Wise floats the idea of trading Adu to the Metrostars and even having Freddy's mom sit down for a heart-to-heart with the DC coach. Both of those ideas are horrible. Just let this play itself out, for now. Freddy may be a teenager, but he needs to learn how to be a pro and deal with problems like this with little outside interference.
Wise isn't a regular commentator on soccer, and it shows through in his piece. It's awkward and full of fluff. Still, it contains a few snippets that raise some eyebrows.
Adu apparently has had a falling out with DC United's coach, Peter Novak, who gave the teenage star a tongue lashing in front of the rest of the team following their loss to the Revolution two weeks ago. Adu hasn't spoken to Novak since.
To add to the sense of crisis, Wise indicates that Trevor Moawad, Freddy's mental-conditioning coach from Bradenton's IMG Academy, is "very worried about Freddy's state of mind." Moawad's gone so far as to line up "a bevy of IMG clients to speak on Freddy's behalf" with Novak in order to rectify the row.
American fans shouldn't panic yet. The situation Novak and Adu find themselves in is a sticky one. Wise floats the idea of trading Adu to the Metrostars and even having Freddy's mom sit down for a heart-to-heart with the DC coach. Both of those ideas are horrible. Just let this play itself out, for now. Freddy may be a teenager, but he needs to learn how to be a pro and deal with problems like this with little outside interference.
