Freddy Adu and the Hull / Aris rumors

After his loan from Benfica to Belenenses was cancelled last month, word has spread all across the internet that Freddy Adu is contemplating a move to either Aris Thessaloniki FC of Greece or Hull City of the EPL. Either choice would be a positive move for Adu, as long as it resulted in more playing time. But with all these news outlets picking up the story (165 stories on Google News at this time, including one from ESPN SoccerNet), you would assume that there would be numerous sources behind the story, right?

No.

Actually there is only one source behind the Adu to Aris or Hull story. And with there being only one source, you would assume that it would be a reliable source known for its hard-hitting reporting, right?

No.

Actually the only source is Freddy Adu’s own Twitter page (@freddyadu11)

The story began with Adu tweeting that he had some really difficult decisions to make, and then later tweeting “Hull or Aris?”, and then later tweeting that the only problem with Hull would be how to get a work visa.

Why Hull and Aris? Those two teams sure sound awfully familiar to US Soccer fans, because they are the current homes of fellow Americans Jozy Altidore and Eddie Johnson. Does it seem awfully convenient to anyone else that those are the only two teams that Freddy is mentioning? And why is Freddy discussing such important decisions through Twitter anyway? Didn’t anybody stop to question whether or not Freddy’s tweets are to be trusted?

Somebody did. Match Fit USA (@MFUSA) has been all over this story. He was the first to theorize that Freddy’s tweets were just a shoutout joke to his boys. A theory that was even confirmed by Freddy himself in a tweet later that night. Of course all of these tweets have now been deleted off of Adu’s profile, further igniting the fire of speculation.

I’m not here to do any sort of commentary on the state of reporting in sports, and I agree that Twitter can be a very useful tool at times, but it’s also just a little disappointing that so many sites are simply rehashing what they’ve read on Twitter and passing it off as actual reporting.

Update: Ives is now saying that Adu will be signing with Aris. So maybe it wasn't the entire thing that was a joke. Just part of it.

China bound

I really enjoyed watching the US team emerge with a convincing victory against Canada tonight to earn their way into the Olympics this summer. The team has definitely shown improvement in each match. Makes you wonder how well we'll actually do in Beijing against the top world powers, because right now, a pretty good run certainly looks possible.


1. Freddy Adu - Should be the unanimous MVP of the tournament. His two goals off of set pieces were impressive, but I would have loved to see him get a hat track off that volley that just missed wide left around the 64th minute.

2. Jozy Altidore - Now I'm thinking that he must have had a modest injury in the early matches, because he looked like a totally different player tonight.

3. Jonathan Spector - I wasn't expecting him to be much of an upgrade over Ianni, but Spector was a huge presence, and the biggest reason why Canada had so few scoring opportunities.


1. Maurice Edu - I like him in the holding midfield role next to McCarty in the bruiser role. I'd be interested to see Edu with the senior national team playing next to Clark.


1. Marvel Wynne - I don't like him on the U23s, and I certainly don't like him on the senior squad. Sure does have a long throw-in though.

It's a great feeling to be able to watch your national team play and actually have some confidence in them. But now that we're officially in the Olympics, watching this match has really got me thinking about who our 3 senior players should be. We'll do a full post on that later.

A fast start that wasn't quite fast enough

On a day that can be considered the official start to the 2008 US Soccer season, I've been trying to brainstorm a new player rating system to use in postgame reviews. Numbers and letter grades just seem so trite. So instead we'll use a more original player rating system that is based on something with which I'm proud to have quite a bit of experience: liquor.

Top shelf:
1. Freddy Adu - The only viable attacking option for the US in this game. In general, we dominated play in the first 30 minutes, but could only score one goal, and that was Freddy's.
2. Dax McCarty - Played well in occupying the Benny Feilhaber role. Of course we're still not sure why Feilhaber isn't occupying the Feilhaber role... I saw McCarty take three balls to the face in this game, a feat normally performed only by members of the Village People.
3. Kamani Hill - The Cuba goal and essentially all of their scoring opportunities came on the left side. Hill did his job to shut down the right.

Call:
1. Charlie Davies - If it wasn't for a couple good runs, Davies could have easily found himself in the lower category. Way too easy to go down, Davies could be the heir apparent to my biggest complaint against Eddie Johnson.
2. Peter Nowak - Some questionable choices in his lineup. Again, Feilhaber's name comes up. Also surprised not to see Robbie Rogers on this roster. No, two Terps is not enough.

Rail:
1. Nathan Sturgis - Was he actually on the field? Or did they just write his name on the lineup sheet by mistake? I swear, I only counted 3 times that Sturgis's name was mentioned in this match. Plus he was in no-man's-land on the goal.
2. Robbie Findley - Tons of wasted opportunity and wasted talent. Not yet ready for primetime.

So in general, the problem was 3 breakaway opportunities that we could not convert. Altidore and Findley shot straight at the keeper. Davies doesn't like to shoot, so he decided to fall down instead. If we had 4 Freddy Adus playing in the top 4 positions, then we would have won 4-1. But until we can invent a device to make that happen, someone else is going to have to step up.