Kobe Bryant chat & ‘crazy’ European transfer: Former USMNT star Freddy Adu reveals when things got ‘real’ & how he fits into the story of American soccer

Adu caused quite the stir when making his senior debut for D.C. United in April 2004. That entry in the history books would be passed to another teen sensation - Cavan Sullivan - some 20 years later. 

Having attracted plenty of attention in the United States, Adu headed to Europe in 2007 when linking up with Portuguese giants Benfica. He spent time on loan in France, Greece and Turkey before heading home to join the Philadelphia Union - the club where Sullivan is making his historic breakthrough - in 2011.

Adu was one of the first American starlets to step out of his comfort zone and cross the Atlantic. Speaking exclusively to GOAL via parhaat pikakasinot, Adu said when asked when he first felt like he had made it: “For me, when I realised it was real was being in MLS. It was awesome. I was living my dream as a professional football player. 

“But it's when I signed with Benfica and stepped foot off the plane and then walked into the airport terminal and then just saw thousands of fans just all gathered outside, singing. That's when it became real for me. That's when I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is crazy’. Because I've never experienced anything like that. So, at that point, I'm like, ‘Oh wow, this is real’. That's when you feel like, ‘oh man, you have to perform for this team now because this is crazy’. 

“I didn't expect it. I had no idea. In America, when you travel, even when you're known, you go somewhere, there's none of that happens. It's just, you go through the airport, everything's cool, you get your car, you get in, you go. There, it was just like, you couldn't move an inch. It was just, wow. The atmosphere was crazy. 

“But making my debut in the US was so special. It was the coolest thing I had ever experienced. But when you're talking about the fans, the singing, the volume, the passion, Benfica, that was awesome. That was just crazy. 

“I just want to say that it was exactly how I pictured it, how I saw it on TV when I was watching as a little kid. And it was awesome. The singing, the flags waving, the passion. Oh, it was amazing. It was the coolest thing in the world to me because it was just like, I can't believe this is happening right now. This is the coolest thing.”

It was during that time that Adu was selected by the United States to compete at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. More surreal experiences were taken in while visiting China, with opportunities being embraced to speak with superstar performers from other sports.

Adu added on crossing paths with a LA Lakers icon: “Kobe was the main one because it was really cool. Kobe was that dude. Everybody was there and was like ‘it’s Kobe, it’s Kobe!’ He loved watching my game and thought what I was doing was really cool. I was just like, ‘huh, this is happening? Kobe really just said that’. It was awesome.”

USMNT stars are now bonafide celebrities across the States in their own right, with the likes of Pulisic and McKennie forming part of a so-called ‘Golden Generation’. They are being charged - heading into a home World Cup this summer - with taking the American game forward.

Quizzed on where his story sits within that process, groundbreaker Adu said: “For me, I'd like to think that by the time that I came out, that was when soccer was starting to sort of pick up steam here in America. 

“I think my story, I think my situation really helped bring in a lot of people, a lot of fans who were sort of casual fans, who knew about the sport but they weren't really following it. A lot of people started following it. And a lot of people became fans of the sport. And to this day, I still get a lot of Instagram messages from people that are telling me how they fell in love with soccer because when they were young, they were watching me and they became big soccer fans and they played. And it makes me feel really good. It makes you feel great because you really helped bring in a lot of people into the sport. 

“For me, that's what I like to think, that story, my journey really helped with bringing in these people. It's a lot of African-Americans and Africans that say they came into the sport, that started following the sport, that started playing the sport, because of that, because there was this one black kid. Because for them, football, soccer, it's not a sport that you really gravitate towards.”

Adu also spent time in Brazil, Serbia, Finland and Sweden over the course of his career, earning 17 senior caps for the USMNT along the way. He remains a source of inspiration to aspiring youngsters across America and will always be held up as an example of why no dream should be considered too big.