Topless Photos of Freddy Adu

I have been neglecting my soccer-scribe duties. Fear not:

1. Freddy! Freddy! Freddy! The 14-year-old phenom will be on display all week in the Twin Cities. The U.S. men's under-17 national team will be practicing at Macalester College in preparation for Sunday's match against Canada. (Here's the practice schedule.) The obnoxious footy geeks at Big Soccer are already pooh-poohing Freddy's prospects so that probably means all the hype is justified. (Frankly I'm banking on his younger brother, 11-year-old Fro Adu, already a fixture with the U-15 team.) The Minnesota Thunder has a video clip of the precocious kid on its home page. 

But even if you're not convinced that Adu will prove to be the greatest soccer player in American history, there are plenty of reasons to check out this team. Eddie Gavan, just 16-years-old himself, scored his first MLS goal on Saturday, delivering the short-handed NY/NJ Metrostars to a shocking overtime victory against D.C. United. Defender Jonathan Spector has just inked a four-year deal with Manchester United. (Two Americans playing at Old Trafford?) In eight games this year, the U-17 team has outscored opponents 20-3, compiling a 5-1-2 record.

2. Those of you who care probably already know this, but yesterday marked the return of U.S. midfielder Claudio Reyna to the national team. The veteran playmaker had been out of circulation since October, when he blew out his left knee while playing for Sunderland. Reyna came on for the final 30 minutes of the U.S. team's 2-0 dismantling of Paraguay, and was largely unexceptional.

Reyna's always been a quiet superstar. He doesn't possess exceptional speed or dribbling skills, and has tallied just 8 goals and 14 assists in 92 appearances with the national side. Not exactly spectacular stats for supposedly the team's chief playmaker. I've always been partial to Reyna, however--and not only because we were both born in Livingston, New Jersey in 1973 (just a month apart!). He possesses less tangible characteristics that are too often lacking in American players, namely vision and poise. No other American player can spray the ball around the field like Reyna, and his ability to control possession late in games has been crucial to innumerable U.S. victories. Years of playing in the Scottish and English Premier Leagues have also transformed Reyna into a rugged, effective defender.

3. Italian Serie A club Perugia has signed Saadi Gaddafi, the 28-year-old (or 30-year-old, depending on which source you read) son of Libyan strongman Mouammar Gaddafi. The prognosis for Gaddafi's Italian soccer career is not positive. Former Libyan national team coach Franco Scoglio had this to say about him: "As a footballer he's worthless."

4. FIFA: idiots.