U.S. Team On Adu’s Mind, Even In Portugal

The education of an American soccer player, Freddy Adu, continues in Portugal.

Freddy Adu, left, says he is happy playing, even sporadically, for Benfica in Portugal.

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The design for Red Bull Park, the Red Bulls’ new stadium in Harrison, N.J., was released last week. It is to be ready in 2009.

“The first thing about being in Europe is that you would not survive at a place like this unless you pay attention to every single detail and work hard every day,” Adu said last week in a telephone interview from Lisbon, where he plays for Benfica. “It is a very competitive environment, and everyone is a good player. No one’s place is guaranteed. You have to come to work every day, and that’s what makes you a better player — constant competition.”

Adu left the relative comfort and security of Real Salt Lake and Major League Soccer in August on a $2 million transfer to Benfica, perhaps the most successful club in Portugal. But he has played sporadically. He became the youngest American to play in the European Champions League on Oct. 24, against visiting Glasgow Celtic. Benfica has been eliminated from the Champions League and is in second place in the Portuguese league.

“It doesn’t matter whether I play 2, 5, 30 or 90 minutes, I’m still going to go out there with the same mentality,” Adu said. “Hopefully I’ll get in the starting 11 sooner rather than later. But right now, I’m happy with my development.”

Adu, who turned 18 in June, said his adjustment to a new country had not been without pitfalls. “At first, I was not sure about it,” he said. “But I realized that I have to grow up sometime. I made the jump to Europe, something I wanted to do, and now I couldn’t be happier.

“I’ve had to grow up out of necessity. I live here by myself. In America, it was like I was in a bubble — everything was there for me. Now it’s just about being a man.”

Adu was with the United States national team recently, starting in a 1-0 victory against South Africa on Nov. 17 in Johannesburg. He said he hoped to remain an integral part of Coach Bob Bradley’s plans for next year’s World Cup qualifying matches and, ultimately, take another trip to South Africa for the 2010 tournament.

“I would be disappointed if I’m not on that team,” he said. “I really, really want to achieve that goal and will do whatever it takes. I’m going to work hard and do whatever Bob asks me to do.”

M.L.S.

The Red Bulls released a new design last week for their long-delayed new stadium, which will be built in Harrison, N.J.

Red Bull Park, which is expected to be completed in 2009 at a cost of about $200 million, will have a seating capacity of 25,189 for soccer. The seats in the lower bowl will be only 21 feet from the sideline, and a translucent polycarbonate and aluminum roof will cover all the seats while leaving the grass playing surface exposed to the elements.

The stadium was supposed to be built in partnership with the Anschutz Entertainment Group, which sold the club to Austrian-based Red Bull before the 2006 season. But disagreements over the cost and amenities (AEG wanted a permanent stage in one end zone) led Red Bull to purchase AEG’s 50 percent stake last month.

Construction is expected to begin before the end of the year, the Red Bulls said.

¶The Red Bulls will open the 2008 season March 29 against the new San Jose team. They will then play at home April 5 against the Columbus Crew.

¶Add the Pan-Pacific Championship to a growing number of tournaments M.L.S. teams are involved in before, during and after the seven-month regular season. The new event, to be played Feb. 20 and 23 at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, will feature teams from M.L.S. (Houston Dynamo and Los Angeles Galaxy), Japan (Gamba Osaka) and Australia (champion of the A-League). The Galaxy will play Gamba Osaka in the opener of a doubleheader, followed by a game between Houston and the Australian club. Another doubleheader three days later will feature a third-place and championship match.

M.I.S.L.

Pelé, the honorary captain, and more than 13,000 fans attended the home debut of the New Jersey Ironmen of the Major Indoor Soccer League on Saturday night at the new Prudential Center in Newark. Pelé, who played for the Cosmos 30 years ago, usually commands a hefty appearance fee and will probably not be back; it is impossible to know how many fans will return.

“It was a great crowd, we hope they all come back, but you never know,” Ironmen goalkeeper Tony Meola said after the game. “But it was great having Pelé here. The guys were like kids in the locker room before the game — getting autographs, having Pelé sign jerseys. That’s why the guys were late for pregame introductions.”

The Ironmen are operated by Jeff Vanderbeek, who is also the chairman and managing partner of the Prudential Center’s other tenant, the Devils. Mayor Cory A. Booker of Newark; M.I.S.L. Commissioner Steve Ryan; and Sunil Gulati, the president of U.S. Soccer, also attended.

Notes

¶Officials at UEFA, soccer’s European governing body, confirmed a report in the German magazine Der Spiegel that they were investigating whether 15 matches might have been fixed as part of a betting scheme. William Gaillard, UEFA’s director of communications, said that the matches under suspicion were mostly minor ones played in Eastern Europe.

¶In Peru, Efrain Viafara, a midfielder for Sport Ancash, created an uproar when he used his buttocks to trap the ball. His bit of unorthodox skill was interpreted as a mocking act by Universitario players, who chased Viafara. Fans began to fight in the stands, then poured onto the field before the referee abandoned the game.

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