Freddy Adu should play for Ghana

Give Ghana coach Ratomir Dujkovic some credit for trying. Dujkovic told BBC Sport recently that he has decided to contact Freddy Adu to see if he might be persuaded to play for the Black Stars this World Cup.

Adu, who was born in Ghana but has become an American citizen, should take Dujkovic up on his offer.

At the mere age of 16, Adu’s best days are ahead and those days will not be on U.S. soil. Labeled as a football prodigy and tagged by many as the player who will take the sport’s popularity to a new level in the United States, Adu has been merely average in his first two seasons as a professional with Major League Soccer’s DC United. Despite the early setbacks, Adu’s future is clearly in Europe where he has publicly said he wants to play some day.

So where does Ghana fit into the picture? A spot in the World Cup, even as a reserve, will give Adu an enormous stage to audition for European club teams. Playing beside players like Chelsea’s Michael Essien and the Udinese trio of Sulley Muntari, Asamoah Gyan and John Mensah, Adu will be part of an up and coming national team that will give the US team all it can handle in its first round match-up.

The career of a footballer is short and it is often only one bad tackle away from being over. Adu should take the opportunity to be a part of the World Cup right now, instead of waiting for the possibility to play for the US in four years – if the US even qualifies four years from now and if he makes the team four years from now. Both are likely but neither a certainty.

Sure, Adu will forfeit the potential millions he would earn from US commercial opportunities, but if he is as talented as he is hyped, that revenue will be more than made up over time. Adu could be the cornerstone of the Ghana national team for years to come, while achieving fame and fortune in Europe. That might not have the same glamour as being known as the player who lifted soccer out of obscurity in the Land of Sam, but it also doesn’t come with burden of having to prove that you are your sport’s savior.