Where in the world is Freddy Adu?

Aside from Selena Roberts’ excellent piece about Tiger-as-faker, porny-stripper-as-keeping-it-real, this week’s Sports Illustrated attempts to answer the question posed in this post’s header. The short answer: In Greece, watching feral dogs roam while trying to reclaim his perceived birthright as soccer royalty. The shorter answer: Shin-pad deep in a fight that he hopes he’ll win.

Until Adu finds regular playing time at the club level, it’s hard to envision that he’ll get called back to the national team. He was on the U.S. roster for last year’s Confederations Cup but didn’t see the field, and he hasn’t been in a U.S. camp since struggling with the B team at last July’s Gold Cup and barely playing at the club level last fall. “It’s a case of a young player who has aspirations but still hasn’t been able to establish himself,” says U.S. coach Bob Bradley. “When you go to Europe, nothing is ever going to just get handed to you. It’s that ability to establish yourself within the team, with the coaches. He’s in the midst of all that, and when you add on the pressure of the early recognition and the hype, that makes it in some ways harder.”

And if I may interject: Throw caution to the wind, Coach Bradley, and give him a spot on the squad. I have a distinct sense something unexpectedly grand would happen were Adu on the S. African pitch.