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Sorry Freddy, but your window is closing rapidly. I think that U.S. soccer fans are witnessing something unique. The death of a sports career before the athlete reaches drinking age. We are so used to saying that a 20 year old is just starting a career. But the reality is that in soccer, to be a super star, you have to be performing at 20. Contributing at 20. PLAYING at 20. (See Thierry Henry, Paulo Maldini, Cristiano Ronal-dollaria, Cesc Fabregas, Roberto Baggio) Not sitting, squandering precious chances or constantly trying to achieve lift off for a career that appears to be stuck on the runway. Many have stated that Freddy is the future of U.S. Soccer. If that is true then we are in big trouble. What has he established by the age of 20? What direction would you say he is heading in?

Recent results would suggest that he has less potential than most are willing to admit. Shortly after being sold to a Portuguese powerhouse it became clear he was not in Benfica's plans. His next stop was a loan move to a nice club in France. (Monaco)The truth of the matter there that it was no more than an American marketing ploy by the Monaco president when that organization took him their roster. Freddy saw a new opportunity. His fans saw this as his chance. The president saw a way to brand his team overseas. The coach only saw an occasional rest for a few of his starting midfielders. He totaled less than 200 minutes for that club this year. Somehow, after basically doing as much playing as I did in the French League, he was called into the national team camp for the Confederations Cup. He did not feature in any of the 5 games, despite the fact that the team dreadfully under performed for the first two games and also ran into personnel issues due to a hailstorm of red cards. From the "throw a dog a bone" category, U.S. national team coach Bob Bradley followed that undeserved invitation and called Freddy into the squad for our B-List run at this year???s Gold Cup. Freddy was handed two starts versus the first two opponents in Grenada and Honduras. In both games Freddy was overshadowed by his much less heralded, B-List counterparts from the MLS. Against Honduras he looked ineffective from the start and only made a contribution by promoting himself to take most set pieces. He did not look like a first teamer playing down to gain some form. In fact, he was replaced by a first teamer who is playing down in the person of Charlie Davies. It did not seem to be a coincidence that as soon as Freddy was replaced did the U.S. post two goals in short order. Honduras was 2nd best the entire game but seemed to give up chance after chance once Charlie replaced Freddy in attack. Next, in a strange move shortly after the game, Coach Bob Bradley announced that Freddy would now leave the Gold Cup to return to tend to his career at Benfica.

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