Outrage, Despair: Soccer Has Arrived in U.S.

ANY minute now, I expect to hear the name Freddy Adu. From what I gather, people back in the States are exercised that their lads could lose to anybody by a 3-0 score, and they want to know who is to blame.

Didn't Nike pay the peppy Master Adu all that money to wear its gear and to play for D.C. United in Major League Soccer? Maybe the young man could have energized the Americans, given them a little razzle-dazzle. I can hear it now on the radio call-in shows, as the United States heads toward a game against Italy on Saturday and potential elimination from any chance to advance.

The parochial little game called American football always engenders a quarterback controversy. Calling for Adu would be like a mascot controversy. Maybe it is a sign that soccer is arriving in the States when people are suddenly questioning Bruce Arena, the United States manager, whom a huge swath of the population could not have identified until they saw him with severe gastric pains on his face during Monday's disaster of a game.