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(AP) Like millions of other kids, Freddy Adu will be driven to soccer practice by his mom next spring. Not much else is ordinary about this 14-year-old phenom. Sure, he loves to listen to rappers Eminem and 50 Cent, has posters of David Beckham and Maradona in his room and lists 'Lord of the Rings' as his favorite movie. But no other teenage soccer player will make hundreds of thousands of dollars in the United States and has been called everything from the next Pele to the LeBron James of MLS. 'If you're good enough, you're old enough,' Adu said Wednesday, a day after signing with Major League Soccer. 'If you feel like you're ready to go, hey, give it a shot.' He'll start his career with DC United, hoping to earn a place in the starting lineup and play his way onto the U.S. team for the 2006 World Cup, which starts a week after his 17th birthday. 'I like to think of myself as having a pretty good chance,' he said. Manchester United, Chelsea and PSV Eindhoven tried to sign him, according to his agent, Richard Motzkin. But if he had gone to Europe, soccer's complicated rules probably would have limited him to a youth team rather than a top club until 2007, when he turns 18. In MLS, he can play as soon as DC United thinks he's ready. It also allows him to stay at home.
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