Through the last thirty years of men’s international soccer there have been many teams to rise on the back of a single star. This player usually has the ability to make all of the players around him play better than ever before. A player in this position is generally thrust into the spotlight at an early age, usually mid to late teens, and if they are not the best at focusing, they are not given the time to develop their skills as they keep progressing through the ranks. I believe that this puts an extreme amount of pressure on a young athlete and can cause them to become uninspired in their pursuit of becoming the best in the sport they love. I think that too much pressure does not create an environment that will allow a young star to develop into anything other than a flop.
There is one player that comes to any person who follows US soccer’s mind as soon as this discussion begins, Freddy Adu. Once believed to be the next Pele after he scored four goals in the 2003 FIFA U-17 World Championship (Davis), Adu was drafted into the MLS in 2004 at the tender, young age of fourteen years old. On top of just being drafted as a fourteen year old, he was given a little more pressure to perform as he was selected first overall by DC United. Immediately Adu made an impact in the MLS as DC United won the …show more content…
He made his first team debut at Borussia Dortmund in Germany back in December and has made a few appearances since. Despite only having played a few times he has already started to have a large media following. The media coverage of the next “savior” is so extravagant that you can watch every touch that he made during his Bundesliga debut (Ursy). If this pressure from the media continues to get bigger, it always seems to find a way to, then Pulisic runs the risk of putting too much pressure on himself to perform at a high level and it could easily lead to a flameout by another promising young
There is one player that comes to any person who follows US soccer’s mind as soon as this discussion begins, Freddy Adu. Once believed to be the next Pele after he scored four goals in the 2003 FIFA U-17 World Championship (Davis), Adu was drafted into the MLS in 2004 at the tender, young age of fourteen years old. On top of just being drafted as a fourteen year old, he was given a little more pressure to perform as he was selected first overall by DC United. Immediately Adu made an impact in the MLS as DC United won the …show more content…
He made his first team debut at Borussia Dortmund in Germany back in December and has made a few appearances since. Despite only having played a few times he has already started to have a large media following. The media coverage of the next “savior” is so extravagant that you can watch every touch that he made during his Bundesliga debut (Ursy). If this pressure from the media continues to get bigger, it always seems to find a way to, then Pulisic runs the risk of putting too much pressure on himself to perform at a high level and it could easily lead to a flameout by another promising young