TURKU, Finland -- Now Freddy Adu and his young American teammates face their toughest test.
The U.S. team easily made the quarterfinals at the Under-17 World Championships, which set it up for a game with Brazil. And while the Americans are thrilled to have gotten so far, they recognize the formidable challenge ahead on Sunday.
"It's Brazil and we all know they are going to be very skillful and will move the ball around," said Adu, precocious 14-year-old who's one of the word's best young players.
"It's pretty much more or less what you've seen on TV," added coach John Ellinger. "We've had a coach who has scouted them for three games, so we have some of their tendencies.
"Their outside defenders are the keys to their attacking. If you're going to be successful against Brazil, you have to deal with those two players. They have some very skillful forwards that started out against Cameroon missing their chances, but then started making them, winning 5-0 against Portugal and 3-0 against Yemen.
"They are a dangerous, extremely talented team and we know we have our hands full."
But the Brazilians also will have their hands full with the prodigy, Adu. He scored three times in an opening 6-1 victory over South Korea and had the winning goal in injury time against Sierra Leone.
Adu knows what to expect from Brazil and every other opponent: a dose of intimidation. He tries to shrug it off.
"All the attention is great, but I'm not worried about it or anything," Adu said. "When we step on the field, some of the other teams know who I am, but going into a game, I can't even think about that. I just have to be able to cope with the hacking and all that stuff, and just keep playing.
"Most teams feel like they can get into your head by shoving you, talking trash and all that stuff. I've grown up a lot in the last two years, and I've learned to deal with that stuff. I just go into every game and try to play my game. There's nothing you can do about it, especially if the referee is not going to protect you. Hopefully they do, but if not I just keep playing."
The Americans were inconsistent in a 2-0 loss to Spain to close out the first round, but they'd already qualified for the quarterfinals. They also are healthier now than in the first round.
Still, Sunday's result likely will come down to what Adu can create against the Brazilians, whose youth teams aren't necessarily of the caliber of their World Cup squads, but still are potent.
American Jamie Watson believes Adu and the rest of his teammates will be up to the task.
"He's the type of player who can win a game for us himself," Watson said of Adu, "or he can turn around and help by putting someone else into a chance to score. If you're going to stop him one way, he's going to beat you another way. He's a Houdini-type player."
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