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This Saturday, Freddy Adu will lace up his cleats, pull on DC United's number nine shirt and walk onto the gleaming field of RFK Stadium to face the defending champions of the league in a nationally televised home opener. There will be an immense amount of pressure on the young man's shoulders. He is, without question, the most talked about rookie in his league this year, and is expected to be the much-needed scoring spark for a team that barely made the playoffs. He will be managed by a man that has never coached professionally on any level. Oh yes, and he will also be the youngest person to play a team sport professionally in the United States in well over a century.

If only this is all Adu will be facing. If only he played a different sport, in a different league--the NFL, NHL or NBA--the pressure may not seem so intense. You see, Adu plays for Major League Soccer and because of this a small, but intensely loyal, fan base believes fervently that he can single-handedly drag their beloved game out of obscurity, and thrust it into the increasingly crowded mainstream of American sports--or at the very least earn a few highlights on SportsCenter. To a certain extent, Adu has already fulfilled many of their wishes. He has signed big-time endorsement deals with Nike and Pepsi. He has repeatedly graced the pages of Sports Illustrated been glowingly profiled on ESPN's Outside the Lines and the holiest of media grails 60 Minutes--not to mention charming David Letterman and setting pre-teen hearts aflutter on MTV's Total Request Live. Without even having a kick in a professional game, Adu has already garnered more attention for U.S. soccer than its former poster boy, Landon Donovan--whom Adu will face on Saturday.

Although I share the soccer world's enthusiasm for Adu, I must inject a heavy dose of perspective to go along with this laudable marketing success. American soccer will almost certainly not enter the mainstream based solely on the quality of Adu's play. In fact, succeed or fail, Adu may prove to be a detriment to the short-term reputation of the MLS. If he plays well, soccer nay sayers will point to his success as a symptom of a league where the talent simply cannot be all that good. "What kind of league," they will say, "could be dominated by a 14-year-old boy?" If he fails, they will point out the folly of MLS executives--and fans--who placed all of their eggs in such a young basket. And this is assuming that all will go right with Adu off the field. Thus far, Adu's behavior has been stellar, and the media coverage he has received--with the noted exception of the age issue--has reflected this. But what if Adu's winning smile should fade through the long grind of the season? What if the constant doubts about his really being 14 should wear on him and he lashes out? What if he reacts rashly to an incident on the playing field? Any and all of these possible incidents would make wonderful fodder for those who would portray soccer as a mere oddity, rather than a legitimate sport. So soccer fans, please, don't count on Adu to be your Tiger.

Instead, remember that the success of soccer in America depends on a cadre of businessmen. People like Phil Anschutz, the Kraft family, and Lamar Hunt--the patron saints of MLS who have funded the league, begun building soccer-specific stadiums and incurred significant financial loss while investing in a sport they clearly love. The future is also dependent on Commissioner Don Garber and the MLS top brass who have done an admirable job prodding the league along, bringing it in line with international standards and attracting new investors like Stan Kroenke, Jorge Vergara and Bart Wolstein. In fact, while Adu has been driving the media hype, Garber and company have been diligently working behind the scenes to secure two rounds of league expansion--one in 2005 and one in 2006--which will bring in four new franchises and help secure the long-term future of the sport. If only the NHL and Major League Baseball could boast such expansion plans.

So rather than heaping loads of undue pressure on Adu and fretting about his--and the league's--success or failure, soccer fans should simply sit back and marvel at his unprecedented skill and hope that he can, perhaps, catch the attention of a few of the unwashed masses. There will be successes and failures for this young athlete, moments of brilliance and heart-breaking gaffes. But no matter what happens, at the end of November Adu, and MLS, will have grown by exactly one season, with many games yet to play.