BRADENTON - Midway through the first half of Friday's U.S. Soccer/Nike Friendlies match between the U.S. Under-17 Men's National Team and the Atlanta Fire, MNT forward Freddy Adu fell in a heap after getting squeezed between two defenders.

A flagrant foul was called, resulting in a yellow-card warning to a Fire player. Before the referee had stuck the card back in his pocket, Adu had placed the ball down and blasted the free kick past the goalkeeper for a 1-0 lead.

"Freddy caught them not paying attention and made them pay for it," MNT coach John Ellinger said after his team's 2-0 victory at IMG Academy Park.

For those brief moments, the Fire may have been the only members of the U.S. soccer community not paying attention to Adu, the 13-year-old sensation from Ghana.

The youngest player on the team by two years, Adu has scored 17 goals since joining U.S. Soccer's full-time residency program in Bradenton in January.

Adu moved here from Maryland months after leading the Potomac Cougars to a U-14 national youth championship. The previous two years, Adu traveled to Italy with a U.S. U-14 regional select team that competed against development teams from top Italian professional clubs.

Adu was so impressive, earning most valuable player honors and the Golden Boot as leading scorer both years, that Italian soccer club Inter Milan made an offer most people couldn't refuse.

"I didn't know how much until it came out in the papers," Adu said. "My mom (who lives in Maryland with Freddy's younger brother) wouldn't tell me." According to published reports, the figure was $750,000.

"I was like, wow, I can't believe this is happening to me," said Adu, who speaks fluent English because it is required in Ghana schools. "I was in shock for a long time. But it was the right decision (to turn it down). I felt I was too young anyway to move to another country."

The U.S. Soccer Federation already has seen the benefits of establishing a full-time U-17 residency program. Graduates Landon Donovan and DaMarcus Beasley made significant contributions to last year's U.S. World Cup team, which reached the quarterfinals. Two current U-17 players, Eddie Gaven and Guillermo Gonzalez, have signed Major League Soccer contracts, and Ellinger said defender Jonathan Spector is set to sign with Manchester United.

But when you're 13 and playing with the big boys, everyone seems to notice.

"Freddy is very fast and has a great change of pace," Ellinger said. "Technically, he is very skillful, and he is decent in the air for his size (5-feet-7, 140 pounds). As his decision-making continues to improve, he will develop into a phenomenal talent."

Adu, whose family won a lottery that enabled them to immigrate to the United States in 1998, must become a U.S. citizen to play for the MNT in the U-17 World Cup qualifying tournament in March in Guatemala.

"My mom has passed the test and been fingerprinted and is waiting for the interview before she is sworn in," Adu said. "If she gets it, my brother and I get it."

If it happens, you can be sure all of Guatemala will be paying attention.