ADU SHOWS CAN-DO ATTITUDE 14-YEAR-OLD D.C. UNITED PRODIGY ELECTRIFIES IN TIE AGAINST GALAXY GALAXY 1, D.C. UNITED 1.

Byline: Fred J. Robledo Staff Writer

CARSON - After a boring and tension free first half, in came the 14- year-old a sold-out crowd paid to see.

With the second half whistle moments away, and with everyone on both sides settling at their positions, in sprinted D.C. United forward Freddy Adu from the sidelines.

Adu, who came on in the 61st minute of United's victory at home last week against the San Jose Earthquakes, checked in against the Galaxy and completely changed the atmosphere. The crowd was re-energized and players for both teams became more focused and more daring.

With it came two second-half goals, and none more important to the home fans that made up the crowd of 27,000 on Saturday night than Carlos Ruiz's equalizer in the 85th minute, which allowed the Galaxy to escape with a 1-1 draw.

But the discussion afterward was about Adu, who appeared much more composed than in his debut a week ago. He was taking players on, gave a beautiful pass to Bobby Convey in the box, and nearly scored what might have been the game-winner in the 90th minute, running in from the right side and firing a shot at Galaxy goalkeeper Kevin Hartman, who blew a big sigh of relief after punching it away.

``I was thinking I didn't want to be the poster child on tonight's sportscast,'' Hartman said. ``To be honest, that's what you think. There's so much hype around this kid and so much respect from the other players.''

Afterward, Adu was grinning from cheek to cheek.

``Last weekend's game I had a lot of pressure on my back and I didn't play that well,'' Adu said. ``I'm glad to get that over with and I'm back to really thinking about soccer. It felt like the old me.''

Last week, Adu was tentative. On Saturday, he was all over the field.

``It was like, why am I holding back?'' Adu said.

Although Adu is considered the future, Ruiz again showed why he's the present.

With the game slipping away, Ruiz fired a difficult ball from the top of penalty into the roof of the net in the 85th minute, allowing the Galaxy (1-0-1) to remain unbeaten.

But much of the focus during and after the game fell on the 14-year-old.

``It was great to hear the crowd chant his name,'' Galaxy coach Sigi Schmid said. ``All what you're looking for is that atmosphere, and it was an electric game from the standpoint of the atmosphere because you had two teams that played very well last week playing against each other, and you had Freddy's only game out here and there's a buzz that's going on about him right now, and that makes it all that much more electric.''

Fred Robledo, [phone]

fred.robledo(at)sgvn.com