As was expected, America’s participation in the Copa America, the South American championship, was not a success. Accepting an invitation to compete as a guest team, the Americans sent to Venezuela what was very much a B squad and lost all three of its games.

Eduardo de Luca, the general secretary of the South American Soccer Confederation, which organized the tournament, expressed mild disgruntlement: “The Americans opted to send a team with some players who aren’t their regulars. That doesn’t please us.”

An understandable criticism, but one that would have been better aimed at Brazil, which had turned up without its two biggest stars, Ronaldinho and Kaka — both of whom claimed they were too tired to take part.

Anyway, the American neophytes didn’t do too badly. Losing 4–1 to tournament favorites Argentina was hardly a disgrace. Against Paraguay, the U.S. had the better first half and squandered two clear-cut scoring chances before gifting the go-ahead goal to the Paraguayans. In their final game, the Americans were narrowly beaten 1–0 by Colombia.

The three losses put a dent in coach Bob Bradley’s hitherto unbeaten record, but he will not worry too much about that. The idea, he said, was to get experience for younger players, subjecting them to the rigors of top-level international competition.

But by that criterion, the foray into the Copa looks even less successful. Simply because none of the newcomers made much of an impression. If this team was a foretaste of the future of American soccer, then two worrying questions have been raised: Where is the next Claudio Reyna? And where is the next Landon Donovan?

As team captain and the essential playmaking and team-organizing midfielder, Reyna was the key player for Bruce Arena’s American team. Of the midfielders used in Venezuela, only Benny Feilhaber has the technical skills to replace him. But so far Feilhaber has played too defensively to allow a direct comparison with Reyna.

Then there’s Donovan: A lightfooted, beautifully balanced player with all the baffling changes of speed and direction that mark the natural dribbler, Donovan has been America’s top goal-scoring threat ever since the 2002 World Cup. None of the newcomers on view in Venezuela has Donovan’s blend of skills.

Maybe that is asking too much. Donovan, after all, is an exceptional player. Even so, it would be encouraging to see a youngster of a similar style emerging, but there was no such figure in Venezuela.

A lot further north, though, there is promise. Up in Canada, the American team is doing quite well in the under-20 World Cup. After beating Poland and Brazil — that’s right, Brazil — America has advanced to the second round, and tomorrow plays Uruguay in Toronto.

The player making the most headlines for the U.S. is Freddy Adu — the boy wonder who signed to play professional soccer in MLS back in 2003, when he was only 14 years old.

That was a heady moment for Freddy. Such was American soccer’s urgent desire for a superstar, a marketable icon, that he was suddenly invested with the almost magical power of leading the sport to the promised land.

Adu has proved to be no magician. Things have been difficult for him. He was anything but spectacular during his three years with D.C. United, where — despite an occasional flash of brilliance — he found it difficult to hold down a starting spot. This year he moved on to Real Salt Lake, linking up with his former youth coach John Ellinger — a circumstance that would, we were asked to believe, bring out the best of Adu. That notion quickly collapsed when Real got off to a poor start and Ellinger was fired in May; at the moment the team has the worst record in MLS.

But Adu has been able to put all the disappointments behind him with two sparkling performances in Canada. In a 6–1 demolition of Poland, he notched a hat trick — a nice answer to those who felt he lacked the scoring touch (not an unwarranted criticism considering he scored only 11 goals during his three years with D.C. United). The first of his trio against Poland caught the eye: a shot from just inside the penalty area, hit hard across the goal, but with enough spin to curl the ball around the Polish goalkeeper and into the far side of the net.

This was a special goal, the sort of goal that only special players can score. Coach Thomas Rongen had already underlined his belief in Adu’s special nature by making him team captain. After the team’s 2–1 win over Brazil, Rongen said, “We all knew that Freddy was a talented kid, and I felt that he was ready to wear the captain’s armband and take on a leadership role with this team. I couldn’t be happier with the way he has dealt with these circumstances. He had a superb performance against Poland and today [against Brazil], beyond his skill he always showed his desire, his heart. Great players succeed at the highest level and today was a great game for him, and he took the rest of the team with him today.”

Scoring goals as he did against Poland and displaying the playmaking and leadership qualities he did against Brazil, Adu showed he has the potential to become what was so prematurely claimed for him nearly four years ago: America’s next star player.

But he still has a lot of convincing to do. Against those who feel that Adu will now flourish because in Rongen he has at last found a coach willing to build a team around him, there are those who feel that Adu lacks the size and physical strength to succeed at the senior level. Such critics are unlikely to be impressed by his success in an under-20 tournament.

His failure, so far, to live up to his spectacular billing has resulted in a reluctance on the part of European clubs to move in and sign him. But further outstanding performances in Canada would quickly change that — so quickly that Adu would be unlikely to finish the season as a Real Salt Lake player.

pgardner@nysun.com