“It is very impressive,” Kerr said. “And when I say we weren’t highly ranked as a league I say that in terms of how people are thinking of us as a league.”

As for Ara, he will be entering a very interesting situation with United, where he is expected to fill in as more of a defensive midfielder. The addition of Adu will certainly give United and therefore Ara a lot more national and international attention than would initially have been expected.

While the coaches wish to protect Adu and allow him to develop his game at a relatively slow pace, fans and critics have already begun clamoring to see him play immediately in order to determine if he is truly capable of leading the United States to a World Cup title in 2006, as hoped by American soccer enthusiasts.

Adu could not be reached for comment.

All of this responsibility has been placed in the hands of an untested first-year coach, Peter Nowak, a former Polish national team, German Bundesliga and MLS standout. Nowak replaces Ray Hudson—who suffered through two consecutive losing seasons—in an attempt to rejuvenate a club that won three of the first four MLS titles, but has only been to the playoffs once since 1999.

“I’m thinking I’m lucky because [Nowak is] a midfielder as well, so he can help my development too,” Ara said. “He seems like a very good guy and I’m pretty sure that he liked how I played, so I’m looking forward to it.”

“In some ways there couldn’t be a more perfect situation,” Kerr said. “The expectations won’t be quite as high because of their losing seasons the past couple of years…I think you’ll be seeing big things coming out of D.C. United in the next year or two.”

Ara certainly hopes to have more success than the other two former Crimson standouts, Will Kohler ’97 and Tom McClaughlin ’98. Both were Ivy Players of the year and were drafted in the first three rounds but only McClaughlin saw action in the MLS, and then only 29 minutes in one game.

“Before [Ara] came to Harvard, he always wanted to be a professional soccer player,” Kerr said. “I convinced him it would be a great move to come to Harvard because it would be a great education, No. 1, and I would do everything in my power for him to become a professional soccer player by the time he was through.”

Kerr also noted that Ara has not decided whether or not to leave school early in order to join the team’s training period which begins in February, but that such a decision is likely to come soon. Kerr said he will try to persuade Ara to finish up his requirements for graduation before pursuing his professional career.

—Staff writer Evan R. Johnson can be reached at erjohns@fas.harvard.edu.