Minnesota United veteran forward Fanendo Adi goes home Sunday to Portland and a Providence Park field where he starred for five seasons with the Timbers and became a footnote in Loons history as well.
Adi scored Portland's final two goals in the Loons' very first game, a 5-1 loss that opened their inaugural 2017 season.
"I remember that game very well," Adi said all these years later.
So, too, does Adrian Heath, who coached his first game for the franchise that night.
"They had a good team; we weren't as good as we are," Heath said deadpan about a Loons team whose only remaining player is Brent Kallman.
The Loons reached the MLS Cup playoffs for a third consecutive season with a 3-3 Decision Day draw at LA Galaxy two weeks ago. They now play a Timbers team that hasn't beaten them the past five meetings in all competitions, dating to an April 14, 2018, loss at Portland.
The Loons are 4-0-1 in those five games.
Adi still played for Portland then. A gifted goal striker, Nigerian born and raised, he scored 54 goals in those four-plus seasons with the Timbers, including 16 each in their 2015 MLS Cup season and 2016, too.
Now he's going home to Portland, where he still lives with his wife and two children.
"That's going to be interesting," Adi said. "I haven't played there since I left, so it's going to be a good return. I'm looking forward to it."
He played 12 games for FC Cincinnati in its 2019 expansion season after Portland traded him for nearly $1 million in allocation money. Adi was cited for speeding and drunken driving in March 2019, and Cincinnati waived him the next winter. He played 11 games for MLS Cup champion Columbus in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
Adi was 30 and seeking a team all season when the Loons signed him in late August after a training trial. They needed depth and experience in a season hit by injuries and international-duty absences. He came recommended by Loons assistant coach Sean McAuley, who coached him in Portland.
The Loons signed him for the season's finish, with a team option for 2022. Heath called Adi — 6-4 and able to possess the ball at both ends — a "different body in a different shape for us. We needed another body there."
Heath also called him a player who can enter late in a game to score a goal or defend one under pressure, which the Loons certainly were in L.A.
Like Ozzie Alonso, Adi knows all about being on a championship team, twice. The Loons reached the Western Conference final last year.
"I'll help the team any way I can," Adi said. "My experience will play a huge part. I can talk to the guys. They've been in the playoffs, almost won the conference last year. But to get all the way to win is a different scenario.
"Portland will be a very difficult team to play against. We've had good results against them, but I just have the feeling it's going to be a tough one. It's in Portland. It's a playoff game. We need to go out there very ready for them."
