Who is Fanendo Adi ?

Fenendo Adi celebrating a goal

The Name Fanendo Adi might be new to many of us. He is Nigerian, He scored twice for his Club side Portland Timbers in his last game against the MLS champions LA Galaxy. He is 25 years old and he's loved greatly by the fans.  Adi has been the main force behind Timbers attack this season. He leads Portland with an MLS club record 15 goals and has recorded five goals in the last four games to help the Timbers (14-11-8, 50 points) earn three critical wins. He has help the team move up from the relegation zone. From an interview with

Hesaid "All along, I've been trying to find a perfect fit and I think here is a great fit for me," Adi said. "I'm pleased to be in Portland."

Adi grew up playing soccer, barefoot, in a remote village in Benue State, which sits in the middle of Nigeria. When his parents sent him on errands, the budding soccer star would often get sidetracked and instead end up playing soccer in the streets. He would spend hours running up and down the sandy lots alongside other children, completely forgetting about the errands, even though he knew he'd be in trouble when he came home. This happenes to most Nigerian kids growing up, especially we guys.

Fanendo Adi's journey to the Portland Timbers 

Adi talks about learning to play soccer as a barefoot boy in Nigeria and about the journey from there through other countries to Portland, where he's the Timbers' leading scorer.

Despite his humble beginnings, Adi quickly rose up the ranks. An agent noticed him playing when he was 15 and invited him to come to a tryout in Lagos, Nigeria's teeming metropolis.

Adi arrived at the tryout expecting to be one of 65 players competing for 10 spots in the Brazilian Soccer School, a soccer academy in Lagos. Instead, 400 boys showed up to the tryout and out of  the 400 players, he was the only one that was chosen. He then spent the next six months trying to improve his game at the Brazilian Soccer School, he was later sent to a second-division club AS Trenčín in Slovakia for a tryout. The tryout lasted just 30 minutes, but once again Adi made an impression and was offered the chance to leave Nigeria to play professional soccer.

In 2014, Adi was offered the chance to join Danish Superliga side FC Copenhagen. He traveled to Denmark to build his career in Europe, but the coach that brought Adi to Copenhagen was fired only days after he arrived. A new coach came in with his own crop of players and style of play and Adi realized that he might need to look for another opportunity.

When he was offered the chance to come to America and join the Timbers on loan, he jumped at it. In his first five games in Portland, Adi recorded two braces, prompting the Timbers to sign him as a designated player.It wasn't easy for him there also at first, he didn't score all through 2014 and early 2015, causing Porter, the coach to replace Adi in the lineup in select games with Timbers forward Maximiliano Urruti.

Adi is still young and Porter said he is continuing to evolve as a player. This year, Porter has tried to help Adi simplify his game and worked on finding ways to play to his strengths. He sends Adi a text before every game, reminding the 6 foot 4 striker to "play big." "He's a guy that as big as he is, sometimes he doesn't play that big or in the past he hasn't," Porter said. "But he's learning to embrace how big and strong and mean he can be." Adi has never felt more motivated to succeed. He has grown into his shoes and is living out his dream. "In soccer, nothing is easy," Adi said. "Of course, we've had our ups and downs, but I came here to play and that's just what I'm doing."