On April 8, 2017, Fanendo Adi became a legend.

In the 88th minute of the match, the Portland Timbers were already up 1-2 on Philadelphia’s home turf, but the visitors weren’t satisfied just yet. After drawing a penalty in the box, Adi was set to take a penalty kick with the knowledge that if he found the back of the net, he would become the Timbers’ leading goal-scorer of all time.

He made it look easy. 46 goals. Record set.

Adi began his prolific MLS career on loan to Portland in 2014, with the Timbers signing him permanently shortly after as the club’s fourth-ever Designated Player. Playing as a No. 9, he was the team’s leading goal scorer in 2015 and 2016 with 16 goals in each season. Adi went down in Timbers history, earning himself a spot in the club’s All-Time XI last year.

When FC Cincinnati joined the league as an expansion side in 2018, Adi spent a brief time with the Lions before moving to Columbus for 2020 and finishing out his playing career with Minnesota United in 2021. From there, he started coaching MNUFC’s U19 (now U18) Academy side, translating his ample professional playing experience into training the next generation of soccer stars.

“[Minnesota United] is a club that really gives opportunity to other people to grow,” Adi said. “So I thought it was the right place for me to start.”

The opportunity for growth is a tenet of Minnesota United’s pathway, from the three Academy sides all the way up to the first team. The club development pipeline is focused on the fluid progression of talent, and because all the teams train in the same facilities, it’s easy to ask a second-teamer to stick around to play with the first team, or for a U18 to join MNUFC2 for a scrimmage. Second-team forward Troy Putt, for example, has already earned two short-term call-ups to the first team this season. 

“That sets an example for the rest of the guys,” Adi said. “[Coach Knowles] will give you the opportunity if you're doing well, and I think all the boys are excited. So the pathway through here is pretty impressive for sure.”

That development pipeline just so happens to be mirrored in this year’s coaching staff. Cameron Knowles served as MNUFC2 Head Coach from 2021 to 2023, then became an assistant coach under Eric Ramsay before taking over as first-team head coach this season. Similarly, Adi worked his way from the Academy coaching staff to an assistant position with MNUFC2 ahead of 2024. After Jeremy Hall departed the club to take a position coaching the United States U18 National Team in early 2026, Adi was named MNUFC2 Head Coach.

Though they didn’t work directly together, Adi’s time in Portland did overlap briefly with Knowles’ time on staff, and their soccer journeys have once again brought them together as head coaches in Minnesota.

“I think in the second team environment, you get to learn so much,” Adi said. “The players are dependent on you as a coach. You have to watch the video. You have to have the skills for the players. It’s just a really, really good opportunity for young coaches to develop.”

2025 was a record-setting season for MNUFC2, with the club securing its first playoff berth and running all the way to Western Conference Finals. Under Jeremy Hall’s leadership, the Twos dominated on the road, engineered some impressive on-the-pitch chemistry, and really built something to be proud of. Now Adi and the team look to build on that momentum in 2026, though the team composition looks markedly different. 

Over the last year plus, Darius Randell, Wessel Speel, Kieran Chandler, Britton Fischer, and Kayne Rizvanovich have all earned first-team contracts. Speel, Fischer, and Rizvanovich have since gone on loan, as have a few mainstays from last season’s MNUFC2 starting lineup, like Curt Calov and Logan Dorsey. Last season’s co-leading goal-scorer (alongside Dorsey), Luke Hille, is still working his way back from a late-season injury.

“It’s good for their development as individual players and for the club, because now they get more professional games under them,” Adi said. “Good for the club and good for the player.” 

Despite the turnover, Adi has a number of exciting new faces to work with this season and has already kicked off the year in fine fashion. Earlier this month, Marcus Caldeira netted a hat trick on the road against Austin FC II in the season opener, securing three points off the bat. Though the Twos fell last weekend to conference-leading St. Louis CITY2, there’s plenty of talent on the squad and a great deal of ambition for the season ahead.

Playoffs are just one target for the intrepid Twos side. For Adi, the primary goal of the second-team environment is to refine and evolve talent to help the first team.

“Winning games in the second team is good, but as a second team coach, the first thing at the back of our mind should be that we want to develop these guys to get them into the first team,” he said.  “We’ll play our game, play good football. We’ll keep working hard together. But the ultimate goal is to see how these guys develop.”

And right now, the best way for those players to develop is giving it their all in MLS NEXT Pro. It’s a system that benefits every aspect of the club, and at the helm of MNUFC2, Adi is manning the critical middle ground between the Academy sides and the first team. From those early days playing for the Timbers to this weekend’s MNUFC2 matchup in Vancouver, he keeps working toward the same goal: “Going as far as we can.”