PORTLAND, Ore. – Portland Timbers forward Fanendo Adi was voted MLS Player of the Week by the North American Soccer Reporters (NASR) for Week 15 of the 2017 MLS season, it was announced today. This marks the fourth time the striker has won MLS Player of the Week honors in his MLS career.
In the Timbers home match against FC Dallas on June 10, Adi scored a goal in each half to help guide Portland to a 2-0 victory at Providence Park.
Adi opened the scoring (Watch Goal) less than 15 minutes before halftime when midfielder Sebastián Blanco drove at the FC Dallas defense, before playing a well-weighted pass into Adi’s path, with the striker shrugging off his defender and tucking his effort into the bottom corner in the 32nd minute.
In the 72nd minute, Adi notched his brace from a complete team goal (Watch Goal), with multiple Portland players breaking forward on an effective counter attack. To begin the play, midfielder Diego Chara played the ball to midfielder Diego Valeri, who quickly moved it wide to midfielder Dairon Asprilla in space. Hitting a first-time cross, Asprilla found Chara, who cleverly left the ball for Adi for a clinical, close-range finish.
With the brace, Adi recorded his 13th career multi-goal game in MLS regular-season action with the Timbers, extending his season tally to eight goals. Additionally, Adi, who is the Timbers leading goal-scorer across all eras (since 1975), extended his career total to 49 goals in MLS, placing him in a tie with New York City FC striker David Villa and Sporting Kansas City forward Dominic Dwyer for the second-most goals scored in the league since his MLS debut in 2014.
The MLS Player of the Week is selected each week of the regular season by a panel of journalists from NASR. The group consists of members of print, television, radio and online media.
Next up, the Timbers will play two away matches in five days, traveling to face Seattle Sounders FC in the fourth round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup on Tuesday at Starfire Stadium in Tukwila, Wash., before traveling to face the Colorado Rapids in league play at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park on Saturday, June 17. Beginning at 7:30 p.m. (Pacific), the Open Cup match against Seattle will be streamed live on www.timbers.com, while the match against Colorado, set to begin at 6:30 p.m. (Pacific), will be broadcast live on ROOT SPORTS with local radio broadcasts on 750 AM/102.9 FM The Game (English) and La GranD 1150 AM/93.5 FM (Spanish).
