via media.mlive.com

So he's out at Philly. And his reputation is once again in decline. And his career is an enigma.

But what about Freddy Adu as a Timber?

Watching him in Nashville as the captain of Caleb Porter's U-23s, I thought he looked ... good. He flat tore-up the Cubans in the opening 6-0 win and was the American hero in the heart-breaking draw against El Salvador, rallying the team back to a 3-2 lead after an injured Bill Hamid gave up two sudden goals. Had El Salvador not scored a miracle stoppage time goal (with Adu on the bench for a defensive substitution), then perhaps we'd be talking about Freddy as the successful captain on the American team that qualified for London.

Of course, he didn't do squat in the 0-2 loss to Canada. Nobody did. And as captain, you can fairly blame Adu for a share of that flat performance.

With our slew of off-season attacker acquisitions, the thought of Adu seemed redundant ... until the Franck Songo'o rumors started swirling earlier this week. Could Adu fill that role? Yep.

The only reason I bring it up is because if there's any coach who has brought out the best in Freddy in recent years, it's Porter. And here's Freddy talking, after returning to Philly:

"Over there, with the Olympic team, they play differently," Adu admits. "They like to dominate possession and be a lot more attack-minded and press, press and press. We had a lot of the ball with that team. When you come to Philly, there’s a different style of play, a different formation and you have to adjust to that as well."

Adu wouldn't have to be the star here. He wouldn't have to carry the team, and he'd be part of a system that plays to his strengths, for a coach who seems to trust him. I think he still has potential, and he has more MLS and international experience at 23 than most of the players on our roster.

Adding a starting-quality fullback remains a higher priority, but if Adu could be had at a bargain price, Portland might be his best available option to restart his on-again, off-again career.