Adur dreams of MLS, national team; hopes that FC Edmonton can relaunch his career

Anthony Adur has had a taste of MLS; and he wants to get there on a full-time basis. But, to do that, he knows he’d have to prove his worth in NASL.

Before coming to FC Edmonton on trial, the Canadian striker was training with the Columbus Crew where his cousin, Trinidad and Tobago international Kevan George, is under contract.

Adur wants to attract the attention of MLS scouts. He wants to one day wear the Canadian national jersey. But, even though he boasted a solid scoring record in Thailand, it wasn’t going to put him on the radar of the national program.

Adur began his trial with the Eddies on Saturday, playing in an intrasquad game. So far, FCE coach Colin Miller has liked what he has seen. On Tuesday, Miller said he’ll be able to see how the trialist acts in front of goal as the club will be focusing its training session on attacks.

“He’s made a good impression,” said the coach. “He’s scored some goals wherever he’s been.”

And Adur (who is listed in some places by the “Bahadur” surname. That’s correct, but he prefers going with the “Adur” name) has been in some exotic locales. He was in Singapore, then made it to the youth squad of Maccabi Haifa, one of Israel’s top teams. He then moved to Thailand, spending parts of 2011 and 2012 with TOT SC.

“Maccabi was the highest level I’ve played,” said Adur. “It’s football at a Champions League level. It took me a lot to get into that team… I loved the (Thailand) experience. You have a lot of teams in Bangkok, so when the game is on, the city shuts down.”

Miller said Adur has the ability to “break the line,” that is, to make runs behind the defensive line and create opportunities. “We’re going to test him in front of goal a little bit more,” said Miller.

And the coach said the team will want to make a quick decision about the forward. An extended trial is unfair to a player who is looking for work.

“We also have a limited budget to work with; Anthony knows that already.”

On Monday, Adur was the only trialist at FC Edmonton, with the fall season opener in Carolina less than a week away. A new attacking midfielder will join the team on July 31. And Miller is waiting on the Vancouver Whitecaps to clarify its situation with defender Brad Rusin, who came out of Saturday’s loss to Philadelphia. If Rusin is OK, defender Carlyle Mitchell — who was recalled from Edmonton in June — will be returned to the Eddies in time for the fall-season opener. Dominic Oppong and David Zaharija, who trained last week with the Eddies, had their stints come to an end.

So far, Adur likes what he sees in Edmonton. “The atmosphere is great. All the guys are hard on each other, in a good way.”

Adur knows the Eddies quite well — he’s followed the team’s exploits. Current Eddie Massimo Mirabelli is a friend. He also knows Oppong and former Eddie Kyle Porter. And he knows that FCE finished dead last in NASL in goals-for in the spring season campaign.

And he knows that Miller has spent a good part of the last six months as the interim coach of the national side. Even though Benito Floro takes over as national-team coach in August, Miller has said that he has been asked to keep a dialogue open with the Spaniard. As Floro will be spending time learning English (he has hired a tutor), he will need advisors such as Miller as he adjusts to his new role.

And Adur believes that making an impression on the FC Edmonton coach matters in terms of the national side.

“I’ve always known a lot about him,” Adur said of Miller. “I wished I would have gotten a call to the national team. But now he’s my head coach, and I have an opportunity to show him what I can do.”