Mo Adams flew into Atlanta at 11:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Twenty hours later, despite having not practiced with Atlanta United, he made his debut during Wednesday's 5-0 win against Houston at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
“I think you’ve always got to be prepared,” he said. “I just try to envision myself coming on and trying to be as mentally prepared as possible. Stepping on the field was a moment I’ll remember forever. They just said to be myself and play my game. One thing the coach said to me was to enjoy it.”
Adams found out that Chicago was going to trade him a few days ago. He didn’t know it was going to be to Atlanta, which gave up $100,000 in General Allocation Money to acquire him. The move was announced Wednesday morning.
“Once I heard I was going to Atlanta, I was over the moon, of course,” he said. “One of the team admins got in touch with me and said they would be flying me out. It all happened so quickly after that.”
Adams came on in the 77th minute for Darlington Nagbe. Though he came in as a midfielder, he said he will be comfortable playing fullback, which is a position that manager Frank de Boer said he can play. Adams said he played fullback quite often growing up in England. He played mostly as a defensive midfielder at Syracuse and then at Chicago.
De Boer said he liked what he saw in the 16 minutes Adams played, and thinks he will contribute for the rest of the season.
“He’s fast, and he’s mobile,” de Boer said. “I already said to him, ‘We are involved in two competitions still.’ Two games away from hopefully winning something. Also close for playoffs, we can lose everything, we can also have a fantastic season, and he can be a part of that, so hopefully, he will.”
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