“When I hired my coach, John Ellinger, two and a half years ago, one of the reasons I hired him was because I knew Freddy [Adu] wanted to play for him. We were thinking about this years ago.”
— Real Salt Lake owner Dave Checketts. Ellinger was Adu’s U-17 U.S. national team coach. Adu arrived in Salt Lake in December after three seasons with D.C. United. Ellinger has failed to guide Real Salt Lake to the playoffs during the club’s first two seasons. (New York Times)