Last season, City SC made a trip to Houston, which should have been a chance for Samuel Adeniran, who was born and grew up in Houston before soccer started taking him around the world, to play in front of family and friends.
It didn’t happen.
In the match before that game, Adeniran got two yellow cards and was ejected from the game, which also meant he had to sit out the next game. So much for going home.
Did it bother him?
“Definitely, definitely,†he said Saturday.
Adeniran gets his second chance at a first match in Houston on Tuesday when City SC plays Houston Dynamo FC in the second leg of the teams’ two-game, total-goal series in the CONCACAF Champions Cup (9:30 p.m., FS2). City SC leads after the first game 2-1, so if it wins or ties on Tuesday, or loses by one goal with a final score of 3-2 or higher, City SC will win the series and advance to face Columbus in the round of 16. If City SC loses by more than one goal or loses 1-0, Houston will advance. If Houston wins 2-1, the teams will play 30 minutes of overtime.
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“Being able to go back and play in Houston is like a dream come true,†Adeniran said. “I never played for the academy in Houston, but I went to a lot of Dynamo games and so I’m probably going to have a lot of family and friends there. So it’s going to definitely be like a homecoming for me.â€
Adeniran’s father came to America to go to college and eventually settled in Houston. Two of Adeniran’s three siblings still live in Houston, and it’s not just his immediate family. He’s got cousins, aunts and uncles there.
“It’s going to be a packed stadium hopefully for me, hopefully,†he said.
Adenrian scored eight goals in 18 games last season for City SC and would have had one of the best goals-per-90-minutes rates in the league (0.76) if he had played enough minutes to qualify. Through two games in 2024, one in Champions Cup, one in MLS play, it seems not much has changed. In the first game with Houston, he had one shot that required a leaping save by goalkeeper Steve Clark, and he hit two posts. Against Real Salt Lake on Saturday, he scored City SC’s only goal, nimbly playing the ball around the defender, getting it on his left foot and driving it home. In 19 MLS games, he has nine goals and one assist.
Adeniran left Houston when he was 16 to look for soccer-playing opportunities abroad, but they never clicked. When COVID hit, he decided to come home. He signed with Seattle but spent most of his time with its development team. City SC acquired him in a trade in December 2022.
“I’ve been around a lot of different places,†Adeniran said, “At times, I kind of just sit in my bed and I kind of just like talk to God, and I’m kind of just thanking him for putting me in this position because five, six years ago, I was playing in the lower levels in Europe and I didn’t really see myself being here. Obviously, I knew that I could, I knew that I had the talent and the ability to do so. But I just didn’t have the opportunity. But I just thank God that he’s put me in this position to be able to have this opportunity and obviously to the organization and to the staff. I mean, it’s a blessing, and it’s a dream come true.â€
Advancing to the round of 16 would also be a dream come true for City SC, which didn’t get out of the first round of the MLS playoffs last year. Yes, it will continue to crowd the team’s schedule, but that’s an imposition they’ll gladly take. But there may be a cost: None of the seven MLS teams still alive and playing in the first round of the tournament won their first MLS game last weekend.
“It would be great,†said goalkeeper Roman Burki.
City SC coach Bradley Carnell has talked about his team’s depth a lot, and this will be a test of it, as the lineup will be largely flipped from the RSL game on Saturday. Through two games, the only healthy field players not to see action are right back Akil Watts and left back Nikolas Dyhr, who is still getting up to full speed, as well as Jake Nerwinski and Hosei Kijima, who have not started.
“Guys are feeling good,†Carnell said Monday. “We even adjusted today’s session based on the energy levels. They were really good, so we were actually able to do a little bit more and let the guys get used to the conditions and have a good session in the stadium. We still are very comfortable and very confident about who we are as a group.â€
There will be an added complication on Tuesday with uncertainty about the team’s center back position. Tim Parker left the RSL game in the first half with tightness in a leg muscle. His replacement, Josh Yaro, twice had to get on-field treatment for head injuries. Joakim Nilsson went 90 minutes at center back in his first game since playing 45 minutes in a preseason game a month earlier in Florida. Kyle Hiebert, the team’s other center back, is out with a knee injury suffered in practice Wednesday. The team elevated Michael Wentzel from City2 on a short-term loan on Monday to give the team an extra body there.
Parker, who scored in the first game of the series, made the trip to Houston and hasn’t been ruled out.
“We have everyone on board,†Carnell said Monday. “Still evaluating, still assessing. We’re not going to put anyone in danger. We have enough firepower off the bench. We called up Michael Wentzel just to be a trump card in the hand if we need to roll that dice. We’re not that desperate just yet. We’ll see how the next 24 hours looks.â€
Wentzel, 21, was with the team throughout training camp and appeared in five preseason games, so he’s not a new face with this group. He played almost every minute of every game for City2 last season and represented the United States in the Pan American Games in Chile last fall.