Freddy Adu is convinced he's ready to go for the Union's 2012 season.

How ready? He said if he wasn't in Union manager Peter Nowak's starting XI for Monday's opener at Portland "that'd definitely be a surprise," Adu said Thursday at PPL Park.

Despite a nagging ankle injury that limited the midfielder to two goals in 11 matches for the Union, who signed him in August 2011, Adu said he is 100 percent healthy and declared himself ready for the season.

Adu said he took "a couple weeks" off after the Union concluded their 2011 season with an Eastern Conference semifinal series loss to Houston. Then he trained with the United States U-23 national team at one point during the offseason and joined La Liga side Rayo Vallecano for preseason training before returning to the Union.

"When you come here, with all the hoopla, you have to be out there and available to play all the time, and - for me - I just want to be on the field," said Adu, pictured at right with teammate Sheanon Williams during Thursday's training.

"When you have an injury and you're playing on it all the time, one day you feel great and the next you're like, 'Damn, I shouldn't have done that.' Just sitting out a couple weeks and not doing too much on it helped. It got stronger."

For more on Adu and a full preview of the 2012 Union season, pick up the Monday, March 12 edition of the Daily Times.

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(Times staff photo / JULIA WILKINSON)