Manuel "Manny" Lagos (born June 11, 1971) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a midfielder. He and is the former head coach of Minnesota United FC. Club career Early career Born in St. Paul, Minnesota Lagos played college soccer for the NCAA Division-I Milwaukee Panthers from 1990 to 1992, and was named an NSCAA First-Team All-American in 1991. During and after college, from 1990 to 1996, Manny played for his father with the Minnesota Thunder, first as an amateur and a founding member of the club, and later as a professional. Amidst his Thunder days, he also had short stints with Clermont Foot in the French Third Division, and in Spain's lower divisions with Lleida. In 1994, the Thunder's last year as an all-amateur side, Lagos led the team through a near-perfect season and was awarded the USL MVP award, having scored 18 goals and 9 assists. Upon leaving the club for MLS in 1996, he was inducted into the Thunder Hall of Fame with career totals of 29 goals and 12 assists; his brother and teammate, Gerard Lagos (who played for the team from 1990 through 2001) is also an inductee. In 2006, Manny was elected to the USL Hall of Fame. MLS In 1996, midway through the inaugural MLS season, Lagos was signed by the MetroStars. He impressed right away, but his season was cut short after he tore his left-knee's ACL, MCL, and LCL in a single horrific injury just six games in. Lagos made a comeback in the next season, playing in 15 league matches, but still impaired and less effective than before. Frustrated with his injuries, the Metros exposed Manny in the 1997 MLS Expansion Draft, where he was taken by the Chicago Fire. Nowhere near fully recovered and considering retirement, he only played one game for the MLS Cup champions in 1998, and went on to make only 9 appearances in 1999, always as a substitute, excluded from the first eleven due to his unreliable health and the Fire's surplus of attacking players. Lagos' vagabond MLS career took him to the Tampa Bay Mutiny with Ritchie Kotschau on August 2, 1999, part of a trade for Sam George and Paul Dougherty. He came back swinging, scoring 4 goals in 10 games and earning Player of the Week honors. Lagos continued his momentum in 2000, when he scored 8 goals and