Manny Lagos

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Manuel ("Manny") Lagos (born June 11, 1971 in St. Paul, Minnesota) is a former American soccer midfielder, who last played for the Columbus Crew of Major League Soccer.

Lagos played college soccer for the NCAA Division-I Milwaukee Panthers from 1990 to 1992, and was named an NCAA First-Team All-American in 1991. After college, Manny played for his father Buzz for the Minnesota Thunder from 1990 to 1996, as an amateur while still in college, and then as a professional. He had short stints in France with Clairmont-Ferrand and Spain with Lleida.

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 ACL just six games in. Lagos made a comeback next season, playing in 15 league matches. Frustrated with his injuries, the Metros exposed Manny in the 1997 MLS Expansion Draft, where he was taken by the Chicago Fire. Not fully recovered, he only played one game for the MLS Cup champions in 1998.

Since then, Lagos' vagabond MLS career has taken him to the Tampa Bay Mutiny (mid-1999-2000), the San Jose Earthquakes (2001-2003, winning MLS Cups in the bookend years), and the Columbus Crew (from 2004-2005). He was reunited with long time friend, college and Thunder teammate Tony Sanneh when the latter signed with the Crew late in 2004. In nine years in MLS, Lagos has scored 27 goals and added 35 assists (plus four goals and four assists in the playoffs). His best season came with the Quakes in 2001, when he was key in their playoff run, adding three goals and two assists to regular season totals of eight and eight. He was released by Columbus in May of 2005 and retired in June.

Lagos began his international career in the 1992 Summer Olympics, when he scored the lone goal in the team's only win over Kuwait. His first full cap for the US Men's National Team did not come until December 9, 2001 against South Korea. He earned three caps for the US.