Minnesota United coach Adrian Heath will briefly cross enemy lines Saturday inside Orlando City Stadium.

“I’m looking forward to seeing a lot of people who I don’t feel as though I had the proper opportunity to say goodbye to,” Heath said Thursday.

The second-year Loons coach then clarified he was commenting on his connection with diehard fans — not Orlando City’s leadership, which fired him in July 2016. After six years of leading the club from the third tier of USL to the top domestic level of MLS in 2015, Heath felt disrespected in hearing about his ouster from media members instead of the club’s management.

Heath held onto that before United played Orlando in Minneapolis last May. The bitter pill he swallowed in Orlando made him “more determined” to be successful in Minnesota, his second effort with an expansion franchise.

Revenge was sweet that Saturday 10 months ago when Loons striker Christian Ramirez scored the only goal in a 1-0 victory over the Lions at TCF Bank Stadium. Ramirez altered his routine goal-scoring celebration to run over and hug Heath. Assistant coaches Ian Fuller and Mark Watson, both Heath deputies in Orlando, and other United players encircled the manager in a group hug.

But since MLS teams only play opponents from the opposite conference once a year, Heath had to wait until this season to return to Orlando. Now with that opportunity, he doesn’t shy away from how win for Loons (0-1) over the Lions (0-0-1) would mean more in Orlando City Stadium, a venue he helped design.

“I can say all lovely things about Orlando and how great it was, but the people there don’t expect me to do anything other than try and spoil the party and go and get three points,” Heath said. “And that’s what I’ve spoke to the players about, all that other stuff goes out the window come … Saturday night.”

Heath will have a special conduit on the pitch in midfielder Kevin Molino, who scored two late goals in Minnesota’s 3-2 season-opening loss to San Jose last week. Heath had scouted and then signed Molino from Trinidad, and the pair made the climb to MLS together in Orlando, winning multiple USL championships along the way. After Heath was fired, Molino remained through the 2016 season before things deteriorated.

“We had a discussion and it didn’t go well,” Molino said Thursday.

Heath sought to add Molino to a nascent Loons team he was helping build in Minnesota. Last January, Minnesota pulled off one of the then-biggest deals in MLS history, sending $650,000 to Orlando for Molino as well as backup goalkeeper Patrick McLain. Loons sporting director Manny Lagos called it “an insanely great value for the acquisition.”

But against Orlando last year, Molino was ill, according to the club, and he didn’t play against his old team. This week, he looked back at his tenure in Orlando fondly, but said it was time to move on.

“You have a dream and to fulfill it sometimes you need to challenge yourself,” Molino said. “And I took the opportunity to challenge myself somewhere else.”

Heath’s dream in Orlando died prematurely. He set out on a three-year plan to make the Lions competitive in MLS — something they haven’t yet achieved, missing the playoffs in each of their three seasons.

But Watson said he and his boss try to look at the big picture of helping build up soccer in central Florida. When Heath moved with the Austin (Texas) Aztex to Orlando in 2010, they practiced in city parks. Then in their MLS debut in 2015, they filled their temporary home of the Citrus Bowl with 62,358 fans.

“We look at the positives,” Watson said. “ I’m very emotional in terms of — I’ve been around the game for a long time — and to see an environment like that, the first game …” Related Articles Houston Dynamo scores twice in 2nd half to tie Minnesota United

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Orlando City supporter Moraima Diaz, who was featured in the club’s marketing campaign this preseason, said Heath’s “big” personality was a major reason why the club was so popular.

“I could see right away why everybody loved him,” said Diaz, of Altamonte Springs, Fla. “He’s so easy to like. He’s so approachable.”

When Heath was fired, Diaz and others were shocked. “We were devastated,” she said. “We were not expecting it at all. It wasn’t one of those things where you are like, ‘Well, we kind of see it coming.’ ”

For Heath and Molino to receive a reward in Orlando, the Loons must correct the defensive lapses that produced a 3-0 deficit to San Jose in the opener.

“We look at the things that we need to have in our performance to get a result,” Watson said. “We will go back and there will be some friends and some nice memories, but this is very much a business trip.”