The smiles may come easier for Manny Lagos in his third season as Minnesota United’s sporting director, but he’s far from hitting his personal goals.



Lagos has been part of the furniture of Minnesota soccer since January 2006, when he became the Director of Soccer Operations for the Minnesota Thunder after retiring from playing. Since then, he’s seen innumerable highs and lows for the sport in the state.



As you’ll see below, “adversity” is a favorite word of his — and it certainly continued to pertain to the team’s launch into the first division of soccer in the United States and Canada. Some 30 months later, and his Loons are finally living up to Lagos and company’s early aspirations of forming a contender. After Wednesday’s win against the Colorado Rapids, Minnesota sat second in the Western Conference with 41 points. They’re currently less than 14 days away from the biggest game in franchise history...