After more than 50 years in soccer, Adrian Heath still embraces cheesy moments to build team camaraderie.

To conclude each training session, Minnesota United’s head coach has players and staff give each other a high-five or a hug. Sometimes, he will have the players engage in games more likely seen on elementary school playgrounds. Those actions, taken lightly in the moment, will serve a serious purpose during the Loons’ eight-month debut season in Major League Soccer, which kicks off at 8:30 p.m. Friday in Portland.

“We are going to get on each other’s nerves at times, which is only normal with situations that arise,” Heath said. “It helps get the group together and gets a laugh from the boys at the end of the training session. If we’re going to succeed, we’ll succeed together.”

Heath, 56, was hired in November to be Minnesota’s first MLS coach for many reasons.

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Loons have ‘money available’ and roster flexibility for more additions First was his vast, high-level playing career. The Englishman had an 18-year run with current English Premier League teams Stoke City and Everton, where he was the star forward. He went on to play for Espanyol in Spain’s La Liga before returning to England to play for Manchester City and other clubs through 1996.

Second, Heath has a length coaching resume in England, but especially as an expansion-franchise builder in the U.S. He took over the Austin Aztex in Texas in 2008, and in 2010, relocated with the United Soccer League club to become Orlando City. His leadership propelled Orlando City to a pair of USL championships.

In 2015, Heath navigated Orlando into MLS as an expansion franchise. The Lions went 12-14-8 in 2015, which tied the fourth-best debut among the league’s 13 expansion clubs since 1998. Heath was fired last July after starting the 2016 season with a 4-4-8 record.

Loons TV sideline reporter Jamie Watson played in the midfield under Heath in Austin and Orlando from 2009-13. After three years playing for Minnesota, Watson retired this past offseason, and recalled Heath’s profound mark on his career.

“He is the most charismatic and likable person, but he holds you to this standard, one that you don’t even realize you have within you,” Watson said.

Watson added a layer to the cliche on willingness to run through a brick wall for someone. Once you do it in the name of Heath, he said, “you care so much about what he thinks that you look at him and say, ‘Did I do that right?’ ”

Heath’s personalized approach was instrumental in the signing of Costa Rican defender Francisco Calvo, a key United player this season. Calvo, 24, was playing for the Saprissa club in his native country and reportedly had suitors from other MLS clubs and Italy’s Serie A.

“(Heath) was the only one to travel to Costa Rica, so he was one of the big points that I come here,” Calvo said.

Watson also experienced Heath’s touch. Watson was a trialist with the Seattle Sounders in 2008, the year before the team went to MLS, when Health called him from England.

“I remember thinking, ‘Do I really deserve to have a coach of his stature and standards calling me and saying he wants me on his team?’ ” Watson recalled. “He understands and resonates with players because he was a player.”

Loons midfielder Kevin Molino knows Heath perhaps better than any current player. Heath brought Molino to Orlando City from Trinidad in 2011. On Tuesday, Molino was laughing with teammates during the post-practice kumbaya moment of hugs and high-fives.

“We started that in Orlando,” Molino said. “That is a type of respect. … That is something that is a little thing, but it makes a difference.”

HEATH’S WAY

Loons defensive midfielder Collen Warner has played for four other MLS teams — Real Salt Lake, Montreal, Toronto and Houston. Along that nomadic route, Warner said it’s “not always that apparent what the coach really wants in different scenarios.”

Heath erases doubt with streamlined objectives for his possession-oriented team.

Players “will always have two to three options” during play, Watson said. “Essentially from there, it’s put to (the players) to make the right choice. He puts you in a position to succeed as a group because you understand what the next guy is supposed to do in that spot. … It’s a very simple way of playing the game.”

But Watson said Heath’s simplistic approach doesn’t mean it’s easy to defend. “If the team takes away one option, you have another one,” he said. “It’s about making the right decision.”

There’s also an element of freedom within Heath’s system. In preseason, Molino was able to roam the field and not be constricted to one side.

“He knows what I can do, and he gives me the free will to express myself,” said Molino, who last season had 11 goals and eight assists with Orlando before being traded to Minnesota in January.

Above all else, Heath stresses effort. He tells outside midfielders to always be willing to run to the back post on attacks along the other flank.

Watson recalled Heath often saying: “I would score 10 goals a year with back post tap-ins just by having the willingness to run and get forward and attack and get in good position.”

In order to engender that level of effort, Heath will sometimes gather his team around the circle in the middle of the field. He will direct them to jump on the back of a teammate from another country or a player wearing different color boots.

“It sounds really weird,” Watson acknowledged.

“You go through competing and battling and kicking each other, but then at the end, no matter what, if you’ve had a good day or a bad day, you are out there giving everyone five and hugging everybody,” Watson continued. “It creates a closeness within the group, and sometimes you see the difference.”

Watson has been on teams “where guys weren’t close,” and weren’t willing to make a 50-yard run to cover up a teammate’s mistake. That’s different with Heath teams.

“Now when someone makes a mistake, you don’t even think about (making a long run) because it’s your boy, your brother,” Watson said. “Its a guy you’ve become close with.”