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The midfielder has found a place with the Mutiny after spending 3 1/2 seasons bouncing around MLS and fighting injuries.
By RODNEY PAGE
© St. Petersburg Times, published April 28, 2000
Manny Lagos sat on the floor in front of his locker after Wednesday night's 4-0 win over San Jose, an ice pack on his right ankle and a blank stare on his face. His teammates were in the shower, and some already were gone, before Lagos even took off his uniform.
It has been a rough month.
Slowed by an ankle injury, Lagos is struggling to get back into shape. He appears back to full strength after playing 90 minutes and scoring two goals against the Earthquakes.
"I'm not quite 100 percent yet, but it feels a lot better," Lagos said. "When you're running around you really don't feel it, but after games you know it's still there."
After coming to Tampa Bay in a midseason trade from Chicago last year, Lagos, had four goals and five assists in 10 games.
He entered this season as a key figure in the Mutiny attack and did nothing to dispel that on opening night. In a 5-1 rout of Columbus, Lagos scored and added an assist.
Then came a setback that kept him frustrated for weeks. In a Thursday practice before the March 25 game against New England, Lagos suffered a high right ankle sprain. He tried to play against the Revolution, but lasted only 11 minutes before taking himself out.
"If it had happened in a game, that's one thing," Lagos said. "But to have it happen in practice really (stinks). It's been frustrating."
He missed the next two games, but returned for the final 11 minutes against Colorado on April 15 and scored a goal. He went 45 minutes against Kansas City Saturday and a full 90 against San Jose, his first start in five games.
When he has been on the field, Lagos, an attacking midfielder, has taken offensive pressure off forwards Raul Diaz Arce and Mamadou Diallo. He is tied for third (with Diaz Arce) in Major League Soccer with nine points (four goals, one assist). His four goals tie his four-year MLS career total.
He played in 31 MLS games with two teams before joining the Mutiny, but all eight career goals have come in 15 games with Tampa Bay.
Lagos is expected to start tonight against Chicago, the team's second game in 48 hours.
"Someone like Manny, who's battling back from the ankle injury, needed a game like this," Hankinson said after Wednesday's game. "Because we had the game in hand late, we were able to keep Manny out there and let him get 90 minutes, which he hasn't done in a while. If the game had been close, we probably would've had to replace him. This allows him to get that much closer to being fully fit again."
Lagos has been injured more than he has been healthy in his MLS career.
After a six-year A-League career with the Minnesota Thunder, Lagos joined New York/New Jersey as a discovery player in June 1996.
He played six games with the MetroStars before tearing a ligament in his left knee. He missed the first half of the 1997 season, but played in the final 15 games of the season and recorded two assists.
In 1998, he was selected by Chicago in the expansion draft but played in only one game before missing the season with a torn left patella tendon.
He played in parts of nine games last season before he was traded to Tampa Bay along with Ritchie Kotschau for Sam George and Paul Dougherty.
Since then, his career has turned around. This season, the Mutiny is 3-0 when Lagos has scored.
Chicago seemed like the perfect fit for Lagos, 28. He's a midwesterner, raised in St. Paul, Minn., schooled at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. His fiance lives in Chicago. But Tampa Bay seems to be the right place at the right time for Lagos.
"There's a great group of guys here," Lagos said. "It's easy to play well with players around me like we have."