Stars Win Exhibition Against Fire SC Including Goal by Manny Lagos Fed by Old Teammate Tony Sanneh

Lagos dribbles over a Fire defender. Photo by Jeremy Olson - www.digitalgopher.net

The Minnesota Stars defeated the Fire SC on Saturday evening with a dominating 5-2 win. The game was played at Braemar Courtney Fields in Edina on a incredibly hot and humid Saturday evening with the heat index hanging around 100° F.

Beside the Minnesota Stars reserves who would not be part of the 18-player roster for tonight’s game against the 3rd place Puerto Rico Islanders (7:30 pm CT kickoff at the National Sports Center Stadium) was a number of former Thunder players.

Stars head coach Manny Lagos roamed the field as a central midfielder and lasted the full 90 minutes through difficult playing conditions. Tony Sanneh, another former Thunder star that, like Lagos, went on to play at a higher level, also lasted the full 90 switching off between the back line and the right outside Midfield.

Zafer Kilickan and Greg Wheaton also featured in this game, along with Stars players Brian Cvilikas, Chris Clements, Brian Kallman, Kevin Friedland, Andy Lorei, Gino Mauro and goalkeeper Matt Van Oekel.

Friedland, who has been fighting injuries since preseason, saw his first game time in quite a while and looked good at right back.

Tony Sanneh. All photos by Jeremy Olson.

The Stars goals were scored by Cvilikas who got two on the night and Kallman with a very nice header from distance off a corner and driven hard to the far upper 90. Former Thunder player Greg Wheaton also contributed a goal.

However, the highlight of the night for most was a play that saw Coach Lagos gather a ball at midfield and attack space quickly. He slotted the ball through to his old friend and teammate Tony Sanneh who was making a run down the right flank. The ball was deflected but Sanneh was still able to catch up to it and put a curling cross to the top of the box parallel with the far post. Lagos one-timed it with his left foot, putting a perfectly placed ball low and to the far post for the 3rd Stars goal of the night.

The two found each other after the goal for an exhausted but happy high five and fist bump. When the two previously played together for the Thunder in the mid 90s, the fist bump was not yet in style, but for many of us, the high five between Lagos and Sanneh was something we’d seen many times before. It seemed to put a smile on the faces of the old Thunder fans knowing the legs may no longer be there for the two veterans of USL, MLS, Europe and the US National Team, but the quality is something that still remains.

Click here for a gallery of photos by Jeremy Olson from the exhibition.