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Intro to Minnesota Professional Soccerby Brian Quarstad – IMS Soccer News
Minnesota is not known as a hotbed of soccer in the United States, yet the land of 10,000 does have a rich soccer past. Kicks, Strikers and Thunder are names synonymous with Minnesota soccer.
Pro soccer came to Minnesota in 1976 when the Denver Dynamos moved to the Twin Cities and became the Minnesota Kicks. The North American Soccer League team drew crowds of up to 45,000. Struggling with dwindling attendance league wide, the team folded after the 1981 season with a record of 104 Wins and 70 Losses. Even in its final year the Kicks drew an average of 16,600 per game. The team made the playoffs all 6 years and played in the “Soccer Bowl” final in 1976. Players like Alan Merrick, Steve Lit, Tino Lettieri, and Alan Willey stayed in the community, helping strengthen youth soccer programs.
In 1984 the Fort Lauderdale Strikers moved to the Twin Cities to play in the Major Indoor Soccer League. The team carried with it some of the former Kicks players. The Strikers played four seasons and folded with a winning record of 107 Wins and 97 Losses.
Minnesota’s next outdoor team was the longest running. Buzz Lagos and Tom Engstrom formed a team called the Minnesota Thunder who went pro after 5 years as an amateur team joining the USISL in 1994. The early years of the Thunder saw great success as had Minnesota’s previous soccer teams. Manny Lagos, Amos Magee and Tony Sanneh were three players whose names became known in the league and around the world. Minnesota made it to the finals in 1995 and 1998 and won the championship in 1999. The Thunder folded due to financial issues after the 20th season.
Man of the Match - Manny Lagos - 1994
By the fall of 2009 after it was apparent the Thunder would no longer exist, the National Sports Center announced they would form a team to save professional soccer in Minnesota. Three months and four days after officially announcing a pro team would play at the National Sports Center in the USSF D-2 Pro League for the 2010 season, 11 players for the NSC Minnesota Stars stepped on the field at Swangard Stadium in Burnaby, BC, Canada to play the Vancouver Whitecaps. A new installment of soccer history in Minnesota has begun.
