Mike Lapper

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Personal information
Mike Lapper
Full name	Mike Lapper
Date of birth	28 August 1970
Place of birth	Huntington Beach, CA, United States
Height	6 ft 0 in
Position	Defender
Club information
Current club	Retired
Youth clubs
1988-1991	UCLA
Professional clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (goals)
1994-95 1995-97 1997-2002	VfL Wolfsburg Southend FC Columbus Crew	16 (1) 52 (1) 110 (5)
National team**
1991–1995	United States	44 (1)
* Professional club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 31 May 2006. ** National team caps and goals correct as of 22 June 2006.

Michael (Mike) Lapper was (born August 28, 1970 in Huntington Beach, California). He is a retired soccer defender from the United States.

1 Collegiate career
2 National Team
3 Playing in Europe
4 Back in the States
5 Post-Playing Career

[edit] Collegiate career

Lapper played collegiate soccer at UCLA from 1988 to 1991. While a Bruin, Lapper won the NCAA national championship in 1990 and earned All American honors in 1991.

[edit] National Team

Lapper made his debut for the United Sates on April 7, 1991 against South Korea. Over his career, he earned 44 caps and scored one goal.

Lapper played for the U.S. 1992 Summer Olympics soccer team and the 1995 Copa Amerca team which placed fourth at that tournament. However, he achieved his greatest success as a player when he was selected as a member of the United States team at the 1994 FIFA World Cup. This team advanced to the second round where it lost to Brazil.

[edit] Playing in Europe

Lapper began his professional career in 1994 with Lapper played professionally for VfL Wolfsburg in Germany (1994-95). On a side note, he scored in his debut game with that team. Wolfsburg transferred Lapper to Southend United in England in 1995 for £100,000. At the time Southend was pushing for promotion to the Premiership, but when it actually faced demotion to the second division in 1997, Lapper left Southend to return to the United States.

[edit] Back in the States

Lapper was allocated to the Columbus Crew of the Major Soccer League (MLS). While with that team, he played 110 games, starting 99, until his retirement in 2002. Additionally, he scored 5 goals and assisted on 10 more.

[edit] Post-Playing Career

After retiring from playing, he joined the Columbus Crew's front office as the Director of Soccer Business Development, which focuses on the growth of the Crew's camps, clinics and soccer academies.

	United States squad - 1994 World Cup
1 Meola \| 2 Lapper \| 3 Burns \| 4 Kooiman \| 5 Dooley \| 6 Harkes \| 7 Perez \| 8 Stewart \| 9 Ramos \| 10 Wegerle \| 11 Wynalda \| 12 Sommer \| 13 Jones \| 14 Klopas \| 15 Moore \| 16 Sorber \| 17 Balboa \| 18 Friedel \| 19 Reyna \| 20 Caligiuri \| 21 Clavijo \| 22 Lalas \| Coach: Milutinović