 | Thisbiography of a living personneeds additionalcitations forverification. Please help by addingreliable sources.Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced orpoorly sourcedmust be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentiallylibelous. Find sources: "Mike Lapper" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(April 2007) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Michael Steven Lapper | ||
| Date of birth | (1970-08-28)August 28, 1970 (age 55) | ||
| Place of birth | Redondo Beach, California, United States | ||
| Height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | ||
| Position | Defender | ||
| Youth career | |||
| North Huntington Beach Untouchables | |||
| College career | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1988–1991 | UCLA Bruins | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1988–1989 | Los Angeles Heat | 16 | (2) |
| 1994–1995 | VfL Wolfsburg | 16 | (1) |
| 1995–1997 | Southend United | 52 | (1) |
| 1997–2002 | Columbus Crew | 110 | (5) |
| Total | 194 | (9) | |
| International career | |||
| 1991–1995 | United States | 43 | (1) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2005–2013 | Columbus Crew (assistant) | ||
| 2013–2017 | West Virginia Mountaineers (assistant) | ||
| 2018–2019 | New England Revolution (assistant) | ||
| 2019 | New England Revolution (interim) | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Michael Steven Lapper (born August 28, 1970, inRedondo Beach,California) is an American retiredsoccerdefender. During his fifteen-year playing career, most of it spent as a sweeper, he played in England, Germany and the United States. He earned 44caps, scoring one goal, with theU.S. national soccer team between 1991 and 1995. He was part of the U.S. teams at both the1992 Summer Olympics and the1994 FIFA World Cup.
Lapper was born toGerman parents, He played youth soccer in the North Huntington Beach Untouchables youth club. He graduated from Marina High in Huntington Beach. He playedcollegiate soccer atUCLA from 1988 to 1991. While aBruin, Lapper won the 1990National Championship, earning first teamAll American honors. In college, he also played with the localLos Angeles Heat of theWestern Soccer League in 1988 and 1989. He was a WSL First Team All-Star in 1989.
Lapper made his debut for theUnited States on April 7, 1991, againstSouth Korea.
Lapper played for the U.S.1991 Pan American Games gold medal soccer team, the1992 Summer Olympics soccer team,[1] and the1995 Copa America team, which placed fourth at that tournament. In 1993, he played every U.S. game as a sweeper. WhenBora Milutinović moved to a flat-back four defensive scheme, Lapper found himself relegated to the bench in favor ofAlexi Lalas. However, he did make the U.S. team which played as host in the1994 FIFA World Cup. This team advanced to the second round, where it lost to Brazil, but Lapper failed to enter any of the U.S. games.
He played several more matches at the end of 1994 and into 1995, but on August 16, 1995, he earned his lastcap in a losing match to Sweden. He ended his national team career with 44 and scored one goal.
Lapper began his professional career in 1994 with GermanSecond Division clubVfL Wolfsburg in Germany (1994–95). He scored in his debut game with that team. He continued to start for Wolfsburg until coachEckhard Krautzun, who had sought Lapper's services, was fired by team management. Lapper soon found himself in the position of many American players in Europe during those years. The new manager, Gerd Roggensack, had no interest in American soccer players, and Lapper found himself unable to even make the substitute list. At the time that Krautzun was fired, Wolfsburg stood at the top of the German Second Division. By the end of the season, it had slipped to fourth and failed to win promotion to the First Division. Lapper requested a transfer and in 1995, the team sent him to BritishSecond Division clubSouthend United 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 sign withMajor League Soccer (MLS). However, he did have a final stint within English soccer, when Halifax Town signed him on a rolling contract in late 1999. His time at the club proved unsuccessful and he soon returned to the U.S.
When Lapper signed with MLS, the league allocated him in June 1997 to theColumbus Crew. With that team, he played 110 games, starting 99, until his retirement in 2002. He scored five goals and assisted on 10 more.
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. During the 2005, season, he officially joined the coaching staff.[2] Following the 2013 MLS season, Lapper parted ways with the Crew and became a member of the West Virginia University men's soccer staff.[3] In 2019, he was the New England Revolution's interim manager after Brad Friedel was fired.
Lapper now lives in New Albany with his wife and two sons. He started a power washing business and is very active in the local community.[4]
UCLA
Columbus Crew
As a player
As a assistant coach
US national team
 | ||
| ||
| ||
| ||