View source for Mike Lapper

{{Short description|American soccer player}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2012}}
{{Use American English|date=February 2023}}
{{BLP sources|date=April 2007}}
{{Infobox football biography
| name = Mike Lapper
| fullname = Michael Steven Lapper
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1970|8|28}}
| birth_place = [[Redondo Beach, California]], United States
| height = {{height|ft=6|in=0}}
| position = [[Defender (association football)|Defender]]
| youthyears1 =
| youthclubs1 = North Huntington Beach Untouchables
| collegeyears1 = 1988–1991
| college1 = [[UCLA Bruins men's soccer|UCLA Bruins]]
| years1 = 1988–1989
| clubs1 = [[Los Angeles Heat]]
| caps1  = 16
| goals1 = 2
| years2 = 1994–1995
| clubs2 = [[VfL Wolfsburg]]
| caps2  = 16
| goals2 = 1
| years3 = 1995–1997
| clubs3 = [[Southend United F.C.|Southend United]]
| caps3  = 52
| goals3 = 1
| years4 = 1997–2002
| clubs4 = [[Columbus Crew]]
| caps4  = 110
| goals4 = 5
| totalcaps = 194 
| totalgoals = 9
| nationalyears1 = 1991–1995
| nationalteam1  = [[United States men's national soccer team|United States]]
| nationalcaps1  = 43
| nationalgoals1 = 1
| manageryears1  = 2005–2013
| managerclubs1  = [[Columbus Crew]] (assistant)
| manageryears2 = 2013–2017
| managerclubs2 = [[West Virginia Mountaineers men's soccer|West Virginia Mountaineers]] (assistant)
| manageryears3 = 2018–2019
| managerclubs3 = [[New England Revolution]] (assistant)
| manageryears4 = 2019
| managerclubs4 = [[New England Revolution]] (interim)
}}
'''Michael Steven Lapper''' (born August 28, 1970, in [[Redondo Beach, California|Redondo Beach]], [[California]]) is an American retired [[Association football|soccer]] [[Defender (association football)|defender]]. During his fifteen-year playing career, most of it spent as a sweeper, he played in England, Germany and the United States.  He earned 44 [[cap (sports)|caps]], scoring one goal, with the [[United States men's national soccer team|U.S. national soccer team]] between 1991 and 1995.  He was part of the U.S. teams at both the [[1992 Summer Olympics]] and the [[1994 FIFA World Cup]].

==Player==

===Youth===
Lapper played youth soccer in the North Huntington Beach Untouchables youth club.  He graduated from Marina High in Huntington Beach.  Lapper played [[NCAA|collegiate]] soccer at [[UCLA]] from 1988 to 1991.  While a [[UCLA Bruins|Bruin]], Lapper won the 1990 [[NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament|National Championship]], earning first team [[Division I First-Team All-American (soccer)|All American]] honors.  While in college, Lapper also played with the local [[Los Angeles Heat]] of the [[Western Soccer League]] in 1988 and 1989.  He was a WSL First Team All-Star in 1989.

==International==
Lapper made his debut for the [[United States men's national soccer team|United States]] on April 7, 1991, against [[South Korea national football team|South Korea]].

Lapper played for the U.S. [[1991 Pan American Games]] gold medal soccer team, the [[1992 Summer Olympics]] soccer team<ref>{{cite news|work=[[USA Today]]|author=Nance, Roscoe|title=Lapper happily adjusts to role on national team|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/USAToday/access/56236545.html?dids=56236545:56236545&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Oct+20%2C+1992&author=Roscoe+Nance&pub=USA+TODAY+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&desc=Lapper+happily+adjusts+to+role+on+national+team&pqatl=google|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104003426/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/USAToday/access/56236545.html?dids=56236545:56236545&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Oct+20,+1992&author=Roscoe+Nance&pub=USA+TODAY+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&desc=Lapper+happily+adjusts+to+role+on+national+team&pqatl=google|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 4, 2012|date=October 20, 1992|access-date=September 16, 2009}}</ref> and the [[Copa América 1995|1995 Copa America]] team which placed fourth at that tournament.  In 1993, he played every U.S. game as a sweeper.  When [[Bora Milutinović]] moved to a flat-back four defensive scheme, Lapper found himself relegated to the bench in favor of [[Alexi Lalas]].  However, he did make the U.S. team which played as host in the [[1994 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 last [[Cap (sports)|cap]] in a losing match to Sweden.  He ended his national team career with 44 and scored one goal.

===Europe===
Lapper began his professional career in 1994 with German [[2. Fußball-Bundesliga|Second Division]] club [[VfL Wolfsburg]] in Germany (1994–95). On a side note, he scored in his debut game with that team.  He continued to start for Wolfsburg until coach [[Eckhard Krautzun]], who had sought Lapper's services, was fired by team management.  Lapper soon found himself in the position of so 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 British [[Football League Championship|Second Division]] club [[Southend United F.C.|Southend 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 with [[Major 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.

===Major League Soccer===
When Lapper signed with MLS, the league allocated him in June 1997 to the [[Columbus Crew]].  While with that team, he played 110 games, starting 99, until his retirement in 2002.  Additionally, he scored five goals and assisted on 10 more.

== 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. During the 2005, season he officially joined the coaching staff.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://web.mlsnet.com/players/bio.jsp?team=t102&player=lapper_mike |title= Columbus Crew: Roster: Player Bio|website=web.mlsnet.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080408182239/http://web.mlsnet.com/players/bio.jsp?team=t102&player=lapper_mike |archive-date=April 8, 2008}}</ref> Following the 2013 MLS season, Lapper parted ways with the Crew and became a member of the West Virginia University men's soccer staff.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wvusports.com/page.cfm?story=24814 |title=Lapper Joins WVU Men's Soccer Staff - WVU Athletics |access-date=2014-01-07 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140107052709/http://www.wvusports.com/page.cfm?story=24814 |archive-date=January 7, 2014 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> In 2019, he was the New England Revolution's interim manager after Brad Friedel was fired.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Soccerbase|name=Michael Lapper}}
* {{FIFA player|77530}}

{{New England Revolution managers}}
{{United States football squad 1992 Summer Olympics}}
{{United States Squad 1992 King Fahd Cup}}
{{United States squad 1993 Copa América}}
{{United States squad 1994 FIFA World Cup}}
{{United States squad 1995 Copa América}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lapper, Mike}}
[[Category:1970 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from Redondo Beach, California]]
[[Category:Western Soccer Alliance players]]
[[Category:Los Angeles Heat players]]
[[Category:All-American college men's soccer players]]
[[Category:American men's soccer players]]
[[Category:American expatriate men's soccer players]]
[[Category:Columbus Crew players]]
[[Category:Southend United F.C. players]]
[[Category:VfL Wolfsburg players]]
[[Category:2. Bundesliga players]]
[[Category:UCLA Bruins men's soccer players]]
[[Category:Olympic soccer players for the United States]]
[[Category:Footballers at the 1992 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:1992 King Fahd Cup players]]
[[Category:1993 Copa América players]]
[[Category:1994 FIFA World Cup players]]
[[Category:1995 Copa América players]]
[[Category:United States men's international soccer players]]
[[Category:Soccer players from California]]
[[Category:American expatriate sportspeople in England]]
[[Category:American expatriate men's soccer players in Germany]]
[[Category:Major League Soccer players]]
[[Category:United States men's under-23 international soccer players]]
[[Category:Columbus Crew non-playing staff]]
[[Category:Men's association football defenders]]
[[Category:Expatriate men's footballers in England]]
[[Category:West Virginia Mountaineers men's soccer coaches]]
[[Category:Footballers at the 1991 Pan American Games]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 1991 Pan American Games]]
[[Category:Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States in football]]
[[Category:English Football League players]]
[[Category:20th-century American sportsmen]]