Cody Laurendi (born August 15, 1988) is a Puerto Rican former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

Career

Youth and college

Laurendi attended

Eau Gallie High School Eau Gallie High School is located at 1400 Commodore Blvd in the Eau Gallie area of Melbourne, Florida. It is one of four public high schools in Melbourne, along with Melbourne High School, Palm Bay High School, and West Shore Junior/Senior Hi ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

where he lettered in both soccer and in football, as a kicker. In his senior year, he was named MVP of the Brevard County All-Star game when he came on as a field player and scored 4 goals. In a newspaper interview after the match, he said, "It's the icing on the cake. I got a lot of help from my teammates. It also helps that I'm a lot larger than most of the guys out there". Laurendi also played club soccer for Space Coast United, Satellite Beach SC, and Orlando FC. Laurendi went on to play

college soccer College soccer, called college football in some countries, is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. While it is most widespread in the United States, it is also prominent in Japan, South Kore ...

at South Georgia College. His first year there, he was named to the Georgia Junior College All-Tournament Team. Cody then attended the Heidelberg Academic and Soccer Academy (HASA) in

Liège Liège ( ; ; ; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the Liège Province, province of Liège, Belgium. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east o ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

, where he played as a non-paid amateur for the fourth division R.R.F.C. Montegnée.

Professional

Laurendi returned to Florida in 2010 and subsequently attended open tryouts with the

Puerto Rico Islanders The Puerto Rico Islanders were a professional association football team based in Bayamón, Puerto Rico. They played in several different leagues from 2004 to 2012, when they suspended operations. In their last two seasons they played in the Nort ...

in March 2010. After being signed by the Islanders squad as one of three back-up goalkeepers from the trial process, Laurendi was the only one they decided to keep on for the season. In his first start with the

, in a game versus

FC Tampa Bay The Tampa Bay Rowdies are an American professional soccer team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The club was founded in 2008 and first took the pitch in 2010. Since 2017, the Rowdies have been members of the USL Championship in the second tier ...

, Laurendi recorded a shutout for a 0–0 draw. On March 25, 2013, the

Fort Lauderdale Strikers Fort Lauderdale Strikers may refer to: *Fort Lauderdale Strikers (1977–1983), member of North American Soccer League from 1977 to 1983 *Fort Lauderdale Strikers (1988–1994) The Fort Lauderdale Strikers were an American soccer team establishe ...

announced that Laurendi had signed with the club as a backup to

Matt Glaeser Matt Glaeser (born April 27, 1985) is a former American soccer player and coach. He is currently the head coach and technical director of USL League One club Forward Madison FC. Career College and amateur Glaeser played college soccer at James ...

. After three games as a backup, Laurendi displaced Glaeser ahead of the Strikers rivalry clash with

Tampa Bay Rowdies The Tampa Bay Rowdies are an American professional soccer team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The club was founded in 2008 and first took the pitch in 2010. Since 2017, the Rowdies have been members of the USL Championship in the second tie ...

on April 27. Laurendi had to be substituted a half-hour into the match following a collision with a Rowdies player. The Strikers announced on May 7 that Laurendi had a lacerated kidney from the incident and would be out for the remainder of the season. In January 2014, the LA Galaxy scouted Laurendi at a combine hosted by CB3 Sports Performance owned by

Carlos Bocanegra Carlos Manuel Bocanegra (born May 25, 1979) is an American sports executive and former professional soccer player. A two-time MLS Defender of the Year, Bocanegra also played professionally in England, Scotland, France, and Spain. He earned over ...

in Upland, California. He was invited to the

LA Galaxy The Los Angeles Galaxy are an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The Gal ...

pre-season camp and was signed to their

United Soccer Leagues United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two f ...

team, the

LA Galaxy II Ventura County FC is an American professional soccer team based in the Greater Los Angeles area town of Thousand Oaks in Ventura County, California, United States that plays in MLS Next Pro, the third tier of the United States soccer league sy ...

or 'Los Dos' as the fans call the team.

was the first

entry for an established MLS organization. He played 19 regular season games under coach

Curt Onalfo Curt Onalfo (born November 19, 1969) is an American former association football, soccer player and coach who currently serves as sporting director of Major League Soccer club New England Revolution. As a player, he played two seasons in France ...

during the 2014 season which included their first ever game, a scrimmage against the USL PDL

Fresno Fuego Fresno Football Club U-23, formerly Fresno Fuego FC, was an American association football, soccer team based in Fresno, California, United States. Founded in 2003, the team played in USL League Two, the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid ...

and their regular season home opener against their Orange County, CA rivals the OC Blues - both victories for

who placed third in the regular season. Laurendi moves to the

Austin Aztex The Austin Aztex were a soccer team based in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 2011 as a member of the Premier Development League, the team played the 2015 season in the United Soccer League, the second tier of the United States soccer p ...

, who completed their first season in 2015 as a

professional side. After the end of the 2015 USL season, the

organization requested and was approved by the

to sit out the 2016 season while they pursued the development of a league compliant soccer-specific stadium. As a result, Laurendi became a free agent and signed with

Oklahoma City Energy Oklahoma City Energy Football Club, or simply Energy FC, is an American professional soccer club based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The club is a member of the USL Championship, the second division of the American soccer league system. Although ...

of the

on January 20, 2016.

International

In September 2016, Laurendi was called up by the Puerto Rican National Team He made his senior international debut on 13 June 2017 in a 0-0 friendly draw with

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

. In 2018, Laurendi was selected as the third best goalkeeper on the

CONCACAF Awards The CONCACAF Awards is an association football award given annually to honor players, match officials and coaches from the North American (CONCACAF) region. It was established in 2013 and was last awarded in 2022before returning in 2024. Criter ...

following his great performances with the Puerto Rico national team. In 2021, he retired after playing two CONCACAF matches for the

2022 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification was the FIFA World Cup qualification, qualifying process which decided the 31 teams that would join hosts Qatar national football team, Qatar, who received an automatic spot, at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Par ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Laurendi, Cody 1988 births Living people Sportspeople from Melbourne, Florida Soccer players from Florida American men's soccer players Men's association football goalkeepers Men's association football forwards Heidelberg University alumni R.R.F.C. Montegnée players Fort Lauderdale Strikers players Ventura County FC players Austin Aztex players OKC Energy FC players USSF Division 2 Professional League players North American Soccer League (2011–2017) players USL Championship players American expatriate men's soccer players American expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Puerto Rico Puerto Rico Islanders players Puerto Rico men's international footballers Puerto Rican men's footballers