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 le ...

Career

Youth and college

Laurendi attended Eau Gallie High School in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

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 is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. It is very prominent in United States, Japan, South Korea, Canada, and as well as in South Africa and the Philippines. The United Kingd ...

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 ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, where he played as a non-paid amateur for the fourth division

R.R.F.C. Montegnée Royal Racing Football Club Montegnée was a Belgian association football club from the municipality of Saint-Nicolas, Liège. It last played in the Liège Division 4, 8th tier overall in the Belgian league system. History Racing Football ...

Professional

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

Puerto Rico Islanders Puerto, a Spanish word meaning ''seaport'', may refer to: Places *El Puerto de Santa María, Andalusia, Spain *Puerto, a seaport town in Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines *Puerto Colombia, Colombia *Puerto Cumarebo, Venezuela *Puerto Galera, Orient ...

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 Association football, 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 Champions ...

, 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), member of American Soccer League from 1988 to 1989 and American Profes ...

announced that Laurendi had signed with the club as a backup to Matt Glaeser. After three games as a backup, Laurendi displaced Glaeser ahead of the Strikers rivalry clash with Tampa Bay Rowdies 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 in Upland, California. He was invited to the

LA Galaxy LA Galaxy, also known as the Los Angeles Galaxy, are an American professional soccer club based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Galaxy competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), as a member of the Western Conference. The club began pl ...

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 fi ...

team, the LA Galaxy II or 'Los Dos' as the fans call the team. LA Galaxy II was the first

entry for an established MLS organization. He played 19 regular season games under coach Curt Onalfo during the 2014 season which included their first ever game, a scrimmage against the USL PDL Fresno Fuego and their regular season home opener against their Orange County, CA rivals the OC Blues - both victories for LA Galaxy II 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 pyr ...

, 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 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. History Oklahoma City businessma ...

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 and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. In 2018, Laurendi was selected as the third best goalkeeper on the CONCACAF Awards 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 qualificationAlso the "FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Qualifiers". was the qualifying process which decided the 31 teams that would join hosts Qatar, who received an automatic spot, at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Parallel tour ...

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