Erhardt Kapp (born June 16, 1959 in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

) is a retired Romanian-American

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

defender and current

business owner A businessperson, businessman, or businesswoman is an individual who has founded, owns, or holds shares in (including as an angel investor) a private-sector company. A businessperson undertakes activities (commercial or industrial) for the ...

and

soccer coach In association football, the manager is the person who runs a Football team, football club or a national sports team, national team. They have wide-ranging responsibilities, including selecting the team, choosing the tactics, recruiting and t ...

. He was also a member of the 1984 U.S. Olympic soccer team and U.S. national team.

Career

Kapp as a youth played for the New York-based Kolping Soccer Club and Blau-Weiss Gottschee. Kapp attended the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from Hart ...

from 1977 to 1980, where he played on the men’s soccer team and became one of the most decorated players ever at UConn under

Joe Morrone Joseph John Morrone, Jr (October 20, 1935 – September 16, 2015) was an American head men's collegiate soccer coach. He is the father of former soccer midfielder Joseph "Joe" M. Morrone He coached soccer at the University of Connecticut from ...

. He was named a first team All American in 1981. He was also a second-team All American in 1980 and earned honorable mention in 1978. The

New York Cosmos New York Cosmos may refer to * New York Cosmos (1970–1985), a team in the North American Soccer League (then the top-tier soccer league in the United States and Canada) * New York Cosmos (2010), a team playing since 2020 in the National Independ ...

under head coach Hennes Weisweiler of the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to: *North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league *North American Soccer League (2011–2017) The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league b ...

(NASL) selected Kapp with the fourth pick in the first round of the 1981 NASL College Draft. He played with the Cosmos and was a teammate of players

Franz Beckenbauer Franz Anton Beckenbauer (, ; born 11 September 1945) is a German former professional footballer and manager. In his playing career he was nicknamed ''Der Kaiser'' ("The Emperor") because of his elegant style, dominance and leadership on the fi ...

, Carlos Alberto,

Giorgio Chinaglia Giorgio Chinaglia (; 24 January 1947 – 1 April 2012) was an Italian footballer who played as a striker. He grew up and played his early football in Cardiff, Wales, and began his career with Swansea Town in 1964. He later returned to Italy to ...

Vladislav Bogicevic Vladislav ( be, Уладзіслаў (', '); pl, Władysław, ; Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, sh-Cyrl, Владислав) is a male given name of Slavic origin. Variations include ''Volodislav'', ''Vlastislav'' and ''Vlaslav' ...

and

Johan Neeskens RCH may stand for: * Radio Club de Honduras, an amateur radio organization * Railway Clearing House, the British financial clearing house and technical standards bureau for railways * The Royal Canadian Hussars (Montreal), a unit of the Canadian F ...

until the end of the 1983. They were Soccer Bowl finalists in 1981 and won the championship in 1982. Besides competing in the North American Soccer League, the Cosmos traveled all over the world playing against world-class teams in Asia, South America, Central America, Africa and Europe. On November 16, 1983, the Cosmos released Kapp and several other teammates because of salary constraints and downsizing of the club.
/sup> In December 1983, Kapp signed with the Pittsburgh Spirit of the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL). After the Spirit folded, he moved to the

Los Angeles Lazers The Los Angeles Lazers were an indoor soccer team that played in the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) from 1982 to 1989. History Jerry Buss, the owner of California Sports, the parent company of the Los Angeles Lakers, Kings and Strings of ...

in 1986 along with former Cosmos and Olympic teammate

David Brcic David Joseph Brcic (born January 21, 1958) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a goalkeeper in the North American Soccer League and Major Indoor Soccer League. He also competed at the 1984 Summer Olympics and earned fo ...

and remained with the team through 1990. Kapp also was a member of the U.S. Olympic soccer team at the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the secon ...

, where he started all three games under coach

Alkis Panagoulias Alketas 'Alkis' Panagoulias ( el, Αλκέτας 'Άλκης' Παναγούλιας; 30 May 1934 – 18 June 2012) was a Greek association football player and manager. He managed the national teams of both Greece and the United States. He also ...

. The 3–0 win over

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

was attended by 78,265 fans in

Palo Alto, California Palo Alto (; Spanish language, Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree kno ...

. The U.S. went 1-1-1, beating Costa Rica 3-0, losing 1-0 to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, and tying

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

1–1. They failed to make it to the second round despite playing with professional players. Kapp also earned five

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

with the U.S. national team between 1983 and 1985. The national team did not play many games during that period. His first cap came in the only U.S. game in 1983, a 2–0 win over

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

. Kapp came on for

Alan Merrick Alan Ronald Merrick (born 20 June 1950) is a retired English-American Association football defender who played professionally in England, the North American Soccer League and the Major Indoor Soccer League. He also earned one cap with the Unit ...

. He then played three games in 1984, scoring in a 4-0 blowout of the

Netherlands Antilles nl, In vrijheid verenigd"Unified by freedom" , national_anthem = , common_languages = Dutch English Papiamento , demonym = Netherlands Antillean , capital = Willemstad , year_start = 1954 , year_end = 2010 , date_start = 15 December , ...

. His last cap came on May 15, 1985, in a victory over

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

. The U.S. national team did not qualify for the

1986 World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-tea ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. He owns a soccer retail store in

Mamaroneck, New York Mamaroneck ( ) is a town in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 31,758 at the 2020 United States census over 29,156 at the 2010 census. There are two villages contained within the town: Larchmont and the Village of Ma ...

. He also coaches and runs summer soccer camps in

Westchester, New York Westchester County is located in the U.S. state of New York. It is the seventh most populous county in the State of New York and the most populous north of New York City. According to the 2020 United States Census, the county had a population o ...

. Kapp's son, Alex Kapp was also a soccer player.

References

External links

UConn Record Book

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kapp, Erhardt 1959 births Living people People from Arad County American soccer coaches American men's soccer players American people of German-Romanian descent Blau-Weiss Gottschee players Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Footballers at the 1984 Summer Olympics Los Angeles Lazers players Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) players New York Cosmos (1970–1985) players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) indoor players Olympic soccer players for the United States Pittsburgh Spirit players Romanian emigrants to the United States UConn Huskies men's soccer players United States men's international soccer players All-American college men's soccer players Men's association football defenders