Tayt Ianni (born December 6, 1971, in Lodi, California) is a former U.S.

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.

Career

College

Ianni grew up in Lodi, California, and attended Lodi High School where he was a two time

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high school All-American soccer player. After high school, Ianni attended UCLA where he played on the men’s soccer team from 1990 to 1993. He started eighty-two games during his four seasons with the Bruins, and was the team captain his senior year. His freshman year, the Bruins won the NCAA championship.

Professional

In 1994, Ianni signed with the East Los Angeles Cobras of USISL. He then moved to German

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(Regionalliga) club TuS Celle for the 1994-1995 season. He returned to the United States in 1995 and joined the Monterey Bay Jaguars for the last month of the 1995 USISL regular season. The Jaguars won the Divisional title, to advance to the Sizzlin’ Nine tournament. At the end of the USISL season, he moved to Thailand where he signed with First Division club Rajpracha-UCOM. He spent the 1995-1996 season in Thailand and played with Raj Pracha FC in the

Asian Cup Winners Cup The Asian Cup Winners' Cup was an association football competition run by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The competition was started in 1991 as a tournament for all the domestic cup winners from countries affiliated to the AFC. The winne ...

. In February 1996, the Tampa Bay Mutiny of

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

(MLS) picked Ianni in the eighth round (seventy-seventh overall) of the Inaugural MLS Draft. Ianni joined the Mutiny on the completion of the Thai season, appearing in several pre-season MLS games. Ianni made his first MLS start July 31, 1996, against the New England Revolution at right back. However, the Mutiny waived him on July 1, 1996, and the next day, the San Jose Clash claimed him off waivers. Over the course of the 1996 season, Ianni played in ten games and scored one goal with the Clash. The Clash waived Ianni on May 18, 1997. After being released by the Clash, Ianni joined the Orange County Zodiac for the 1997 season. Then, that fall, he moved to Japan to play professional beach soccer.
/sup> In February 1998, the Colorado Rapids selected Ianni in the third round (35th overall) of the MLS Supplemental Draft
/sup> However, they never signed him to a contract. Instead, he continued to play for the Zodiacs through the 2000 season. That year, they club was renamed the Orange County Waves.

International

In 1988, Ianni played five games with the United States under-18 men's national soccer team, U.S. U-18 national team. The next two years, he was part of the U.S. U-20 team which qualified for the 1991 U-20 FIFA World Championship, but he did not play in that tournament. From 1992 to 1994, he played several games with the U.S. National "B" Team. Ianni earned his only cap with the U.S. national team in a 4–1 loss to Peru on October 19, 1996. Ianni, along with several teammates in the game, was called up when the regular national team players went on strike and refused to play.

Personal life

Ianni now works as a mortgage broker for Nation’s Funding Limited in Newport Beach, California. He married his wife Nicole, the daughter of former UCLA football coach Terry Donahue, in 1996 and has three children. His brother

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also played soccer in Major League Soccer and for the United States under-23 men's national soccer team.

References

External links

Sams-Army bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ianni, Tayt 1971 births Living people American men's soccer players Soccer players from California American expatriate men's soccer players United States men's international soccer players San Jose Earthquakes players USISL players East Los Angeles Cobras players California Jaguars players Orange County Blue Star players TuS Celle FC players Tampa Bay Mutiny players Sportspeople from Lodi, California American people of Italian descent Major League Soccer players USL Second Division players A-League (1995–2004) players Colorado Rapids draft picks Men's association football defenders Lodi High School (California) alumni American expatriate soccer players in Germany American expatriate sportspeople in Thailand Expatriate men's footballers in Thailand