Jerry Laterza

Jerry Laterza
Personal information
Full name	Gerardo Laterza
Date of birth	July 1, 1974 (age 50)
Place of birth	Los Angeles, California, United States
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Youth career
1992	SMU Mustangs
Senior career*
Years	Team
1993	Veracruz
1993	Los Angeles Salsa
1994–1995	Cerro Porteño
1997	Orange County Zodiac
1997	LA Galaxy
1997	→ Carolina Dynamo (loan)
1998	Seattle Sounders
1998	Qianwei Huandao
1999	Shenyang Haishi
1999	Kitchee
1999	→ South China (loan)
1999–2000	South China
2002	Guangzhou Xiangxue
2003	Ningbo Yaoma
2003–2004	Buler Rangers
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Gerardo "Jerry" Laterza (born July 1, 1974) is an American former soccer player. He is the technical director of Newport Mesa Soccer Club.^[1] He was the first Paraguayan American to play football in Paraguay.

Career

Laterza graduated from Walnut High School where he was the 1990 and 1992 California Interscholastic Federation 1-A Player of the Year.^[2] Laterza attended Southern Methodist University, playing on the men's soccer team in 1992.^[3] On April 3, 1993, Laterza signed with the Los Angeles Salsa of the American Professional Soccer League.^[4]^[5] In 1997, Laterza began the season with the Orange County Zodiac. In July 1997, the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer signed Laterza.^[6] He played four games for the Galaxy in 1997, plus one game on loan to the Carolina Dynamo.^[7] The Galaxy released him on April 1, 1998, during a pre-season roster reduction. On April 10, 1998, Laterza signed with the Seattle Sounders of the USL A-League.^[8] He played two games, then was released on April 22.^[9] He then played for several clubs, including South China AA, and various teams in Hong Kong, China^[10] and Paraguay. While in Hong Kong, he was selected to play for Hong Kong League XI, featuring in one of the matches against Paraguay.