HOUSTON -- This could be one exciting summer for Houston Dynamo defender Patrick Ianni.
Despite battling injuries and the subsequent lack of playing time that comes with recovery, Ianni is motoring along quite well and is probably a bit harder on himself that he should be.
But the 22-year old defender from Lodi, Calif. is one of the team's most physical players, always intent on playing hard, taking care of his position on the field and doing everything within his power to improve from one week to the next.
And the potential reward for being one of the best players in the country in his age group could be a trip to the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing.
Ianni has played in four games, including three starts this year for the winless Dynamo. A good start with the Dynamo could put him on U.S. head coach Peter Nowak's squad later this year.
But not so fast, Ianni carefully cautioned.
"I think I need to be playing well first," Ianni said. "And I think that it just takes a number of things. (It) takes me playing well here, and that I am developing. It takes me playing my role and fitting in with what coach Nowak wants to do.
"I have played with them quite a bit and I know what he wants to win and what it takes to win. I think that part is paying off for me. I think I showed well at the camp for the team. I think it's a matter of coach's decision at this point."
After comments like that you'd think Ianni was off to a lousy start in 2008. But that is certainly not the case. Dynamo head coach Dominic Kinnear thinks highly of Ianni, and there are many players on the team grumbling under their breath about what they can do better to grab the team's first win of the season.
Ianni, Kinnear said, is a player that accepts his role and is willing to do whatever he can to help the team on the field in training and up to game day.
"He has put himself in a position to be seen going to (U.S.) camp," Kinnear said. "I think his development has been good. He's an aggressive guy and attacks the ball well. You try to get him to play simple, and he does. He is trying to become more of an organizer. He's learning everyday and trying to get better everyday."
Last year as a second-year player, Ianni started nine games, appearing in 16 games overall. He made his first appearance of the year as a substitute against the Colorado Rapids on June 7 at Robertson Stadium. Ianni was in the starting lineup for the first time against the Kansas City Wizards on June 24 and capped that memorable game by scoring the game-winning goal in the 81st minute.
After that, he made eight more starts at center back for the Dynamo but did not appear in the MLS Cup Playoffs as the team battled for and won its second consecutive MLS title over the New England Revolution.
"As far in my professional career, I think my first (2006) year didn't go too well, but the last two years have been good," Ianni said. "I am out here everyday to learn and work. Sometimes a couple times to learn a particular thing about the game, but I think I am learning well from a great group of veterans and a great coaching staff here."
For him, the reputation of being a strong, aggressive player started when he was younger.
"God gave me a certain ability in terms of athletically and size-wise and strength," Ianni said. "You tend to play to your strengths when you are a young kid. I'm young, and I go after tackles. That's the way I executed. If you are winning like that, you don't want to change something that isn't broken.
"I tend to play aggressively because I feel that is a strength of mine on the field. If I put myself in a position of me against someone else on the field, I tend to win those battles. If you're not giving your strength to the team, you are killing the team. For me, that's going out there and making tackles, hitting headers and making it difficult for the other team to score."
Ultimately, Ianni wants to be a preacher and said he would be playing basketball if he wasn't playing professional soccer. He studied and majored in sociology while attending UCLA, where he was the Pacific-10 Conference's co-player of the year in 2004.
Now he is an up-and-coming player on a Dynamo team that has won two MLS titles in his first two season. Despite all that. Ianni said, there is still a lot of work to do.
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