Tab Ramos: ‘We have more talent than ever before’

Tab Ramos’ retirement from international soccer last year deprived the U.S. national team of perhaps its most important player of the last decade, but he soldiers on — in superb form — for the surging MetroStars. Soccer America caught up with the midfielder to get his thoughts on the 2001 season, teammate Clint Mathis, World Cup qualifying and the likelihood he could return to the U.S. squad. INTERVIEW BY SCOTT FRENCH SOCCER AMERICA: A good start this season by the MetroStars. Has it gone as you’d hoped? TAB RAMOS: I wouldn’t say it’s gone as I had hoped, more than it’s gone as I’d expected to this point. We’ve lost a few points — lost a game to Tampa, lost a couple points in the last five minutes to Colorado. You can’t win all the games, but I’m happy with the way we’re playing. We’re playing forward a lot, creating chances, having fun. SA: I’ve got to think you’re having much more fun playing for the MetroStars in 2000 and 2001 than in the previous four seasons. TR: I really couldn’t do anything about the rest of the time. I had injuries, and it was difficult to come back from one of them, the back-to-back knee surgeries. I really suffered the consequences from that for a longer period than I thought I would. Last year, with a full season under my belt, I started to feel like I can do some of the things I used to do before. SA: You did go through a spell with some pretty major injuries. TR: I had an unlucky three years when I was constantly injured, basically all serious injuries suffered with the national team. The one with the worst impact was the elbow to the head [by Leonardo in the ’94 World Cup second-round loss to Brazil]. Betis had just won promotion to the [Spanish] First Division and I had three years left on my contract, and I was going to get to play in the First Division. I was out four months and they signed other foreigners. I was left off the 22-man roster for the first half of the season. Then I had a meeting with the coach [Llorenc Serra Ferrer], and he said he had no plans to use me in the second half, so I went to Mexico. At that point in my career, I guess you would say I was in my prime. That elbow really set me back a couple years. I regret having to leave Spain. … Going to Spain, after the 1990 World Cup, was the best thing I could have done. I had a chance to sign for Roda [in Holland] — they offered me a longer contract — but I decided to take a chance and go to Spain. I was glad I did. SA: Leonardo visited you in the hospital after the elbow. Have you talked to him since? TR: At Copa America ’95, we traded jerseys. It’s part of the game, although it had a big impact on my career. Sometimes it was hard to believe — I know that it was done on purpose, but sometimes as players you don’t realize the implications of [your actions]. Obviously, I accepted his apology and went on from there. SA: What’s your take on Clint Mathis? TR: Clint is a tremendously talented individual. At age 24, he’s further ahead in terms of making a difference in a game than any American we’ve ever had before. The last couple weeks, we’ve all been searching for words [to satisfactorily describe his performance]. SA: Did you know how good he was before he came to the Metros? TR: Before he joined the MetroStars, I really didn’t know him before. He’d played some games for L.A. but was in and out of their lineup. I didn’t know him well. Octavio [Zambrano, the Metros’ coach] knew him well and believed in him from Day 1. He knew we were getting a good player. And the Galaxy didn’t think things would turn out this way either; otherwise, they wouldn’t have let him go. … They can say the league took him away as much as they want, but if the coach wanted, he could have let someone else go. SA: I take it you’ve been watching the Hexagonal closely. TR: I think we’re doing an incredible job. One thing that stands out it the way we’re organized. … And we have enough talented players that we can create chances to score anytime. Offensively, we have to improve a lot, get more confidence going forward, but we’re able to score. In qualifying, the result is the only thing that matters. Nothing else. SA: You’re in such good form — any chance you’d rescind your international retirement? TR: No. My decision really was final. There were a lot of factors involved. No. 1, my family and kids [wife Amy, son Alex, 6, and daughter Kristen, 3]. I enjoy taking my son to soccer practice, to baseball practice. The national team commitment — when I saw the schedule, I knew this year I’d be gone one week of every month [if I were still with the national team]. I think I’ve done it for too long. I think I’ve put in my time — at the end of last season, it had been 12 years, with three World Cups. It’s time for other people, and I believe we have more talent than we’ve ever had before.