Selection to the MLS All-Star Game gave Dallas defender Ryan Suarez a weekend to etch into his memory book.
Upon taking a cell phone call in an Atlanta hotel lobby last month, Ryan Suarez shouted so loudly, so gleefully that the staff there assumed he was a first-time father.
''Somebody asked if it was a boy or a girl,'' Suarez recalls. ''I said, 'No – I made the All-Star team.'''
In part because of the unique format of this year's game, eight players were first-time MLS All-Stars. Suarez, a second-year defender for the Dallas Burn, was one of them. His weekend in Washington, D.C., reflects how a player's first All-Star experience is usually his most memorable. Suarez was in Atlanta for a U.S. Open Cup game when his agent, Brooke Tunstall, called with the news.
''I was just content to be on the ballot this year,'' Suarez said. ''To be picked as a starter is something I never would have imagined.''
Knowing that his girlfriend and the rest of his family would be in town for the game, Suarez rented a car at Reagan National Airport so he could transport his folks around. He then promptly got lost on Washington's confusing roads.
''All the signs say 'One Way' during certain times of the day, but you can't read the times until you're past the sign,'' Suarez said. ''It was disastrous. It took me a good 45 minutes to get to the team hotel, which should have taken five or 10 minutes.''
After getting settled in, Suarez had to make an appearance at Lucky Bar, a soccer-friendly establishment around the block from the Mayflower Hotel. Also signing autographs was U.S. national team forward Clint Mathis.
''Usually in Dallas, when I do an appearance, there are some people recognizing me, saying 'Good job' and stuff,'' Suarez said, chuckling as he made the contrast. ''I'm with Clint and every other girl came up, feeling his hair, talking to him … We were playing foosball and people kept putting things in front of his face for him sign in the middle of the game. Meanwhile, I'm just standing there, no one really knows who I am.''
Content in his anonymity, Suarez just admired.
''It's great to see those national team guys getting the recognition they deserve,'' Suarez said.
With few eyes on him, Suarez was able to take home a souvenir of his own – the silk-screened banner used to promote the event, with Mathis' name alongside his.
While most players spent the latter part of Thursday evening hanging out in Georgetown, Suarez stayed back in the hotel with electrodes taped to his right leg. He had aggravated a hamstring pull in Kansas City on Wednesday, and Dallas coach Mike Jeffries was reluctant to let him play in the All-Star game Saturday.
This was the first in a variety of treatments administered by San Jose trainer Bruce Morgan to help Suarez avoid the heartache of sitting out.
The next morning Suarez drove to the airport and picked up his mother, Marta, his father, Miguel, and his girlfriend, Julie. He then joined the team for its bus ride out to Germantown, Md., for training and an all-day soccer festival.
Thermometers crested the 100-degree mark that day, so the team conducted a very casual workout of five-v-two games and some voluntary shooting. Suarez stayed clear, letting his injury heal and musing on the source of pressure when playing against the national team.
''It's just one man – it's Bruce,'' he said of U.S. national team coach Bruce Arena. ''Sometimes Bruce is there and you don't know it, so you've always got to perform well. But now that Bruce is there, you can't dink around with the ball, you've got to show him that you belong here. He's not going to call you up based on this, but you don't want to get megged for a goal or be known as the goat of this game.''
Back at the hotel Friday evening, Suarez finally got the chance to meet one of his boyhood heroes, Tab Ramos. Like Ramos, Suarez has strong Uruguayan roots. Suarez, was 12 years old when Ramos represented the United States at 1990 World Cup in Italy. Although Suarez traded jerseys with Ramos after a game against the MetroStars last year, he never had much of a conversation with him until now.
''Because Tab is Uruguayan like me, my Dad would always tell me to watch him,'' said Suarez, who was born Sacramento, Calif. ''He's a real nice guy, very down-to-earth. … It was something special to hear him congratulate me.''
But Suarez still worried that he, like Ramos, might be confined to the sideline.
Suarez and Frank Yallop, coach of the MLS All-Stars, called Jeffries together and the three discussed a compromise. Suarez would start, but only play a short while.
Game day arrived and with it, more treatment for the hamstring. Suarez was the last player from either team to head for the locker room during warm-ups, savoring his minutes on the RFK Stadium field, which he knew would be precious few.
When the lineups were announced and his name was called, Suarez gave the crowd a wave, but his pursed lips could not smile.
''I was extremely nervous,'' Suarez said. ''Of course, I had to cause the first two fouls of a game with [12] fouls, but it was such a pleasure and an honor to be out there.''
Suarez did not look like a player favoring a muscle pull. But torrential rain started in the 12th minute and four minutes later, Suarez was on the turf, clutching the back of his thigh. He had not exacerbated his injury, merely ''felt something that wasn't comfortable.'' When he asked for a substitution, referee Brian Hall instructed him to take a seat.
Suarez shook some players' hands as he walked off, then clapped for the crowd, signaling he was done for the day. The fans acknowledged that fact with their own applause and checked their programs. To them, Ryan Suarez is no longer unknown.
by Soccer America Senior Editor Will Kuhns in Washington D.C.