Tab Ramos is healthy, happy and hoping to lead Tigres of Nuevo Leon to winning ways.
Tab Ramos won’t read this. He doesn’t read about himself.
“Personally, it wouldn’t be wise in my case,” said Ramos. “It wouldn’t help. If they write bad things about me, it might affect me. It doesn’t matter if they write good things, because I’m too critical of myself.”
If a player has to read the paper the next morning to see if he played a good game, then he isn’t a good player.
Ramos is a very good player. His attacking skills have been invaluable to the U.S. national team since he debuted in 1988, played in two World Cup tournaments, one Olympic tournament and 1990 World Cup qualifying. He was the star of the 1992 U.S. Cup title win.
History will rank him among the nation’s all-time greats. He’s only 28 and in his sixth year of playing abroad.
Now he’s in Mexico and the newspapers he doesn’t read already rate him a star of the Tigres de UNL, which he joined in January.
But the last time most people saw him, he was lying in terrible pain on the grass of Stanford Stadium, victim of a vicious elbow by Brazil’s Leonardo.
Ramos’ World Cup ended shortly before halftime of that July Fourth quarterfinal game and one doctor thought his career ended as well.
He was wrong, and Ramos returned to his Spanish club, Real Betis, newly promoted to the First Division. But the midfielder wasn’t fit until November and his team signed more than twice as many foreigners than could play.
Desperate to be back on the field, Ramos gave up his dream to play in the Spanish First Division after four seasons in the Second Division. He plays with Tigres on loan from Major League Soccer.
“I think I’m getting better with each game,” said Ramos, who has played in seven and set up three goals. “I was out a long time, didn’t start practicing until October. Now I’m getting my rhythm, finally getting fit.
“I am very disappointed that I didn’t get to play in the Spanish First Division. But I didn’t want to sit around, or just play a few minutes per game. The new coach at Real Betis was playing the foreigners he brought in, and the team was winning. There weren’t going to be any changes.
“I wanted to play every week, especially since I had such a long layoff. It feels great to play.”
Tigres are in last place of Group 1, which with Club America and Necaxa is the Mexican League’s strongest of the four groups. On March 5, Tigres played Club America at its home, Mexico City’s Azteca Stadium, and lost 2-1. Ramos stood out. Thanks to Univision, U.S. viewers got to see that game live, and here was a fully recovered Ramos, attacking down the right side of midfield, beating defenders one-on-one.
His third shot was a 25-yard rocket headed toward the top corner of the goal before goalkeeper Adrian Chavez saved acrobatically.
Then Ramos left his defender stranded with a typical Ramos move. The defender had Ramos cornered, but a quick flick of the ball with the outside of his foot left the defender stranded and Ramos crossed from the corner flag. The ball arced over Chavez and Francisco “Abuelo” (Grandpa) Cruz headed easily into the goal.
The equalizer was short-lived as Club America scored a late gamewinner.
“I was hoping that we could turn things around with good result against Club America,” Ramos said. “We’ve now lost two and tied once in our last three games. But we’ve been just as good as any team we’ve played lately. And Club America, perhaps the league’s best team, didn’t outplay us.”
A scare came with five minutes left in the game. A ball that was supposed to be played to his feet, arrived high and Ramos went up for it, only to clash heads with a defender. Ramos clutched his head.
“It’s always a scary feeling for me,” said 5-7 Ramos, who had headaches months after the Leonardo strike. “I usually get out of the way of high balls and figure that’s OK, because I usually don’t win head balls. But the ball was between our heads and it was all right.”
‘Tab is special’
Despite playing for one of the league’s struggling teams, Ramos is optimistic.
“We have a new coach since I arrived — Carlos de los Cobos,” Ramos said. “He played for Bora Milutinovic’s 1986 World Cup team. He’s totally professional and was a player recently enough to know how to treat players.
“And we’ve got good players. Miguel Espana and Carlos Munoz both played for Bora [with the Mexican national team].”
Tigres also acquired Chile captain Jaime Pizzaro when Ramos arrived in January. And Ramos remembered Uruguayan teammate Cecilio de los Santos from a 1993 Copa America encounter.
Seton Hall coach Manfred Schellscheidt, then a youth coach in New Jersey, brought Ramos into the national team fold in 1982 when he was assisting Angus McAlpine with the U-20 team trying to qualify for the 1983 World Cup.
Ramos was 15. He scored the overtime winner against Guatemala in the CONCACAF semifinals and then played in the U-20 World Cup, where two elbows in the second game against Ivory Coast ended his tournament. Defenders resort to severe measures to stop Ramos.
“Tab is special,” said Schellscheidt, who brought him into the 1984 Olympic team when Ramos was still in high school. He was cut by new coach Alkis Panagoulias on the eve of the tournament when pros were brought in.
“I still believe he is the best American player in terms of creativity,” Schellscheidt said. “He’d always be my first pick. He’s comfortable at the highest level while most Americans are hanging by the skin of their teeth.”
Now Ramos’ stage is in Mexico and he already feels comfortable. Especially since his main problem has been solved: His first telephone number was mistakenly given out by a radio station.
“It was some sort of contest,” he said. “The phone was ringing all the time and people would give us answers. We’d pick up and they’d say things like ‘Snow White.'”
Ramos won’t comment on his national team future.
“I’m concentrating on my club,” he said, “and thinking of the baby we are expecting in two months — our first.”
On off days, Ramos and wife Amy drive two hours north to Texas to shop for baby supplies. They both enjoy Monterrey.
“The people are friendly,” he said, “always going out of their way to help you. And that friendliness carries over to the locker room.
“We’ve got a real good locker room. Coming from Europe, where everything is cold, I’m really happy here.”
by Soccer America Senior Editor <Mike Woitalla/I>