SOCCER / GRAHAME L. JONES : Wynalda Laments Absence of Injured Playmaker Ramos
It is an hour or so after the United States has lost to Costa Rica. The American players, having been rushed out of Ricardo Saprissa Stadium under armed escort, are back at their hotel, trying to explain the defeat.
It is not an easy task, but one player knows the reason behind the 3-2 loss.
“When we don’t have [midfielder] Tab Ramos, we have to keep making changes in our team,” forward Eric Wynalda begins. “Some day you’re going to realize how important that guy is to our team and how much of a blow [his knee injury] was to us.
“For me, personally, as a forward, and for this team, to know that you’ve got a guy that has so much skill to hold the ball and so much speed and so much experience . . .”
Wynalda pauses, struggling to get his point across just as the U.S. national team, without Ramos, is struggling to earn the points it needs to qualify for the France ’98 World Cup. Then he tries again.
“It always has to be a collective effort as opposed to knowing that the one sure thing that we have is Tab,” he says. “He’s going to be able to hold the ball, find the right pass and make the right decision.
“John Harkes and Tab Ramos have played side by side since 1988. I’m not saying we don’t know what to do without Tab, but what I am saying is that he’s an incredible asset to this team and it’s difficult to play, especially in places like this, without him.”
THE METRO MINUS STARS
Wynalda is not the only one bemoaning the absence of Ramos. So too is Brazil’s Carlos Alberto Parreira, the World Cup-winning coach of Major League Soccer’s New York/New Jersey Metro Stars.
The team lost its first two games of the season, beaten in a shootout by the Clash in San Jose and in regulation by the Mutiny in Tampa Bay.
Ramos, who suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in a World Cup qualifier in Trinidad & Tobago on Nov. 24, was a guest on ESPN2’s broadcast of the first game and sounded encouraged by Parreira’s arrival and his own progress.
“For us, it’s just exciting being with him every day,” Ramos said of the coach who guided Brazil to its 1994 World Cup triumph. “He’s very happy to be here, to know what the league is all about and to help out. He’s a tremendous asset for the league.”
As for his recovery from surgery, Ramos is taking it slowly. He said he is not likely to be back in time for the U.S. team’s next game, against Mexico on April 20.
“I’m tempted,” he said. “There’s no doubt about that. I’ve talked to [Coach] Steve Sampson about it, but he just wants me to heal. It really doesn’t make sense to risk it, to come back a month early and then hurt it again.”
TALKING TO THE TREES
Last season, Galaxy Coach Lothar Osiander used every opportunity he got to lambaste his team’s black uniforms, pointing out time and again how they did nothing but absorb heat and exhaust his players.
So what happened in the off-season?
MLS redesigned its clubs’ uniforms and the Galaxy’s new colors feature--you guessed it--black, green and yellow vertical striped jerseys and black shorts.
“The people who design uniforms, they know design, they do not know soccer,” an exasperated Osiander said.
“You can’t talk to them [league officials] about uniforms. It’s like talking to the trees. The tree looks down and says, ‘Black looks good and it sells,’ and that’s the end of the story.”
FROM UGLY TO WEIRD
The Galaxy’s mascot last year was so pathetic that the team’s fan club, the Galaxians, named its magazine after the character, calling it “The Flaming Carrot” because that’s what they thought it resembled.
Well, the unfortunate vegetable has been replaced this season, but judging from one comment culled from cyberspace, there has been no improvement.
“Who is in charge of mascot R&D;?” the fan asked on the Internet after the Galaxy season opener at the Rose Bowl. “Was this thing a happy Darth Vader or a Power Ranger with a bad case of the mumps?”
MALAYSIAN INTERLUDE
Attention might be focused on France ‘98, but for the next generation of U.S. stars, it’s Malaysia ’97 that matters most.
Last week, the U.S. under-20 national team was drawn to play China, Ireland and Ghana in the FIFA World Youth Championship in Malaysia on June 16-July 5.
Coach Jay Hoffman’s squad will play its first-round games in Alor Setar, a town near the coast and 50 miles north of Penang. The team plays China on June 17, Ireland on June 19 and Ghana on June 22.
The U.S. player pool includes 10 Californians: Ramiro Corrales of Salinas and the San Jose Clash; Joseph DiGiamarino of Corona and Cal State Fullerton; Brian Dunseth of Upland and CS Fullerton; Jorge Flores of Los Angeles and the Dallas Burn; Chad McCarthy of Clovis and the University of Washington; Mike Mucino of Moreno Valley and UC Irvine; John O’Brien of Playa del Rey and Ajax Amsterdam; Tommy Poltl of San Marcos and UCLA; Juan Sastoque of El Cajon and the Dallas Burn; and Sasha Victorine of Carmichael and UCLA.
Hoffman in May will select his 18-man team to travel to Malaysia for the World Championships.
U.S. WOMEN’S CUP ’97
After completing its six-game “victory tour” that features matches against France, South Korea and England, the Olympic gold-medal winning U.S. women’s national team will compete in U.S. Women’s Cup ’97.
The four-nation, six-game tournament will be played May 31-June 8 at six East Coast venues and also features Australia, Canada and Italy. The USA-Canada game May 31 will be televised live on ESPN2 and the USA-Italy game June 8 at RFK Stadium in Washington will be carried live by ESPN.
THE WRITING REF
Usually, when a referee writes something down in a book, it’s a player’s name after a particularly bad foul.
Former FIFA referee Toros Kibritjian of Monterey Park has carried his writing a bit further. After penning the autobiographical “Quest for the Cup” more than a decade ago, Kibritjian has turned to historical novels.
His latest work is called “In Search of a God.” Despite its religious-sounding title, the book is actually an entertaining and enlightening fictionalized history of Kibritjian’s native Armenia.
There is no soccer in it, but there is evidence that Kibritjian feels the same way about Armenia as he does about the sport. He loves them both.
