Ramirez Leaves Chivas USA
Ramon Ramirez, the Mexican icon who was supposed to give Chivas USA, Los Angeles’ Major League Soccer expansion club, an air of legitimacy for its Latino fans, has left the team, club president and co-owner Antonio Cue said Tuesday.
Cue also acknowledged that forward Alonso Sandoval was leaving the team for “personal reasons.”
“It’s real simple and it’s not related to soccer,” Cue said of Ramirez’s departure. “It’s personal to Ramon. There were some visa problems with people he wanted to bring with him.
“The [U.S.] state department did not say no, it just takes time.”
Ramirez, who was to have played defensive midfield, could not be reached for comment and apparently did not want to wait.
According to sources, Ramirez wanted to bring his children’s nanny, whom he considers family, to the United States and became frustrated when the visa did not arrive.
“We can’t hold things just for him,” Cue said. “It’s about the team, not just one player. It’s a matter of principle. If Ramon does not [put] the team [first], he’s out.
“We’re losing our biggest player.”
Amid much fanfare, Ramirez, 35, was presented the captain’s armband during halftime of a Chivas de Guadalajara match at Jalisco Stadium in Mexico last month. And during Chivas USA’s preseason training camp in Zapopan, Ramirez spoke to the challenge of being a Mexican idol playing stateside.
“There are many Latino people in Los Angeles, many Mexicans, so those fans know what we are trying to accomplish in MLS,” Ramirez said then. “Our last championship was in 1997, so we are all hungry for another ... [even] in MLS.”
Ramirez’s departure opens senior international and sizable payroll slots. His salary was thought to be near the league’s reported base maximum of $300,000.
“We have many players that we are looking at and many have called us,” Cue said of filling that gap. “We want to take our time and not make a mistake again.”
Ramirez, though, is not the first high-profile Mexican star to rebuff Chivas USA.
When Chivas USA announced in August its plans to play at the Home Depot Center, the organization also trotted out midfielder Francisco Palencia. Palencia, though, chose to stay with the parent club, after saying, “I’ve played at the highest levels of Mexican soccer and now I want to try this in the United States. It will be interesting.”
Apparently, not interesting enough.
Chivas USA has already lost goalkeeper Martin Zuniga for at least six weeks because of a sprained knee and defender Armando Begines indefinitely because of a broken collarbone.
