Building on previous experiences like in Qatar 2022, Ramos followed closely this year’s World Cup as a broadcaster. Now, he continues contributing to the beautiful game’s growth in the country by leading the US National Soccer School.

During his playing days, Ramos made a name for himself as a midfielder who earned 81 caps with the USMNT, including three World Cup appearances (1990, 1994, and 1998).

Tab Ramos analyzes the 2026 World Cup and the USMNT’s performance

Bolavip: What did you think about the USA’s performance and the country hosting the World Cup this year?

Tab Ramos: I think the World Cup was an incredible event. We had a lot of concerns initially because there wasn’t a lot of interest, it seemed, in the country for it. Like a month before the World Cup, it seemed like no one knew it was happening.

But the World Cup, that full month when the World Cup was going on, it was absolutely crazy here. And I think it was definitely the best ever, it was a great event. Every stadium was packed. I was fortunate enough to broadcast a lot of the games out of Philadelphia and out of Toronto, so I was involved heavily in it, and I truly enjoyed it. I think it was definitely one of the best World Cups ever.

In terms of the national team itself, I thought, in general, the national team had a good performance. I thought our first game against Paraguay was likely the best that any US team has ever played at a World Cup, and I think that’s a very positive sign. However, in general, you have to judge the national team by results, and I think the results were just barely okay and really below the expectations.

Bolavip: Did you expect the team to go further, or did you expect at least a better performance against European opposition?

Tab Ramos: Well, I mean, it seems like going to the Round of 16 is the norm for our country here, regardless of the coach that we have. And so, because we brought in Mauricio Pochettino, and he’s one of the highest-paid national team coaches in the world and obviously he has incredible experience overseas, our expectations were a little bit higher than getting to the same place we always get.

We waited for two years in the beginning of Pochettino’s era, as we didn’t get good results. He kept saying, “Well, we’ve got to wait for the World Cup. We have to wait for the World Cup.” And we waited for the World Cup, but in the end, we ended up getting the same results as always. So, in general, I’d have to say this World Cup was below expectations.

Bolavip: And why do you think this was the result?

Tab Ramos: Well, I think what the team showed in the World Cup was exactly what the team had been showing for the past year and a half, which was an up and down of some FIFA windows playing really well, like when we beat Paraguay and beat Uruguay 5-1, and then the next window playing really poorly, like when we lost to Portugal and we lost to Belgium.

And really, that’s probably the last two really noticeable windows, but that really happened throughout Pochettino’s process. And I think the World Cup showed exactly the same. It showed our team playing really well against Paraguay, maybe the best ever, not as well against Australia, and then poorly against Turkey, which you can justify because it was a second team.

But the Bosnia game was barely okay. And then obviously the Belgium game was not a good game. So it sort of showed us the same as it had been shown for the last year and a half.

Pochettino’s contract extension and the USMNT’s direction

Bolavip: What are your thoughts on US Soccer extending Mauricio Pochettino‘s contract?

Tab Ramos: Well, I think first of all, there’s no question that Mauricio Pochettino is a good coach. So, I think we’re lucky to have a good coach. But at the same time, I’m not sure how much research it came down to.

But let me just start with this: I think whenever you hire a coach, there has to be a goal in place, right? What is it that you want from this coach? Right? That’s something that we don’t know.

So, we haven’t had the president of the federation say, “Hey, over the next eight years, we’re looking for this. We’re looking to play this way, or we’re looking for these results.” None of that has been made public in any way.

All we know is that they decided—a group of people decided—that they’re going to keep Mauricio Pochettino, right? But we don’t know if Mauricio Pochettino was kept because the demand was, “Hey, for 2030, the goal is to be a semifinalist or a quarterfinalist,” or because they hired Mauricio Pochettino because Mauricio Pochettino is going to install a new way to play that’s going to translate to our youth national teams and it’s going to change the way we play.

None of that has been said except that Mauricio Pochettino is going to help with the youth programs and help with coaching education. Now, as far as I know, he hasn’t worked in youth programs, nor has he worked in youth education, right?

So, we don’t really know what it’s for. So, I think the best way to answer your question was, if Mauricio Pochettino was not the guy, then who was, right? Because I didn’t have a clear answer.

I think if we don’t have a goal in place, it’s hard to put in candidates. So all of us outside of the national team started to throw in people. Okay, “Thierry Henry or Xavi Hernandez, or it could be Roberto Martinez.” Like, we start throwing names, but really the names don’t mean anything if you don’t have a goal.

And I’m not sure what the process was because we don’t know the goal. Had we known the goal, I think we could have an opinion. At this point, I really can’t have an opinion on whether this is a good hire or not, but I do know that he’s a good coach.

The criticism faced by Christian Pulisic and the Folarin Balogun situation

Bolavip: Going back to the World Cup, what do you think about the criticism that Christian Pulisic faced, especially after the elimination?

Tab Ramos: Well, I think criticism is fair. This is what this game is about, right? I’m sure there were some people who thought that because we played well in the first-round games that the full performance was good enough. And then there’s going to be people that are going to say, “Well, that’s not good enough. I think we got to the same place as other World Cups.”

So, the World Cup was okay. But if you think about it, we got the same place we got in other World Cups, but we were playing at home this time. So at times, you expect to do better than before, not the same. And so, yeah, it seems to me like it’s not necessarily unfair to say that the World Cup was not great.

Bolavip: Do you think that the whole Folarin Balogun situation affected the team negatively?

Tab Ramos: I remember going into that game just looking from the outside, thinking how we had great momentum going into the game regardless of whether Balogun was going to play or not.

And I think if anything, the Balogun situation was a big distraction that I think maybe sidetracked our team a little bit and I think motivated Belgium a little bit more. So I think if anything, I think it had a negative effect on our team for sure.

Bolavip: Do you see now a core group of players for the next World Cup, or do you think that a major overhaul should be done for the next tournament?

Tab Ramos: Well, this is an interesting question because when you look at the roster, we had a roster of 26 players. Fifteen of them will be 30 or older in the next World Cup. Normally, if you look at the stats, teams in general have between five and six 30-year-olds on teams.

So it’s inevitable that there’s going to be eight or ten changes just by stats alone. There’s no question that we’ve now had this generation for two of their, let’s say, prime years, and now there’s likely going to be a lot of changes.

The future of soccer in the US

Bolavip: What kind of impact do you think this World Cup and this generation will make for soccer in the US?

Tab Ramos: I think it will have a huge impact. I think this World Cup will be felt for the next couple decades. Sometimes it takes a little bit of time because I think all of the new people that got to see the World Cup this year—and there were over 50 million people watching our national team by the end—it will certainly have an effect on them, and it takes time.

I mean, if you think in 1994, really no one knew what soccer was in general. I mean, most American people thought that soccer was just the hooligans in England who fought each other in the games. I mean, that’s basically—and I’m, of course, generalizing. Of course, we had some people who knew about the game.

But if you think about it, over the next 20 years, the effects were slowly gaining ground, right? And over the last 10 years, think about all the new stadiums that MLS has built. Think about all the new facilities that MLS teams have built to develop players.

These are all results from the 1994 World Cup. And so some results are immediate. Within a couple years, the league started. Some results take a decade or two. They build their own stadium. The league grows. You have more teams.

So I think it’ll be the same effect this time. And it’ll take time. But I think there’s no question that this World Cup was really positive for the game in this country.

Bolavip: And where do you see MLS in this situation? Do you see the league in a good direction, or do you think that changes should be made to make this league even bigger?

Tab Ramos: I think it depends on what our expectations are of the league, because I think the league is in a good place. I mean, obviously, we know there’s five big leagues in Europe. Those are the best in the world. There’s the Brazilian league, which I put right below them or right on par with some of them because the Brazilian league now has money and great teams. Maybe you put the league in Argentina a little bit below that.

And then I’m not sure that MLS is not competitive with other leagues in the world after that, right? And we could argue about that. You could say, “Well, you know, I think that—I don’t know—the Dutch league is better.” I mean, we could argue about other leagues, but I think MLS is right there.

So, if you take the top six or seven leagues, MLS is right there. So, I think it depends on the expectations. I think MLS is in a good place.

I think where we have to make progress is on the player development front, is on the culture front, because inevitably MLS is the professional league. That’s where everybody goes. But MLS can’t be responsible for all of it. So MLS has to be responsible for having a proper league. And I think we do have a proper league. So I don’t think it falls on them. It falls on the rest of us. It falls on us as soccer and on the rest of us to help MLS with the players that are coming along.

The pro/rel debate

Bolavip: Do you think the promotion/relegation debate is relevant or not?

Tab Ramos: I don’t. I personally don’t think it’s relevant, to be honest. And the reason I say that is because to have a true pro/rel, everyone has to be involved in that.

And what do I mean by that? What I mean by that is that if you and I want to start a team with our friends, we should be part of the pyramid of true pro/rel, right? We start with our friends in the corner and we bring ten friends, and our team does well, and then we bring a couple kids from the outside, and our team gets bigger, and then we go into the sixth division and we do well, and then we have a chance.

That’s true pro/rel. But if pro/rel is going to be, let’s say the USL, puts all their teams together and they move up and down within their teams, I just don’t really think that means anything. I don’t think that’s the true value, the true spirit of pro/rel.

Bolavip: What can you tell us about your program with the US National Soccer School?

Tab Ramos: Well, we have a program here in which we have the kids. First, it’s academic. So, the kids come to school in the morning. They eat lunch with us.

We have a high-performance group that works on all of their levels. It works with the kids on the analytics of their training sessions, works with them on the activation every day, so they don’t get on the field without the proper activation. And then in the afternoon, they’re on the field for two or two and a half hours every day.

I truly feel that this country, and in particular with a new wave of thinking of—not of workload, we’re always worried about workload, and other countries train more than we do.

We have to remember that still today, a lot of the greatest players in the world come from Africa and South America, regardless of whether the best teams come from there or not. And the reason those are the best players is because they have more contact with the ball. They have more hours with the ball. And so we’re here to provide that.

We’re not a club. We’re a school. The kids are here and do about 8 to 10 hours of training, sometimes 12 hours of training with us, just on the field every week. Plus, then they go to their clubs. So, I think that we’re providing all of the hours that young players can’t do on their own.

Bolavip: Are you planning, besides this project, to return to coaching on the professional level?

Tab Ramos: No, I don’t want to return to coaching at all. I found that I did my full professional coaching pathway, from coaching nine-year-olds all the way to coaching U-18s for many years. Then, as you know, I coached the national teams for many years. I was a youth technical director for many years.

And then I always thought, like every coach, I always thought, “Well, you got to move up, you know? So, the next step is to go into the pros.” And then you realize, at least for me, I got hit by the fact that it really wasn’t so much about me and my coaching style.

When you go into the professional world, it has a lot to do with the roster that you have and the roster that you can get. And by no means am I taking responsibility away from myself. Maybe I just was not a great professional coach. Maybe that’s what happened.

But I do realize that I know just as much as everybody else. But when you don’t have a roster, in the end, it’s difficult to be successful. And here’s the bad part about it. The bad part about it is that you take it all home with you, and you’re worried about the players 24/7, and you don’t sleep, and it’s all day and night to be a coach, and it’s very, very difficult. I really don’t want to live through that again.

WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH TAB RAMOS ON BOLAVIP US:

Ramos is currently coaching Hartford Athletic in the USL after stops in Major League Soccer with the Houston Dynamo and working as an assistant with Jürgen Klinsmann during the 2014 World Cup. Ramos is also one of the most accomplished youth coaches the US Soccer program has ever had, having worked with many of the players with the USMNT at the 2022 World Cup.

In our sit down with Tab Ramos, the American legend goes over the USMNT’s World Cup, the Gio Reyna situation, his work on Telemundo covering the tournament, and his views on his native Uruguay’s performance at the tournament.

Bolavip: The 2022 World Cup for the USMNT is in the books, what were your three biggest takeaways from the team?

Tab Ramos: I think the number one takeaway is I feel the three players we have in the middle (Tyler Adams, Yunus Musah, and Weston McKennie) are able to compete with any other three midfielders in the world really. I think that was huge, can they get into the box better? You can always find faults but when you take all three of them, I think they’re pretty competitive guys.

I think if we had more effectiveness up front and had we been a little bit better at the back, I think those guys can be really on any team. In terms of other takeaways, you can’t not acknowledge the fact that after three years of preparation and after barely qualifying for the World Cup, basically tied for third/fourth place, you can’t avoid to not think, why didn’t we have our center back position and our number nine position pretty secure? That should be something with all that preparation time that should have been taken care of, I don’t feel that those positions should be up in the air. That’s a takeaway, some people could take it the right way or the wrong way, but that’s a takeaway.

Lastly, the fact that there is a distance between us and the top nations. We’re at a point where we are starting to separate ourselves from the middle to bottom of CONCACAF, of course, we have very good players playing on very important teams overseas… but there is still that distance when you watch the eight or ten best teams in the world. We still have a lot of room to grow.

BV: Were you shocked or taken back positively by how the team played at the World Cup considering many of the issues the team had prior?

TR: Well, it was not so much how we were playing in qualifying, that was a little while back, I think what was more shocking was the level of the team in September before the World Cup. Because we lost to Japan a 2-0 game that could have ended 5-0, and tied Saudi Arabia in a game that could have gone either way, that one (game) we would have hoped the team response would have been “this was the last one before the World Cup, we’ve got to be all in on it.”

So, I was not shocked with the performance at the World Cup, the reason being over the last 30 years as a country we always do better when we are not expected to do well. We always play best against teams we are not supposed to beat, and we always struggle after we have a great result or a great game. I thought the World Cup as a whole was good. We had a solid first half against Wales, the complete game against England was a good game, I thought that was most likely England’s worst game, but we made that happen too so full credit to the team for an excellent game against England.

Against Iran it was a scrappy game really, it could have gone either way, we take the win in that game, and against the Netherlands we were overmatched from beginning to end. The energy wasn’t there, and we had just come from beating Iran and that could have been a factor. The Dutch were on a different mission, (USMNT) was just another game to get to the next game and for us it was more of a destination (the round of 16). I thought the game against the Netherlands wasn’t a good one for us. Tactically we struggled and physically we struggled.

BV: It may sound strange this question, given the results at World Cups the USMNT has had before, but style wise, was the game against England our best World Cup game in the modern era?

TR: Well, here’s the thing am old (laughs), so I have seen a lot of games. So when I look back, I think of the 2014 World Cup, think about how good that Portugal team was, that we tied 2-2, they ended up tying in the 92nd minute off of the Cristiano Ronaldo cross… A game we basically had won, but ended up drawing, that was a great performance by our team given the talent that Portugal team had… So, do you look at any of the 2022 games and go “have we done any of this before?”, not really, again the England game was a great game a great team performance, but did it set a standard? I really don’t think by any means we set a standard on that day.

BV: Who do you think their stock really rose for the USMNT at the World Cup, who stood out the most?

TR: Tyler Adams stock rose there is no question, although I don’t consider Tyler an under the radar player. Tim Ream he’s been a starting defender in the Premier League and captain for some time now and his stock rose. Although I don’t know how much the stock could rise for a guy who is getting older as time goes on, but I thought Ream had a great World Cup.

After that someone who may have surprised some people, not me, is Tim Weah, there is a lot more in the tank with Tim Weah. He has incredible timing on his runs, better than any player I saw coming through our program, he has great speed and finishing ability, those three guys to me were above everyone else.

I also thought Yunus Musah did well, Weston McKennie had a good World Cup, Christian Pulisic had a better World Cup than I think most of us expected.

BV: Moving to the bench, Gregg Berhalter’s contract is almost up with the USSF, do you think expectations were met? Does the program need a new coach to lead for 2026?

TR: It’s a tough question, because you really have to think, “Are we going in the right direction”? If you take the parts of the World Cup that we did well, was that because of coaching that we did well or was it because we have good players? There is no question that the players we have now have more experience in terms of playing big games and playing for big clubs than we ever had before. One would expect that we’d do better.

I really don’t know what will happen with Gregg Berhalter, what am pretty certain is that it’s unlikely that he’d be coaching the 2026 World Cup. So, they keep him for the time being, it’s difficult to go eight straight years with the team. If he stays it would be for a certain amount of time, I could see US Soccer going, “Now we have to go to the World Cup, now we need to take it up a notch” I could see that happening and make a change.

BV: But should the federation or any federation try and get a coach now? Given the coaches that are out in the market right now and that two years down the road that pool of available qualified coaches dwindles considerably?

TR: Well look, I could have a lot of opinions about this, but the bottom line is have you heard Cindy Parlow Cone say anything about this? She’s the president of the federation, am not sure I have heard her speak about the men’s national team. I don’t think she has said anything. I don’t think I even heard her name while I was at the World Cup in Qatar.

Where is Earnie Stewart, shouldn’t he be saying something? Shouldn’t he be answering some of these questions? What direction are we going? I don’t hear anything coming (from the federation). That was kind of the same thing that happened when Berhalter got hired. No one hears anything and then something happens. I want to hear the president of the federation say something and you don’t hear it, unless it’s about a lawsuit, you don’t really hear anything.

BV: The whole situation with Gio Reyna, has something like that ever happened to you before, where, reportedly, a coach from the start says, “you’re playing time will be limited”?

TR: The only time it happened to me was at the end of my career, going towards the 2002 World Cup, we were in qualifying and Bruce Arena he was having me come off the bench, I was 34/35, I talked to him and told him “I have a family at home and we travel a lot in qualifying, I just don’t feel am a player to come off the bench”, some veteran guys are great coming off the bench or being team cheerleaders, and I felt I wasn’t that guy, I wasn’t the cheerleader guy in the locker room if I wasn’t playing.

So, I asked Bruce about it and Bruce said, I see you as “this type of player this is where you are at right now”, and I totally understood, and I helped the team complete that first round of qualifying before the hex and I told Bruce that I was going to retire…

In the case of Gio Reyna, am not sure what conversations he has had with Gregg Berhalter, I really don’t, I didn’t speak to the coaching staff or the player, it’s all speculation. I don’t know what the true story is, but I really don’t put any weight on this. Every coach wants to win games and every coach is going to put the guys he feels are going to help him win the game. If you’re not in the game, I don’t think that’s the coach’s fault, otherwise you have to change the coach.

If you believe in what the coach is doing and he picks the players and you’re not on the field, that’s a player’s problem not the coach’s. The coach wants to win the game, if you’re doing something that can jeopardize the team from winning games and being the best it can be, the coach is not going to pick you.

BV: Then doesn’t Gregg Berhalter shoot himself in the foot kind of with what was mentioned at the leadership conference?

TR: What I would say about that is what happens in the locker room stays in the locker room. That’s that. In terms of Gregg Berhalter when he took over, he went to the MLS headquarters and he was there designing how the team was going to play, how the right back was always going to tuck inside and all these things. Sometimes you can talk too much. You can have all the systems you want but you depend on your players, you have to adjust whatever your system is to the players you have.

So, it’s not so much about you and your system, it’s about the players and how you can get the most out of them. So, it surprised me when this came out only because of that, why are you even saying anything at all. The World Cup is over, and in terms of Gio he is a young player, has tons of talent, and yes of course he has been inconsistent due to his injuries, barely played for the team in a year in a half, so when Gio goes to the World Cup and he doesn’t play of course he’s going to be unhappy, or do something that may be out of character, but at the end of the day he’s a 20-year-old kid, if you don’t want to play him, you don’t play him… I don’t blame Gio Reyna, he finds himself with something out there that shouldn’t be out there, and he has to defend himself a little bit.

Tab Ramos on his World Cup coverage experience with Telemundo

BV: You were in the booth calling the World Cup with Telemundo, how was it like calling games? Do you like doing it in Spanish or English better?

TR: I loved it! It was an amazing experience, I love doing it more in Spanish than in English, I just feel better doing it in Spanish, it’s more natural, it feels almost that soccer has to be in Spanish (laughs). I felt totally at home and very thankful to the people at Telemundo, I got to work with Diego Forlan, who’s a great guy and Claudio Borghi, World Cup winner with Argentina, and “Loco” Abreu was there, Mauro Silva, so many great soccer personalities and I was in awe at the humility these soccer legends have.

BV: How was it like working with El Loco Sebastián Abreu, he’s a person tailor made for television isn’t he?

TR: El loco is a great guy (Laughs)!

BV: You come from a Uruguayan background, what went wrong with Uruguay at the World Cup?

TR: Uruguay had a good team. I am disappointed because it was like a diesel engine, it only did enough to keep the gas going. They only pushed when they needed to and found themselves without time. Against South Korea they did enough to stay in the game and had some chances and said, “we’ll get points later”, against Portugal when they were losing the game, they played the best they played the whole World Cup, they were attacking, creating chances, and then unfortunately they took that late penalty and lost 2-0.

Against Ghana, they take a 2-0 lead… then they hit the brakes and said, “okay good we’re finished, it’s done” and then you realize there is a score in the other game that you should have been planning for, because potentially it could happen, and you didn’t plan for it and end up looking to win the game creating half chances. It’s disappointing because I think this is a good Uruguay team and am hopeful with Ronald Araújo, José Giménez who is going to be suspended for who knows how long at the back, Federico Valverde, Rodrigo Bentancur, Mathias Vecino in the midfield there is a good talent going forward.

The big question is if Darwin Núñez is ready to replace Luis Suárez and Edinson Cavani, those are big shoes to fill.The rest of the team am hopeful for Uruguayan soccer, there are some really good players there.

BV: What do you think about the World Cup for Messi and Argentina?

TR: Things fell into place for Argentina, they played their two best games of the tournament right at the end. They played well against Croatia, and they played a great game against France, at the end of the day if you get six penalties called in your favor things can be a little easier because they do open up games.

Argentina opened up every game with a penalty kick I think, and that makes things a bit easier am not taking away that Argentina won the World Cup, or Messi being potentially the greatest soccer player of all-time, look at the age when all the other top guys won the World Cup, they were considerably younger. Messi wins it at 35, with a team, to be honest, on paper was not the best version of Argentina.

You have to give Argentina all the credit they won the World Cup, but Messi put the team on his back and while Julián Álvarez and Alexis Mac Allister had great tournaments, they grew into the tournament, it was Messi there again leading Argentina. Messi is just an amazing player…

At the USMNT level Tab Ramos played in three World Cups (90,94,98) as well as two Copa Americas and the 1989 Futsal World Cup. One of the most endearing memories for Ramos in a U.S. jersey was when he returned from a devastating ACL injury to score against Costa Rica in a 1997 World Cup qualifier in Portland that broke a deadlock and started the U.S. on their way to the World Cup in France.

After coaching within the U.S. Youth National team set up for 10 years between 2009 – 2019, Ramos took on the challenge to coach in MLS, taking over the reins of the Houston Dynamo. After a difficult first season in charge Ramos is preparing for the new season and he sat down with Bolavip to discuss MLS, the USMNT, and the future of the sport he helped pioneer.

Preparing the Houston Dynamo for 2021

Bolavip: You picked up the reins of the Houston Dynamo in 2020, a strange season due to the pandemic, were there a lot of growing pains in that first season?

Tab Ramos: It was disappointing and at times frustrating, I believe we had nine ties last year, and am not exaggerating that we should have won seven of those nine games. We could not win any of them and that of course could be frustrating, because in the end in MLS getting two points here and two points there, had we won just three of those, we would have been in the playoffs. Now it’s time to turn the page, we have a different team, different players, players that want to do well for this club so am excited to start a new season.

BV: Darwin Quintero was probably the most effective player last season, considering his age, is he still the central piece of the team or are you going to have to manage his minutes?

TR: Darwin continues to be a really important part of the team, the team is a little more team focused this year, last year we were a little more individualistic… We had Mauro Manotas and Alberth Elis, guys who established themselves in the club, who were used to doing things a certain way, and I came, and I wanted to add to that, we added Quintero to that picture, and we were able to create more opportunities and dominate some games, but in the end it did not turn into wins, which is the most important thing… This year the approach is a bit different, we sold Mauro Manotas and Alberth Elis, Darwin is still here but the team has more of a team first focus moving forward.

BV: The Dynamo have two open DP spots, are there plans to bring in players who can fill those slots or are you satisfied with the group going forward?

TR: Well, it’s no secret that in every league in the world teams that spend the most have the best shot at winning in the end and have a successful season. Having said that, I knew when I came here the type of club we were, and also the fact that in MLS it’s about making the playoffs, if you make the playoffs, you have almost the same shot as anybody to win. In one game here, one game there, you get hot in the end and why not us? We are looking to win the championship like everyone else, even though the way we might go about it is a bit different. It is unlikely when the regular season ends that we will have the most points in the league, I don’t think we are deep enough, but it is likely we get into the playoffs and have a shot to win it just like everybody else. Whether in the end we end up adding DP’s or not, that is normally up to the club… am ready to move forward with the team we have, and I think we can surprise people this year.

BV: What has been your stamp on this team, or was that even possible with the way 2020 went due to the pandemic?

TR: I think it was a balance, I came to a club that was used to countering with three up top, and the way I always like to play is to press high and win the ball at the opposing team’s side of the field. So, it was a big adjustment and a big adjustment for me because there came points in the season where I realized that in various games, we had to try different things, knowing that the team was more used to waiting for the opponent and then countering. We went from one end of the spectrum to the other… by the end of the year the team felt comfortable pressing teams and winning the ball back, and we did that pretty well, but the team wasn’t compensated enough to be able to defend well enough in the back sometimes on 1 v 1’s and 2 v 2’s. When you’re a high pressing team you’re going to find yourself in those situations and we addressed that this year, bringing Tim Parker in was a big deal for us, he is one of those guys that can succeed in an environment like that… slowly we are implementing what we want to do here.

BV: How is your day to day with the team’s youth ranks?

TR: At this point because of protocols, we can’t be scrimmaging our academy teams or our reserve teams, but what we have done is brought up five players from our academy who have been in the preseason with us, for the last two months, we know them well. We brought up our coach from the pre professional phase, that is really our U-19’s at this point, he has been with us for the last two months. In addition to that we also had two players that have already signed at the end of last year, Juan Castilla and Daniel Rios, who were 15 and 16 when they signed. So, we really have seven players from our U-19’s working here with us.

Tab Ramos on the USMNT Program

BV: Speaking of youth, you were the USMNT U-20 coach up until 2019, what is your perception of the USMNT? Pundits have dubbed it the Golden Generation, you worked with many of these players, where do you think the program is at the youth level and going towards the senior side?

TR: There are a lot of good players playing at big clubs, and I think that says a lot because we have never really had so many players playing such a big role at big clubs overseas. So, I think there is no question this is the best moment U.S. Soccer has ever had. I also think the way qualifying is and all the spots available the team shouldn’t really suffer to qualify to get to the World Cup. Those players have had great experiences and they have to come here and do well… all qualifying games are difficult, but I think we have enough talent to qualify with the group that we have.

BV: That seems to be the perception, but the team is very young, and has yet to really play a meaningful game together, is U.S. Soccer putting all its eggs in one basket considering what happened in Olympic qualifying?

TR: Well, I can tell you it was very disappointing seeing that the U-23 team isn’t going to the Olympics. I know the U-23 group was working with the senior team and they all treated it as one big group of players. And we already missed so we are already 0 for 1, so I think going into World Cup Qualifying hopefully the approach will be a little bit different. The one thing you have to look at beyond anything else is you have to get results. Of course, it’s about X’s and O’s but you have to get results at the end of the day.

BV: It seems at times that we, the collective supporter group of U.S. Soccer, are always kicking things further down the road with the USMNT, we have this Golden Generation but there are pundits who are already saying, “They are set up for 2026”, what is the realistic goal for this USMNT?

TR: Well first of all it’s so disappointing that some of those players won’t have that Olympic experience. It is a good experience, and a lot of countries form really good teams for the Olympics, and it would have been perfect for all of those players to have that. What are the expectations? If we have to set goals number one is to qualify. We can’t start setting goals or looking towards 2026 when we didn’t qualify for the last World Cup. We have to look at right now and doing well right now. It’s easy to say, “I have a project for ten years”, but this is not ten years, we have to look at right now and do well right now and we have to qualify. That is the most important part. How well do we do at the World Cup? I don’t know, I was an assistant of Jürgen Klinsmann at the 2014 World Cup, and we were drawn into a group with Germany, who won the whole thing, Portugal with Ronaldo, and Ghana, well we got out of the group and then played Belgium in the second round in a game that of course Belgium was the better team, but there were instances in extra time where we could have won the game. We played three teams who in many ways were better than we were and for some reason it was still considered a failure. If losing to Germany 1-0, who would go on and beat Brazil 7-1 and win the whole thing, tying Portugal, and losing to Belgium in overtime, who could have easily won the whole thing too, if that is considered a failure, then am not sure what our expectations are. Because that World Cup was certainly a success. For me I’d like to see the team go to the World Cup and advance to the second round. A deep run? At the end of the day everyone wants a deep run and only 8 teams have that opportunity the rest lose. It’s that simple.

BV: You got to work with Jürgen Klinsmann, he wanted to make fundamental changes, to some he wanted too much control, to others it is what needed to be done. Was it a difficult time for U.S. Soccer at the upper management level to get his ideas 100 percent across? In a way U.S. Soccer knew what they were getting with Klinsmann. They went looking for him.

TR: If you think about it, what Jürgen wanted to do was make U.S. Soccer more professional. As I became youth director and you think about all the years he was there, we pushed to hire a full-time head coach for every youth national team, which we did. Sunil Gulati supported that, I think what you have to look at is, for me where I was as youth technical director, having Jürgen as head coach of the senior team was great support, because he supported a lot of the ideas I had on youth development, particularly developing those elite players on the national teams, both in the way we played and how those teams trained. I think it’s all those players we have on our team now, they all went through that system. If you look at what Jürgen did on the senior national team, he made sure that all the players knew that the expectations of the senior team were going to be high. He expected the players to play in the best leagues possible. At the time he did push players to play in Europe and now we find ourselves four years later since he left, U.S. Soccer is starting to push and say the same things that Jürgen was saying. So, it’s just starting, but where it’s not starting is our youth national teams, we went from full time youth coaches for every age group, a technical director that ran that to basically nothing. We barely have youth national team coaches, we barely have any staff for youth national teams, so if we are putting all our eggs in one basket and that is the basket of 2026 with the current players we have out there, that’s okay, but we also need to think about the future.

BV: Eventually time catches up to everyone doesn’t it?

TR: We need to think about that right now, we have a strong group of players, but we don’t know where these players will be in two years’ time. It happens, even the best players have three great years and then they fade. Not every player has that great 10-year career, so we have to prepare for that and I think the youth national teams are key for that. I think at the moment we are not preparing for that.

BV: Why do you think it got to that point? On paper it would seem U.S. Soccer was on the rise, there is more exposure for the sport, more MLS teams have academies, the system was never perfect, but it seemed like the pieces were in place.

TR: If you can recall the first thing that happened when the team did not qualify for the 2018 World Cup no one said, “this is a poor team that did not do a good job”, everyone said “We have to blow up U.S. Soccer”. We have to change everything that they (U.S. Soccer) do, change the youth systems… every pundit that I read or heard automatically said that, and as technical director I was thinking, wait a minute, you want to change everything, erase everything, start over, but look at our results of the youth national teams, not just the U-20’s, who made it to the last three quarter finals of the last three youth World Cups, they were CONCACAF champions of the last two cycles, the U-17’s made it to the quarter finals of the U-17 World Cup. We were the only country in the world to have done that. So, there were some great things that put us at the top of the game at the youth level, then many thought that the senior team did not do a good job, let’s blame U.S. Soccer in general and let’s blow the whole thing up.

BV: With the national team now, have fans been spoiled a bit to see so many players at these top clubs? How important is it for Americans to go to Europe and still get opportunities at smaller clubs and not always think that Chelsea, PSG, or Barcelona will come and sign them?

TR: Well, it’s a case-by-case basis and about proving yourself, Sergiño Dest for example (in reference to Barcelona) was spotted by Ronald Koeman to play for the Dutch National team he (Koeman) wanted to have him on board for the Netherlands, so while not personal, there was always interest from a player coach level to have him on his team… In Christian’s (Pulisic) case, he went as a 16 year-old to Dortmund, and paid his dues by going to Europe. He (Pulisic) didn’t get to Chelsea by going from a U.S. youth academy, he went to a big club and got a big transfer because he established himself. And I think for the most part that’s the case… So, it’s not easy to get to a big club, now we have Daryl Dike who is at Barnsley, and now who knows where his next move is, could be to a big club or a smaller club, but he’s proven himself. I think European clubs like the physicality of American players… I think the important part now is that the doors are open, but nothing is guaranteed, every player has to prove themselves.

Tab Ramos on MLS

BV: You were the first player ever signed by MLS; you saw the whole process from where the league started to where it is now. What are your thoughts on where MLS is at and its growth? Is the league growing too much? It will be 30 teams in a few years and indications are the league won’t stop there if it has the chance to grow even more.

TR: Well, this is a really big country, and I think it’s really hard to limit the league to so many teams. If you know there are fan bases that are willing to support a team, I think they should be given the opportunity to have a team if they are going to support it. Then it’s up to the league officials to say, “hey are we going to have three divisions?”, or certain teams do not play each other… The country is big and there are a lot of cities that would want to have a team, in fact I think it (MLS) should get bigger, am looking forward to the day MLS and Liga MX do more together and have the best teams play each other, that would make the league (MLS) blow up.

BV: You played in both leagues (MLS and Liga MX) is it really feasible for both leagues to merge in a way and play a meaningful tournament?

TR: That part I don’t know, but what I can tell you it would be really exciting to have Chivas play LAFC in a meaningful game, to have America play at the Red Bulls in a meaningful tournament. Those are all games that everyone would all want to see, and I think we need that… As the first player signed by the league there are so many things that have happened that I could not believe 25 years ago, so I don’t think something like that is so far out of reach and it would be great for the fans.

BV: Along those lines Copa Libertadores would be an interesting tournament for MLS teams, should MLS still aspire to play in Copa Libertadores?

TR: I think from a competitive standpoint there is no question MLS teams should be playing in Copa Libertadores. I think the best U.S. teams and Mexican teams should be participating, the problem is the distance… From New York to Montevideo, how do you recover from that trip? You need days to recover. Asking players to travel so far to compete in a meaningful game. I can get on a direct flight from Newark to New Delhi, India in 14hrs direct, it’s shorter to travel there than it is to travel to Montevideo… I think at the club level it will be difficult because of that, I do believe at a National team level the USMNT should be participating in Copa America and so should Mexico.

Tidbits with Tab

BV: In the early days of MLS as the league was getting off the ground and stars came into the league like Donadoni, Campos, and Valderrama, the league also had many young American players who were coming and going because it was not economically viable for them to continue to play (due to the low salaries of the league). How was that like trying to glue the team and the league together as it launched?

TR: It was strange, I came into the league having played for Tigres (Liga MX), and you had a lot of international players that were being paid a lot of money, and then you had a lot of players who couldn’t pay their bills. So, it couldn’t work that like that, it was extremely difficult because inevitably you’d had, am not going to include players like Donadoni or Branco here, but eventually there were foreign players who weren’t going to care as much because they were playing with guys who couldn’t really pay their bills, and they (the younger players) really didn’t care that much… These young players were practically just coming out of college, barely having enough money to have a roommate, and were still living the college life with just a little bit of money. Having said that the league had to start somewhere, you did need to have some names, you really can’t look back now and criticize the way it started because it had to start somewhere. The beginnings were hard and that’s why I took a chance on the league. I was happy at Tigres… but I thought it was by obligation to come back to the league and that would encourage other American players to do the same.

BV: Do you think in a way those early years of the league hurt the France 98 World Cup team? In regard to the level of play?

TR: There were other problems, internal problems within the team, but to be honest I don’t think it would have made a difference. We lost to Germany, a team that was better than we were, we lost to Yugoslavia, a team that was better than we were, and we lost to Iran, a game that could have gone either way, they had a good team at that time, and we lost a game we could have won and that happens in sports. In general, had we gone all out everything perfect, everyone in Europe, we’d likely still would have lost to Germany and Yugoslavia and likely out in the first round…

BV: Who would you say were the top 2 or 3 guys you played with during your MLS career?

TR: I think number one Roberto Donadoni, he was a class act, he was everything you want a pro to be like, constantly working on his game, a good human being, a good teammate, and a good promoter of the league. Then more as a friend, I would say Tony Meola, someone I have always respected… as a person off the field he’s someone I have a good friendship with… Of all the guys I played with at the MetroStars I think the best soccer player I played with was Clint Mathis. He was amazing, he had an amazing right foot and left foot and could take a free kick with either one. Clint was good in the air, good in 1 v 1’s, a great passer, he had all the qualities. I thought Clint was the closest thing to a Christian Pulisic, someone who could have probably been the biggest ever.

BV: Looking back to your national team career, after the 94 World Cup the next major tournament was the Copa America in Uruguay in 1995. There were a lot of stories about that tournament, was it special for you to play in that tournament, being it the country where you are originally from? Also were your teammates asking you questions or was it an afterthought since the team were having some issues with regards to bonuses and contracts with the federation?

TR: It was more of an afterthought than anything else, we were in Paysandú and my parents told me I had been there before, but I didn’t remember. But if you’ve ever been there, it’s a small town really. One funny story I can remember after we beat Argentina and then we beat Mexico there (Paysandú), we go to the semifinals to Montevideo, and we took the team bus from Paysandú to the airport to travel to Montevideo and get on the plane, when everyone saw the plane no one wanted to get on it. So actually, we forced the bus driver to take us to Montevideo from Paysandú. The plane had to be from the 1920’s and no one wanted to get on it. (Laughs)

BV: Would you say Copa America 95 was the best modern-day performance by the USMNT considering who they beat to get to the semifinals?

TR: I would say that the Confederations Cup victory over Spain is the most important victory by the USMNT, but that Copa America ranks right up there.

BV: It’s rumored, or it has been said that Diego Maradona came down and greeted the USMNT after they defeated Argentina 3-0 in Copa America 95, is that story true? Cobi Jones recently neither confirmed nor denied it.

TR: I never saw him, I am not saying it didn’t happen, but I never saw him, am telling you 100 percent I didn’t see him. He was my idol at the time so I would have spotted him, but again I didn’t see him.

BV: What do you think are the realistic expectations for MLS and the U.S. Soccer program moving forward in the next 5 to 10 years?

TR: I think it’s realistic to think we will qualify for the World Cup, there are a lot of spots and with the schedule the team has the USMNT should have a lot of points. Which puts you in a good spot… I think we will qualify in first or second place… As far as the league I think as a fan I would like the league to have a closer relationship with Liga MX… eventually I’d like to see a league that includes both.