Tab Ramos

Tabaré "Tab" Ramos Ricciardi (born September 21, 1966) is an American former soccer player and current head coach of Hartford Athletic in the USL Championship.

Over his thirteen-year professional career, Ramos played as a midfielder in Spain, Mexico, and the United States. The first player to sign with Major League Soccer, he spent the last seven years of his career with the MetroStars. He featured in three World Cups and was elected to the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2005.

Early career

Youth and school

Born in Uruguay, Ramos immigrated to the United States with his family when he was 11. His father played professional soccer in Uruguay with CA River Plate and instilled a love for the game into Tab from an early age. While living in Uruguay, he played for the Union Vecinal Youth Soccer Club in Montevideo.

When his family arrived in the U.S., they settled in New Jersey where Ramos lived in Harrison and Kearny.Mifflin, Lawrie
"Doing a Star Turn for the Home Team, at Last"
''The New York Times'', August 18, 1996. Accessed March 28, 2011. He attended Saint Benedict's Preparatory School, the same high school attended by Claudio Reyna a few years later. In 1982, he became U.S. citizen. He also played for local youth club Thistle FC where he played with future United States captain John Harkes. Ramos and Harkes played together from their youth through the U.S. National Team. They were both inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2005.

Ramos was a two-time high school All-America and the 1983 Parade Magazine National High School Player of the Year. That year he led St. Benedict's to the New Jersey State Championship. Ramos still holds the New Jersey High School boys' soccer career scoring record of 161 goals, 57 of which he scored in his senior year. In 1999, he was named by ''The Star-Ledger'' as one of the top ten New Jersey high school soccer players of the 1980s.

Apart from playing soccer, Ramos also ran indoor track at St. Benedict's (60 yards and 4 × 100 m relay).

In 1984 the New York Cosmos of the North American Soccer League drafted Ramos with the 10th pick of the first round but he chose to go to college instead. The NASL folded about six months later.

College

Ramos attended college at NC State where he played NCAA soccer for four years. He was All ACC his four years and a three time All-American. He was tied with Bruce Murray for the Atlantic Coast Conference scoring title his senior year. In 1988, he left school briefly to play for the U.S. team at the 1988 Summer Olympics. However, he returned in 1989 to leave again when he signed with the United States men's national soccer team. He finally graduated in 2001 with a Bachelor of Arts in Foreign Language (Spanish) and Literature after taking years of correspondence courses.

Professional career

American Soccer League / MISL

Ramos played with the New Jersey Eagles of the American Soccer League in 1988. That same year the Tacoma Stars of the MISL selected him with the #1 pick in the draft. He didn't play a game as he decided to only play the outdoor game. He then moved to the Miami Sharks for the 1989 season. He was selected as a league All Star that year.

Spain

Ramos and several other national team players signed contracts with the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) to play exclusively for the national team as it prepared for the 1990 FIFA World Cup. Following the World Cup, USSF began seeking club opportunities for the national team players. On July 27, 1990, USSF agreed to loan Ramos to Spanish Second Division club Figueres for the 1990–1991 season."Ramos to Play in Spain"
''The New York Times'', July 27, 1990. Accessed July 5, 2012. He played with Tito Vilanova who would later become FC Barcelona's manager. In his first season with the team he played 38 games, scoring 5 goals. On June 23, 1991, Figueres purchased Ramos' contract from USSF for $250,000. His excellent play continued during his second year with the Figueres, bringing considerable attention from several Primera División clubs. However, Ramos sabotaged this interest when he was ejected from a Nov 24, 1991 game with Rayo Vallecano. He was suspended for three games and interest in him dried up until the end of the season. On July 31, 1992, Figueres sold Ramos to fellow Second Division club Real Betis for $400,000. In the 1993–1994 season Real Betis won Segunda División and earned promotion to La Liga. While Ramos remained with Betis for the 1994–1995 season, he never played a game in La Liga as he was recovering from a skull fracture suffered during the 1994 FIFA World Cup game with Brazil (see Senior national team section).

In 1994, Ramos was chosen as the CONCACAF Player of the Year.

Mexico

On January 3, 1995, Ramos became the first player to sign with Major League Soccer (MLS). The league had intended to begin play in the fall of 1995 but difficulties forced it to delay its start for a year. Rather than letting players such as Ramos sit idle, the league loaned him and several others to foreign teams. MLS sent Ramos to the Liga MX side México Primera División Tigres for the second half of the 1994–1995 season. Ramos became the first American player to appear for the side, seeing time in twelve games. He remained on loan with Tigres for the 1995-96 season, playing twenty-three games and scoring two goals as the team ran to the 1996 Mexico Cup championship, one of two Mexico Cups won by Tigres and its first title in 20 years.

MetroStars

While Ramos was in Mexico, MLS allocated him to the future New York/New Jersey franchise, eventually known as the MetroStars.

Following the end of the Mexican season in April 1996, Ramos returned to the United States for the inaugural MLS season in 1996. He would play seven seasons for the MetroStars, earning All Star recognition in 1996, 1998 and 1999. On May 14, 2002, he announced his intentions of retiring at the end of the 2002 season. When he retired, he was the last original member of the team. Unfortunately, his flashes of brilliance were interrupted by long injury spells, as he never lived up to his potential in a MetroStars jersey. Ramos totaled just eight goals and 36 assists in MLS play (ten goals and 39 assists in all competitions).

U.S. national teams

1983 FIFA U-20 World Cup

Ramos began his national team career playing at the U-20 level in 1982, just after gaining his U.S. citizenship. Ramos was 15 when he scored two goals in the regional qualifying for the 1983 FIFA U-20 World Cup. However, the U.S. went 0-2-1 and failed to advance out of group play in the championship tournament.

Cut from 1984 Olympic team

Ramos represented the U.S. at the 1983 Pan American Games. In 1984, Ramos was the last player cut from the U.S. 1984 Summer Olympics soccer team. At 17 years old, he had just left high school, but was already known as an up-and-coming player. However, the International Olympic Committee had opened the Olympic soccer tournament to professionals for the 1984 games. The U.S., as the host nation, did not need to qualify, but had assembled a team of amateurs, mostly college players. When the IOC announced their decision, USSF dumped most of the original team, except for Paul Caligiuri, for professionals.

Ramos had further disappointment a year later when the U.S. failed to qualify for the 1985 FIFA U-20 World Cup, despite a 3-2-2 record in the qualifying tournament. He went on, however, to play for the U.S. team which went 0-1-2 at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea.

Senior national team

It would be another year before Ramos earned his first cap for the senior U.S. team, on January 10, 1988, against Guatemala. He soon became an integral part of national team.

After playing for the United States in the 1990 FIFA World Cup, he was named U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year in 1990.

In 1994 Ramos once again played in the World Cup, being a starting player for the U.S. National Team in all its matches. In the round of 16 Ramos suffered a skull fracture, caused by an elbow to the head by Brazilian leftback Leonardo in the first half of the game, which resulted in a straight red for Leonardo. United States were eliminated as Bebeto scored Brazil's winning goal. Tab Ramos was in the hospital for a few weeks where he was visited by a crying and apologetic Leonardo.

Ramos saw more success in 1995 as a member of the U.S. team when it placed fourth at the Copa América.

On September 7, 1997, Ramos scored against Costa Rica in a 1-0 World Cup qualifier win. In 1998, he played in his third World Cup. Ramos made his last national team appearance on November 15, 2000, in a 4-0 U.S. win against Barbados. Two days later he announced his retirement from the national team. He finished his national team career with 81 caps and eight goals.

Ramos also played 8 games, scoring 3 goals, for the U.S. Futsal team which finished 3rd at the 1989 FIFA Futsal World Championship.

International goals

Coaching career

NJSA 04

In 2004, with the help of partners, Ramos founded a soccer club based out of Aberdeen, New Jersey. NJSA 04 later morphed into Cedar Stars Monmouth and is currently one of three teams in New Jersey to participate in the United States Development Academy Soccer League.

United States U-20 national team

Ramos is one of the most accomplished figures in U.S. Soccer history qualifying for the fourth World Cup as U-20 MNT head coach in 2019. He led the under-20 age group team to the final of the 2013 CONCACAF U-20 Championship where they lost to Mexico. The team qualified for the 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup, however they failed to make it out of the group stage, finishing bottom with 1 point.

In November 2013, he signed a contract to remain in the position. He won the 2017 CONCACAF U-20 Championship with the United States, with assistant coaches Omid Namazi and Brad Friedel. In 2019 Ramos qualified the team to the third straight FIFA U-20 World Cup quarterfinal. In 2015 after a scoreless draw through 120 minutes Serbia eliminated the team in quarterfinals on penalties. Ultimately Serbia won the championship beating Brazil 2–1 in the final of the FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Auckland

United States men's national soccer team

On March 31, 2014, Ramos was appointed to the assistant coach position of the United States men's national soccer team by head coach Jürgen Klinsmann, less than three months before the 2014 World Cup, replacing Martín Vásquez.

Houston Dynamo

On October 25, 2019, Ramos was named head coach of Major League Soccer club Houston Dynamo.

Hartford Athletic

Ramos was named head coach of USL Championship club Hartford Athletic on August 22, 2022.

Coaching statistics

Personal life

Ramos lives in Colts Neck, New Jersey, with his girlfriend Tracey and three children, Alex, Kristen, and Sarah.Tab Ramos full biography at USSoccer.com

References

External links

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BETISWEB Player Profile & Stats

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ramos, Tab
American expatriate soccer players
All-American men's college soccer players
American men's futsal players
American Soccer League (1988–89) players
American soccer players
American expatriate sportspeople in Spain
American expatriate sportspeople in Mexico
Association football midfielders
Footballers at the 1988 Summer Olympics
Houston Dynamo FC coaches
La Liga players
Liga MX players
Major League Soccer coaches
Major League Soccer players
Major League Soccer All-Stars
New York Red Bulls players
New Jersey Eagles players
Miami Freedom players
National Soccer Hall of Fame members
NC State Wolfpack men's soccer players
Olympic soccer players of the United States
Parade High School All-Americans (boys' soccer)
People from Kearny, New Jersey
People from Harrison, New Jersey
Real Betis players
St. Benedict's Preparatory School alumni
Soccer players from New Jersey
Tigres UANL footballers
UE Figueres footballers
United States men's international soccer players
Uruguayan footballers
Uruguayan emigrants to the United States
1990 FIFA World Cup players
1992 King Fahd Cup players
1993 Copa América players
1993 CONCACAF Gold Cup players
1994 FIFA World Cup players
1995 Copa América players
1996 CONCACAF Gold Cup players
1998 FIFA World Cup players
1966 births
Living people
United States men's under-20 international soccer players
Pan American Games competitors for the United States
Footballers at the 1983 Pan American Games
Sportspeople from Hudson County, New Jersey
Expatriate footballers in Spain
Uruguayan expatriates in Spain
Expatriate footballers in Mexico
United States men's national under-20 soccer team managers
American soccer coaches
Hartford Athletic coaches
USL Championship coaches