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Meola, Ramos turn back the clock
PAYNES BAY, Barbados -- Forget, for a moment, the band of spirited young players that helped lead the U.S. past Barbados 4-0 here on Wednesday. Nobody was more instrumental in keeping the Americans' World Cup qualifying campaign alive this week than two grizzled vets, goalkeeper Tony Meola, 31, and midfielder Tab Ramos, 34. Both players' careers were left for dead in 1999 when injuries kept them out of MLS. Yet both came back to play splendidly in the league this season, regaining national team spots and lasting for 90 minutes in a must-win game on Wednesday. If you had told U.S. soccer fans and pundits at the beginning of 2000 that Meola and Ramos would end up playing key roles in World Cup 2002 qualifying, those folks would have laughed at you and told you to go back to 1989. "I'm a little sentimental in these areas," U.S. coach Bruce Arena said over cold Caribs at the team hotel on Wednesday night. "Look at the ups and downs that Tony and Tab have experienced. If their final story is written in 1999, what a bad time to go out. People questioned their character. But for them the year 2000 was about good play and good character and the rewards you get for that. They're both first-class. I think it's a great lesson in life, almost like a civics lesson." Can I get a testimonial?There was a poignant scene at the hotel on Wednesday night when Ramos told his teammates that he was retiring from the national team. All of them gathered 'round and congratulated Ramos on an international career that spanned three World Cup finals (1990, '94 and '98), as well as his crucial cameo in 2000. One request, though, for the U.S. Soccer Federation: Get Ramos the testimonial game he deserves. If the Fed was good enough to schedule one for Thomas Dooley last year, it can surely find the time and place to honor Ramos for his decade's worth of service to soccer in America. The bottom line hurts in MLSHeard an amusing tale from some of the European-based American players on Wednesday night after I asked them what they say to their foreign clubmates about the low MLS salaries in MLS. After all, most foreign stars have no idea how little MLS players make, or they wouldn't be threatening their clubs on occasion to "leave Serie A for a big American payday." Whatever. When former New England Revolution star Joe-Max Moore told his Everton teammates about MLS's pay scale (minimum salary, $24,000; maximum, $275,000), "they all laughed," Moore says. Eddie Lewis has a different policy with his mates at Fulham. "I just lie," he says, shaking his head. That's it for now. Look for more tales from Barbados in next week's Sports Illustrated. SI Staff writer Grant Wahl covers soccer and is a regular
contributor to CNNSI.com.
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