Tab Ramos

Tab Ramos, who has spent the last five seasons playing in Spain, is the first player signed by Major League Soccer, which is due to begin operation in the spring of 1996. Ramos, a midfielder, appeared in every U.S. game in the 1990 and 1994 World Cup tournaments. Ramos, 28, was a high school teammate of fellow World Cup players John Harkes and Tony Meola at Kearny, N.J., and competed in the Youth World Cup at Mexico in 1983 and in the 1988 Olympic Games at Seoul.

Tab Ramos would like to laugh at the question, but restrains himself. The topic: How to handle the pressure on the U.S. World Cup team. It's not exactly polite for him to talk about it, because he could hurt the feelings of some of his teammates, but Ramos knows about pressure, and this simply isn't up there. He has recently rejoined the U.S. team after ending the season with his professional club, Real Betis, newly promoted into the Spanish first division.

Veteran midfielder Tab Ramos, disqualified for receiving his second yellow card in the CONCACAF tournament in the United States' 1-0 victory over Costa Rica Wednesday, will not be playing for the U.S. in Sunday's Gold Cup championship game against Mexico at Mexico City. Mexico routed Jamaica, 6-1, Thursday night. Ramos was disqualified for one game when he received the second yellow card for refusing to leave the field after sustaining an injury in the 42nd minute against Costa Rica. U.S.

Tab Ramos, a midfielder on the U.S. World Cup team, has signed a one-year contract to play for a second-division soccer club in Spain. Ramos, of Hillside, N.J., becomes the first American team member to sign a professional contract after the World Cup, which U.S. officials had hoped would expose American players to European club owners. Ramos, 24, had been offered a three-year deal with a Dutch team after the United States was eliminated in the first round.

Tab Ramos, a member of the U.S. National soccer team, is close to reaching an agreement with Figueras of the Spanish second division, according to a published report. The New York Daily News reported in today's editions that the 23-year-old midfielder has verbally agreed to terms with Figueras, which is located about 75 miles northeast of Barcelona on the Mediterranean.

JC Roda of the Netherlands' first division has offered U.S. midfielder Tab Ramos a three-year contract. The U.S. Soccer Federation is asking for a $750,000 transfer fee, a figure the club has balked at. Ramos would prefer a two-year or one-year deal, but nothing can happen until the transfer fee is worked out.

The only way the United States is going to become competitive in future World Cup tournaments is by sending players to Europe. So says U.S. midfielder Tab Ramos, perhaps the most accomplished of the 22 American players in Italy and certainly the most realistic about the state of soccer in North America. "It's really, really important that we try to have a lot of players go overseas after this World Cup because we need to take that next step," Ramos said at the U.S.

Scattered around this rough-edged mill town are the community's proud jewels: lush green soccer fields, sturdy soccer stadiums and acres of unlined but meticulously mowed soccer fields. These grassy soccer pitches dot the landscape like emeralds dropped from the smoky sky. They stand as a two-fold symbol: a thing of beauty in an otherwise drab industrial city, and a testament to Kearny's abiding love affair with soccer.