Feature Stories

The Quiet American By Joyce Furia
Steve Ralston Emerges As National Team Regular
July 7, 2005
Steve Ralston has a reputation for being something of an iron man. The Revolution’s midfielder played every minute of every game in 2004, every game except one in 2002 and missed only four in 2003 while on duty with the National team. It looked for a while as if he was set to repeat those stats in 2005.

But, a microscopic bug had other ideas and Ralston went down with a nasty case of the flu, knocking him out of action recently.

“I don’t remember ever in college missing a game, this is my 10th year in the league and I never missed a game from being sick,” he said.

He returned on May 7, where he assisted on Clint Dempsey’s goal in the 58th minute.

Ralston started his MLS career with the Tampa Bay Mutiny in the league’s inaugural season in 1996.

“It great situation for me, coming out of college, coming from a Florida college, I think the fact that at Tampa Bay I had a great coach, that I was on a great team, made it easier for me. I just went out there, did my job. We had so many great players that I think I surprised people, they (the other players) were getting so much attention, players like Carlos Valderamma, Roy Lassiter, Giuseppe Galderisi, that I was able to sneak around. I played with some great players, they made me a better player as well.”

He topped off his first season by being named the league’s first Rookie of the Year.

“I remember going to the awards ceremony, I mean I knew who the finalists were, when I found out that I was the only one of the three guys that was nominated that was there I kind of assumed it was me. But I had no idea until I got to Boston.”

Ralston posted some impressive stats with the Mutiny. In 1997 he started 29 games and was named to the All-Star team; 1999 named team MVP, MLS Best Eleven, MLS Fair Play Award, and becoming the leagues first player to log 12,000 minutes. The year 2000 resulted in more accolades including being named to the MLS Best Eleven and winning the Fair Play Award for the second consecutive year. By 2001 he was the only remaining member of the original 1996 Mutiny and had 20 points in 25 games.

Then, in 2002 the Mutiny, along with the Miami Fusion, folded..

He was surprised and disappointed in the way he and other players got the news about the demise of the Mutiny.

“I got a phone call, we’d all been training, it was a week or two before the beginning of the season. We were leaving a practice, and pretty much all the guys had messages, friends had heard it on the radio, I was a little bitter about that, the way it came out on the radio before we were even notified. So that was a little disappointing. And it was so close to the beginning of the season and it was hard for me because my daughter was born just a week or two before that.”

He wasn’t sure where he’d go in the draft, he did have a few places he thought about as possibilities, but New England wasn’t one of them.

“Honestly New England was not one of the places I wanted to go. I didn’t know much about (the region), I knew it was cold and it was a little more expensive than Florida and having a newborn I wanted to be closer to the family, so KC, Chicago, someplace like that.

“I remember my wife and I were sitting in front of the computer, watching the draft, wondering where I was going to end up, I said at first “I really don’t want to go to NE, but once I saw the team that we had and the guys that were returning, I was pretty excited about coming. Once I came here with an open mind, I knew I couldn’t come in with a bad attitude, and the guys were great, and I’ve loved it since I’ve been here. I’m glad I ended up here.”

He enjoyed his first few years with the Revs, but this year is really something special for Ralston, the team, and the fans. Seven games into the season, the Revolution is undefeated with six wins and one tie and stands at the top of the heap with 19 points, more than the next highest challengers, the LA Galaxy and FC Dallas, who have 12 points apiece.

As for his view of this season, Ralston is cautiously optomistic.

“This is the strongest team I’ve ever been a part of, we have a lot of talent, we have experience and we have some great young guys, (but) we know as well as anybody it’s a long season, the last three years, we’ve been in last place, people counting us out, we’ve had to fight our way back, we never got too down then and we can’t get too high now. We have a good start (but) it’s a long season.”

World Cup qualifiers loom large for Ralston over the next few months and will most likely take him and teammate and fellow midfielder Clint Dempsey out of the line-up for a few games this season, along with forwards Pat Noonan and Taylor Twellman. All have been called up this year and are very likely to see action over the summer with the US Men’s National Team.

Ralston’s first experience with the National Team was back in 1997.

“I had a few games here and there, and then there were a few years where I didn’t get the call-up. Now, the National Team, with the results in the last World Cup in 2002, how well the team did, we have much more respect worldwide, and now every time the team steps on the field we expect to win.”

As for the 2006 WC, Ralston didn’t want to speculate. “That’s a long ways away. Right now I’m concentrating on this week, getting my fitness back.”

When I asked him how it felt to be the oldest player on the team, Ralston turns 31 in June, he laughed.

“Scary, but I still feel young. I still feel I can play, so I have a few years left in me. I have good genes, haven’t had any real serious injuries.”

He acknowledged that fitness takes a bit more work now.

“It’s more difficult, definitely more difficult. Back in earlier days I was always one of the top 2-3 guys fitness-wise without having to do a whole lot of stuff. Now, the last couple of years, I feel the longer I take off the longer it takes me to get back into shape. So, it’s expected. I’m 30 years old now.”

Ralston has an almost unique vantage point looking over how MLS has changed. He’s one of only a handful of players who started in 1996 who are still active members of an MLS team. He reflected on the changes.

“To me the biggest thing is the stadiums, back then there were no soccer specific stadiums, now pretty much every team is getting one. For me that’s the biggest thing, that and I don’t think there are as many big name foreign players as there were in the early days. Back then it seemed every team had (at least) one big name foreigner. Now, foreign players are younger and are not at the end of their careers. And the younger (American) players are better. Back then I was one of the youngest players in the league, I was 21, nowadays, look at guys16, 17, 18 years old and they’re not just bench players, they’re impact players, that’s a big difference.”

While the media and MLS sometimes fall all over themselves touting new, younger and younger signings, maybe they should turn around and take a good look at what they already have as personified by Ralston: veterans who work hard, continue to challenge themselves and confound the “experts” who think younger is better. Mike Burns, former Revolution player, former National teammate of Ralston and now Director of Soccer for the Revolution, put it best when talking about Steve Ralson:

“He just seems to just get better year after year.”