Here's defender Tab Ramos.

So I was the first player signed by the league, by the whole league.

So when I signed with MLS, it didn't even have team names.

I'll sign, but with the condition that I will only play at either the New York team or the D.C. team.

And that's all I knew.

I didn't know names or anything.

Their parents sacrificed a lot to give them better opportunities, so they have to weigh that against their true passions.

My father always said that, you know, you can kick a ball for a little while, but you'll have your education for the rest of your life.

That was really important to him.

Fortunately, I was the best player in the country, uh, my senior year in high school.

I could pick pretty much any college I could go to for free.

And by the way, thank God, because my f- my parents wouldn't be able to afford college.

So, so it was good that I could go for free.

Hmm.

The MC of the event, none other than Oprah.

The United States of America warmly welcomes you to World Cup USA 1994.

Everybody, let's celebrate with the incomparable Ms. Diana Ross.

Now, coming up in the future episodes, you're going to hear directly from Tab Ramos, one of the players who was part of the soccer rebirth in the United States.

It was really difficult to leave Uruguay.

I do recall telling my dad, "Dad, out of all the countries in the world that we can move to, why do we have to move to the one that doesn't have soccer?"

Their parents sacrificed a lot to give them better opportunities, so they have to weigh that against their true passions.

My father always said that, you know, you can kick a ball for a little while, but you'll have your education for the rest of your life.

That was really important to him.

Fortunately, I was the best player in the country, uh, my senior year in high school.

I could pick pretty much any college I could go to for free.

And by the way, thank God, because my f- my parents wouldn't be able to afford college.

So, so it was good that I could go for free.

Hmm.

[laughs]

'Cause really, you know...

Well, the answer to that is not a simple one, for sure, because, you know, there, there's a number of things we have to look at.

And when I say we're looking at...

You're, you're saying we're looking at a, all the good things.

Well, there's nothing really bad to say in terms of when you look at how far the professional league has come.

So of course we can argue about the level can be better, they can bring better players, you know, the calendar, a million, you can go into a million, um, types of things.

It's just some of the realities of the unique aspects of our country.