Beginning Saturday (Oct. 3), the image of Ante Razov’s Number 9 Chicago Fire jersey will hang in perpetuity from the east façade at Toyota Park, as he becomes the eighth inductee into the Chicago Fire Soccer Club’s distinguished Ring of Fire. By any measure, Razov filled the role of the prototypical Number 9 striker, leading the line and scoring in every way imaginable en route to a club-record 95 goals in 196 competitive appearances.
Ahead of Razov’s official induction ceremony Saturday, we fired 9 Questions to the Chicago Fire original and current Sounders FC assistant coach to look back at his time with the Men In Red.
Q1: How did you come to excel in soccer and when did you know you wanted to play the game at a high level?
AR: “My parents are Croatian immigrants who came to the U.S. in 1970. Back then, my father played in some very good ethnic leagues (in California), where there was a Croatian team, a Hungarian team, a Mexican team, a Guatemalan team, and so on, and so those were highly competitive leagues -- a little more than your weekend warrior types, where they would fly in professionals for money at times. Ever since I could walk, I was around that. My parents always told me that since I could walk, I had a ball in my hand and I was running; there was rarely a time when I was walking. Being exposed to soccer at such a young age, there was a passion that came with it, and I’d always known I was going to play soccer for a living. I didn’t have a blueprint or plan, I’d just always known that’s what I was going to do.
“From the time I was 14 or so, I was playing up two years in age level until I reached U-18s. Those were successful times but also difficult times, being 14 and playing against 16 or 17-year-olds, but I’m glad I went through those times. Sigi (Schmid) and I crossed paths when I was very young because North Huntington Beach (Soccer Club) and UCLA had a big connection, and from 14 or 15 I had pretty much made up my mind that I was going to UCLA.”
Q2: Did you feel fortunate to be concluding your collegiate career just as MLS was getting off the ground? What other playing opportunities were you considering?
AR: “There were a lot of things going on, it was a difficult period in my family’s time because of the war in Croatia. We had a tremendous amount of loss while I was coming through college, so it was kind of a lot for a kid to deal with. I went on trials to Europe, which at the time there were very few Americans there. I knew I wanted to play but there were so many things going on, my focus was a little all over the place. MLS came around, I was drafted by the Galaxy, and from there I knew I wanted to be there. [After two seasons], I kept training, went on a few more trials and eventually got an invitation from Bob Bradley in Chicago.”
Q3: What were your expectations as you entered a new environment in Chicago?
AR: “Honestly, after what I’d been through, I saw it as an opportunity. I wasn’t in awe of anybody’s name [among fellow teammates]. I knew I was a good player, I just maybe needed something to guide me down the right path and to challenge me in the way Bob was able to do it. I didn’t start the first 10 games, but I knew my chance was going to come, and once it did I was never going to give it away. I had developed this sort of steely resolve and edge that I carried around on the field that I was good enough.”
Q4: What are your memories of playing in Soldier Field and bearing witness to the growth of the club?
AR: “That first season, everything was so new, we were just going along with it. I remember a conversation I had with Bob about 12 games in, and we did not have a winning record at the time, but I looked at him and said, ‘I think we’re gonna win this thing this year.’ I looked at our players and you have this feeling about the group and the potential and the way we went about our business -- certainly it wasn’t perfect -- but I just had this feeling that we were going to win. The fan base was unbelievable. We had a heavily Polish fan base that brought a European element to the atmosphere. Playing at Soldier Field was fantastic, we made that our fortress, and our fans have been wonderful from the first moment.”
Q5: You obviously played alongside a number of great teammates with the Fire, but in particular you spent much of your time in Chicago paired up top with Josh Wolff. What made you two such a successful strike partnership?
AR: “Josh and I had a very good understanding. Josh was a bit faster than I was, he liked the ball in space, I liked it more into feet, so that kind of combination always worked well for us in training. Early on, we were playing together on the training squad when neither of us were starting. We were able to forge a relationship, it was a lot of youthful exuberance and we just went for it. Once we got a taste of some national team experience we were able to create a partnership. It never quite got as far as we would have liked with some injuries and what not, but certainly playing with Josh was a great experience as it was with so many of my teammates with the Fire.”
Q6: Which opponents from that era had you a bit more juiced up before kickoff than others?
AR: “I think for me personally, it was in 1998 playing the Galaxy, after not, for whatever reason, being given an opportunity to succeed there. You go home and you want to show that you belong, and they were a very good team, so for us to go in there in our first year and establish ourselves was awesome, it was a really fun time. The regional rivalries with Dallas, Columbus and then D.C. because we were able to knock them off their chair early on and announce to everyone that we would be in the conversation every year.”
Q7: In what ways has MLS most evolved since the early stages of your career, and how do you think you would fare in the league today?
AR: “It’s changed so much even since I retired in 2010, let alone back then. Talent was much more concentrated when I first started whereas now the league has expanded rapidly. The modern game is a much faster and more dynamic game, as athletes continue to get better and the sports science and analytics play a bigger role. Our league has to become more sophisticated and that comes with better coaching from the Academies up, because the player has gotten better. These are highly intelligent, sophisticated players and I think coaching needs to evolve at that level. MLS is headed in a good way, we have big players coming here and the world is watching. I would have loved to play in this day and age. I did get to play against David Beckham several times but to see some of the caliber of players playing here…[in Seattle] I have the fortune of watching [Clint] Dempsey, [Obafemi] Martins, [Andreas] Ivanschitz, [Nelson] Valdez, guys who were big players in Europe, I’m very fortunate to watch and work with them. There are days I’d like to step on the pitch and play with them, however, Father Time usually defeats you.”
Q8: What are your interests off the field and away from the game?
AR: “Well there’s not much downtime in coaching but since getting into coaching four years ago I’ve been doing a ton of reading, trying to understand what the top coaches in the world are doing to understand methodology, trying to absorb as much as I can. Off the field, we like to spend time in the mountains and outdoors, I like to hunt, which I don’t get to do often, but it’s not so much the hunting it’s spending time in the outdoors. I like going to the beach, which we also don’t get too much of in Seattle, but there are certain parts of the California in me that can’t be taken out. Then I like to stay fit and stay occupied to keep you moving forward.”
Q9: What will your induction into the Ring of Fire mean to you?
AR: “I was very honored and excited when I got the call, it’s recognition for the work that I’ve put in and certainly the work of my teammates and coaches that were there; there’s only seven people in the Ring of Fire but there’s a lot of other people who had a hand in us being there. I’ll do my best to recognize all of them because it’s a group mentality, and that’s what we had. Chicago was always my playing team, without a doubt. Those were my best playing moments; we played in six finals in my years there, and those were great times and great people and we’re forever tied together. I’m not one to usually bask in individual moments but I’m going to try to enjoy this one and allow myself to say ‘OK, this is a pretty cool accomplishment.’”
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Look out for more on Ante Razov's Ring of Fire induction all this week on Chicago-Fire.com. #RazovROF
