Like a growing number of players in Europe, Ronald Zubar had his eye on Major League Soccer the past few years. When he felt the time was right to make the move, all it took was a phone call.
A long phone call.
“I’d been watching MLS the last four or five years, of course because Thierry Henry and other French players were there,” Zubar said. “I discovered teams like Seattle and L.A., big teams, big names, and as you can see (the league) goes up year after year. A few clubs called me before – Colorado, Seattle – and I just wasn’t ready yet, and also for my family, because when I (left) England (in 2013) I went back to France for my kids to make sure they speak the language.
“But when Jesse called me (in January) there was something (about it). I was really looking for experience in a manager and to have him have ambition. Everything came together. When I spoke with Jesse I was on the phone two hours, and in the end my wife said ‘What are you doing? It’s two hours! We have to go have dinner.’ I was like ‘Ok, we are going to move to New York.’ And she said ‘To New York? And I was like, ‘Yeah, New York.’ And she said ‘Because of the manager?’ And I said ‘Yes, I just spoke to him. I wanted to go. It’s what I want.’ ”
When asked about the phone call on Thursday, Marsch smiled. He was hired Jan. 7 and had a long list of things to accomplish in a short amount of time. He obviously wasn’t aware of his persuasive powers.
“Maybe it was my French,” Marsch said with a smile. “I just mapped out to him what we were trying to build here. I was probably on the job 10 days, we had been watching him – the first 10 days were a whirlwind – but when I realized that this was a guy who could fit the way we were going to play, I reached out to him and I just started the conversation of what kind of team we were going to build, what this had been in the past and how we were trying to shift it a little bit for the future, and what kind of men we needed here, and what the emphasis was going to be and how we were going to play.
“I think we had similar values, and when you bounce around Europe a little bit you see that there’s a sink-or-swim mentality, where if you don’t show your worth right away then you can kind of get brushed aside, and then you go somewhere else. I tried to express to him that we were trying to build something that was going have more depth and what it meant to be part of a team. I think that resonated with him.”
Apparently, it did.
“Jesse was really a big part of it to make sure I am here,” Zubar said. “My teammates have been fantastic. We talked about it on the phone. Anything can happen this year. The way we play. How we enjoy it together. How we work in training, all the small details. I just liked it, and now my family is happy to be here. It all is together, so that’s why I came here.”
But that’s when the smiling stopped. Zubar, expected to be a dominant force with Damien Perrinelle at center back, injured his hamstring in the season opener at Sporting Kansas City. A few weeks later there was a quad issue and a long injury layoff.
Zubar didn’t see the field again until June 20, a 2-1 loss to Vancouver. By that time Matt Miazga had cemented his place alongside Perrinelle and was having an All-Star caliber season. Zubar started the June 28 match against New York City FC, but was injured again and replaced by Perrinelle at halftime.
But now, with Miazga serving two games for a red card and then missing another two while with the United States Under-23 team, which will attempt to qualify for the 2016 Olympic Games, Zubar is set to start Saturday night when the first-place Red Bulls (14-9-6) take on the Columbus Crew (13-10-8) in a crucial Eastern Conference matchup at Red Bull Arena.
“It has been a disaster for me,” Zubar said about the season. “As a player, you want to be healthy and help the team. Just being on the roster is not what I want. It’s been up and down, up and down. Now I’m 100 percent healthy the past two months and I’m back on the roster. I helped the team at the end of a couple of games so I’m going to enjoy the last two months. I just had to be patient and work hard with the trainer and be sure when they call me I am good. It’s my time now and we have a game coming up with a big team and I’m looking forward to it.
“I was ready, but the team has been doing well so you can’t do anything about it. It’s our job. When you are injured and players are in your position and doing well, like Damien and Matt, you have to wait and be patient. You can do nothing about it. For sure now I am happy and will start on Saturday. Right now, I’m going to enjoy it because it has been really a tough season.”
For the year, Zubar has played in seven games (four starts) and has scored one goal. He has also played in one U.S. Open Cup match.
“Tough, tough. That was something really tough,” Zubar said about the injuries. ”Obviously you don’t expect it. I felt like I could recover very quickly. Maybe it was too much to come back quick because I came here to help, to do your best and I couldn’t. I wanted to come back but I was not fit and had a setback. After that I had to start again, and that’s why it took a while. Now I do a good job and am healthy. I just get in the gym and do my stuff for a few months, and it worked. Now I just have to keep on doing it.”
With Zubar’s place in the lineup secured the next month, Marsch said he has seen a difference in the 30-year-old center back in training.
“This week has been his best week of training, ever. He’s into it,” Marsch said. “He knows how much the team’s counting on him. He’s anxious to prove himself. He knows that I brought him here to be a big impact within this team and it just hasn’t worked out that way, but now is his time. Better late than never, and I’m excited for him to get on the field. I think that the team is, and I know he is, so it’ll be a great opportunity for him.”
