Ruiz Returns, Lesson Learned
Carlos Ruiz is a little bit wiser as he returns to the Galaxy lineup today for a Major League Soccer game against the New York/New Jersey MetroStars at Giants Stadium.
Ruiz, a 22-year old rookie forward from Guatemala, scored a league-leading 10 goals in the first 10 games of the season. But he learned a hard lesson when he was forced to sit out the Galaxy’s 1-0 victory over the Chicago Fire last Saturday after being suspended and fined $500 for striking midfielder Wes Hart of Colorado in the midsection during a June 1 match in Denver.
Ruiz was not called for a foul, but replays of the incident prompted penalties by the league’s disciplinary committee.
“Obviously, the video is very clear,” Ruiz said through a translator. “It was a game situation, but [the league] interpreted it as an aggression and I think it’s obvious what happened.... I definitely was frustrated and hope this doesn’t happen again.”
Ruiz has been a marked man since scoring five goals in the first three games of the season, but he said opposing defenses haven’t resorted to dirty tactics to slow him down.
“Obviously, the teams have been more aggressive,” he said. “But they have been more aggressive against the whole team, not just me. They don’t want to lose and we don’t want to lose so they play hard to try and stop us.”
Opponents are now more inclined to mark Ruiz with an individual defender after playing a zone against him in the first few games of the season. But Galaxy Coach Sigi Schmid said that hasn’t deterred Ruiz’s willingness to attack the heart of a defense.
“He’s extremely hungry to score,” Schmid said. “When he sees the team getting close to the box, he makes those decisive final runs and he’s willing to put himself into places and spaces where some players don’t want to go because there is a chance you might get kicked if you go in there. He’s willing to go in there for sure.”
Although Ruiz scored 10 of the Galaxy’s first 14 goals, the team got a boost in his absence when it defeated the Fire to improve to 5-4-2 and snap a three-game losing streak.
“In a sense, it was good for us to play a game without him because [the win] gave the rest of the team confidence,” Schmid said. “More so than anything, we shored up ourselves defensively.”
Ruiz acknowledges it was difficult to watch last week’s game from the sideline, but his focus is on continuing to play the way he was before his suspension.
“I recognize in the past that there have been a lot of big-name players on the Galaxy,” he said. “I just want to keep playing well so people will remember my name.”
