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Carlos Ruiz (Guatemalan footballer)

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For the Argentine, see Carlos Ruiz (Argentine footballer).
Carlos Ruiz
File:Carlos ruiz.jpg
Personal information
Full name Carlos Humberto Ruíz Gutiérrez
Height 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position(s) Forward
Team information
Current team
 Puebla
Number 20
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1995–2002 Municipal 143 (59)
2000 → PAS Giannina (loan) 4 (0)
2002–2005 Los Angeles Galaxy 72 (50)
2005–2008 FC Dallas 77 (38)
2008 Los Angeles Galaxy 10 (1)
2008 Toronto FC 5 (0)
2009 Olimpia 18 (10)
2009– Puebla 26 (8)
International career‡
1998– Guatemala 83 (41)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 11 March 2010
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 5 November 2008

Template:Spanish name 2 Carlos Humberto Ruiz Gutiérez (born September 15, 1979 in Guatemala City), commonly nicknamed El Pescadito ("The Little Fish"), is a Guatemalan footballer who currently plays for Puebla of the Primera División de Mexico.

He is also a member of the Guatemalan national team since 1998, and is their all-time leading goalscorer.

Club career

Ruiz, born in Guatemala City, Guatemala, started his footballing career in local club CSD Municipal. In 2000, he traveled to Europe to play for a short time alongside compatriot Guillermo Ramírez at Greek club PAS Giannina. He returned to Municipal and then signed with the Los Angeles Galaxy in January 2002. He was initially skeptical, telling The New York Times, "I didn’t know anything about MLS or soccer in the U.S. Everything we hear about Major League Soccer is not so good... We hear that all the players come here to finish their careers." However, he found the level to be better than he imagined, saying: "In the beginning, I was not happy to come here. But after a couple of games and when I see the level of soccer here, I was excited to play here."[1] Once in MLS, Ruiz shined immediately.

In his MLS career, Ruiz has scored 81 goals in 137 regular season matches and 15 postseason goals, holding the record for the most post-season goals in Major League Soccer history.

First years in MLS and Galaxy

In his debut season, Ruiz scored 24 goals (MLS Golden Boot), leading to the MLS Cup. He was named the MLS Most Valuable Player that year. In the playoffs, he scored eight goals and added two assists, totaling 18 points and setting an MLS record for goals and points in a single postseason. In his second season, Ruiz cooled off significantly, but the forward still finished the season tied with Taylor Twellman for the league lead in goals with 15. He continued to statistically drop in 2004, scoring 11 goals. Ruiz had trials at English side Wolverhampton Wanderers in the 2003-04 season.

Dallas

In 2005, when Landon Donovan expressed his desire to come back to MLS, the Galaxy traded Ruiz to FC Dallas for the #1 allocation in the MLS pecking order, so that they could acquire Donovan. Ruiz finished his year in Dallas with 11 goals and two assists. During the postseason, Ruiz scored two goals in the second leg match against the Colorado Rapids but FC Dallas were eliminated in penalty kicks.

In February 2006, the MLS fully bought Ruiz's contract rights from his former Club Municipal and FC Dallas were able to negotiate a multi-year deal. In March 2006, a bicycle kick goal he scored against D.C. United was selected as the "Goal of the Decade" in MLS through online voting.[2]

During a 2007 game against the Houston Dynamo, Ruiz was involved in a controversial incident with Houston midfielder Ricardo Clark. Following a corner kick in which the two players became entangled, Clark violently kicked Ruiz in the upper body as he lay on the pitch hoping to draw a foul.[3] Clark accused Ruiz of kneeing him during the preceding play, and both players were sent off, with Clark also receiving the longest suspension in league history.

Return to Los Angeles

Following the conclusion of the 2007 season, Ruiz appeared to be unwilling to return to Dallas and to be holding out for a move back to the Galaxy. Earlier attempts to produce a trade faltered due to Ruiz being a grandfathered Designated player, with Galaxy already having one player in the same situation (Donovan) and, of course, David Beckham. In January 2008, FC Dallas traded Ruiz to the Galaxy for an undisclosed cash allocation and the Galaxy's natural second-round pick in next year's MLS SuperDraft. At his departure, he commented, "I did everything I could to win a championship with Dallas. Unfortunately, it didn't happen."[4]

He spoke about Galaxy to ESPN analyst Andrea Canales: "I still think the Galaxy is the best team in the U.S. They're the best organization. The Galaxy have always had famous players. They continue to be a team that people always follow," and added his personal relief to be on the Galaxy team, "I’m so glad I came to the Galaxy and not another team, because I would have felt like I was starting over."[5]

In the season opener, however, Ruiz suffered a knee injury and was unable to play for over a month.[6] While Ruiz was injured, the Galaxy found unexpected striking potential in Edson Buddle and even after coming off of injury, Ruiz was notably still left off the travel roster for a high-profile game against D.C. United. He scored his first of the 2008 season on July 19, in a game against New York Red Bulls.

Toronto FC

Ruiz was traded on August 19, 2008 to Toronto FC who in-turn released Laurent Robert to make room for Ruiz. He was expected to help solve TFC's goal scoring woes as he has 82 goals to his MLS credit, but managed only five first team games, in which he scored no goals.[7]. He was released by Toronto in early 2009 after they signed Dwayne De Rosario.

Olimpia Asunción

On January 31, 2009, Ruiz signed a contract with Paraguayan club Olimpia Asunción under the request of then-coach Ever Hugo Almeida. He scored 10 goals and was a fan favourite. One of his most memorable goals was against Cerro Porteño in the derby which Olimpia won 2-0. Also he scored a hat trick against Rubio Ñu in a 5-3 victory for Olimpia

Puebla FC

Ruiz signed a contract with Puebla on June 30, 2009, as a petition of head coach José Luis Sánchez Solá. On 25 July, 2009, in a game against Tigres, he scored his first goal for Puebla on a penalty kick. He wears number 20, which is the same number he previously wore for L.A. Galaxy, F.C. Dallas, and the Guatemala National Football Team.

National team

Overall, Ruiz had earned 83 caps and 41 goals by November 2008 for his country and has played at the World Cup qualification campaigns for the FIFA World Cups of 2002, 2006, and 2010. He played his first international match on November 11, 1998, a friendly against Mexico, and scored his first goal against El Salvador at the 1999 UNCAF Nations Cup.

After scoring eight goals in nine matches during the 2002 World Cup qualification campaign and already having a successful career in the MLS, Ruiz was the focal point of the Guatemalan team in qualifying for the 2006 World Cup, leading the team in scoring as they reached the final stage of the CONCACAF region.

On June 14, 2008 Ruiz broke Juan Carlos Plata's all-time individual goalscoring record for Guatemala by scoring four goals against Saint Lucia in Guatemala's 2010 World Cup qualification opening match. Ruiz reached 39 overall goals, four more than Plata's total. Ruiz also became the first Guatemalan player to score four goals in a World Cup qualification match.

On September 10, 2008, Ruiz scored two goals against Cuba in Guatemala's 2010 World Cup qualification in the 3rd match of the 3rd round of qualification of the CONCACAF region. Those two goals extended his all-time individual scoring record for Guatemala to 41 overall goals, six more than Plata's total. [8]

International goals

Source:[9]

Family

Ruiz has two daughters: Andrea and Samantha. He has 2 younger brothers that are really ood at soccer that currently live in California they are soon to be in the Guatemala national soccer team and play with Pin Plata because hes old an he will still be there when Carlos Ruiz younger brothers Diego OrtizRuiz(16) and Junior Perez Ruiz(18) [10]

Career statistics

[11] Template:Football player statistics 1 Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |2002||rowspan="3"|Los Angeles Galaxy||rowspan="3"|Major League Soccer||26||24|||||||||||||||| |- |2003||26||15|||||||||||||||| |- |2004||20||11|||||||||||||||| |- |2005||rowspan="3"|FC Dallas||rowspan="3"|Major League Soccer||19||11|||||||||||||||| |- |2006||27||13|||||||||||||||| |- |2007||22||7|||||||||||||||| |- |2008||Los Angeles Galaxy||Major League Soccer||10||1|||||||||||||||| |- |2008||Toronto FC||Major League Soccer||5||0|||||||||||||||| Template:Football player statistics 3155||82|||||||||||||||| Template:Football player statistics 5155||82|||||||||||||||| |}

Honors

Municipal

  • League champion (2): 2000 Clausura, 2002 Clausura

Los Angeles Galaxy

  • Champion (1): 2002

Individual

References

  1. ^ Marcus, maria (March 28, 2008). "Little Fish in an Increasingly Competitive Pond". The New York Times Goal Blog. Retrieved 2008-05-12.
  2. ^ "Player bio". mlsnet.com, Major League Soccer. Retrieved 2006-11-24.
  3. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PA_c1FClBMo
  4. ^ Aparicio, Diego (January 15, 2008). "FC Dallas trades Carlos Ruiz to LA Galaxy". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
  5. ^ Canales, Andrea (March 13, 2008). "The Return of Ruiz". soccer365.com. Retrieved 2008-05-18.
  6. ^ "Carlos Ruiz undergoes knee surgery". PA Wire Services. April 1, 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-18.
  7. ^ http://www.goal.com/en-us/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=826130
  8. ^ Source: http://prensalibre.com/pl/2008/junio/15/244639.html
  9. ^ "Carlos Ruiz international goals". rsssf.com. Retrieved 2009-11-25.
  10. ^ MLSnet.com player bio
  11. ^ http://web.mlsnet.com/history/register.jsp?content=players_r
Preceded by Major League Soccer MVP Award
2002 		Succeeded by

Template:Persondata

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