Galaxy’s Ruiz Quickly Making an Impression

Carlos Ruiz has played only three Major League Soccer games, but already the Galaxy’s Guatemalan striker is a marked man.

Because Ruiz has scored five goals in those three matches, he can expect defenders to crowd him more tightly and to feel the crunch of tackles that have a lot more bite to them.

Not that the 22-year-old hasn’t already been targeted. In his three games, he has been fouled 10 times, more often than any other Galaxy player.

“In Guatemala, this did not happen so frequently because the style of play was slower and more technical,” he said. “In MLS, [the play] is quicker and more aggressive.”

Tonight, Ruiz experiences a road game for the first time in his MLS career when the Galaxy travels to the Cotton Bowl for an early-season rematch with the Dallas Burn. The teams tied at the Rose Bowl last Saturday, 1-1, with Ruiz scoring the tying goal five minutes from the end. The Burn is likely to be on the lookout for him.

“We are getting very used to the sight of Carlos ripping off his shirt and running to the crowd with a last-minute winner,” Ivan Gazidis, the league’s deputy commissioner, said earlier this week.

“Nobody could have foreseen that Carlos would be able to do this so soon. I think he has the potential to be a real star for the Galaxy and this league.”

Even though unbeaten, the Galaxy has struggled. All five of the team’s goals--every one of them by Ruiz--have all been scored in the last 10 minutes of regulation play or in overtime.

“I don’t think [scoring goals] depends on any one player,” Ruiz said, “but if the team functions well at moving the ball, either me or some other player will find the opportunities to score.”

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

GALAXY TONIGHT

at Dallas, 5:30 PDT, Ch. 9

Site--Cotton Bowl.

Radio--KSPN (1110), KTNQ (1020, Spanish).

Records--Galaxy 2-0-1, Burn 1-1-1.

Record vs. Burn--0-0-1.

Update--Los Angeles leads the all-time regular-season series with Dallas, 11-8-4, but has not defeated the Burn in the teams’ last six meetings. Burn forward Jason Kreis, who scored off a free kick in last Saturday’s 1-1 tie, has nine goals and five assists in 21 games against the Galaxy.

Grahame L. Jones