Galaxy’s Ruiz Puts on a Show

The lights of the Rose Bowl dimmed, Carlos Ruiz stood on the floor of the venerable stadium with his baby daughter in his arms and looked up to the sky as the postgame Fourth of July fireworks show burst all around.

Joining the 55,234 in attendance in wide-mouthed wonder, Ruiz, the Galaxy’s rookie forward from Guatemala, was celebrating his first Independence Day in his adopted home.

Minutes earlier, it was Ruiz who elicited the oohs and aahs from the fifth-largest crowd to take in a Galaxy home game.

Ruiz’s two goals, the second coming in the 87th minute, gave the Galaxy a 2-1 come-from-behind victory over the first-place San Jose Earthquakes.

“It was important to get the win and create some positive momentum for the Galaxy,” said Ruiz, whose two scores were his first since June 1 and gave him 12 on the season. Ruiz also moved into third place among Major League Soccer scorers with 24 points, behind Dallas’ Jason Kreis (26) and New England’s Taylor Twellman (25).

“Now hopefully we can take the momentum forward and keep it going.”

With the win, the Galaxy (7-6-2, 23 points) moved within six points of the Earthquakes (9-5-2, 29 points). A loss would have put the Galaxy in a 12-point hole and into a last-place tie with the Kansas City Wizards. The teams meet again Sunday night in San Jose.

Ruiz’s game-winner was set up when Danny Califf, who had entered the game eight minutes earlier, inbounded a long, over-the-head pass from the right sideline into the middle of the penalty box.

Chris Albright headed the ball backward to Alexi Lalas, who back-heeled a nifty pass to an oncoming Ruiz. Ruiz’s left-footed kick buried the ball into the net, past San Jose goalkeeper Joe Cannon.

Lalas claimed that he knew Ruiz was behind him.

“Of course,” he laughed. “He was screaming his head off.

“It’s not really a set play because you certainly don’t work on it. There was a little desperation there at the end with the long throw-in and Chris Albright ... hit a beautiful little flick and I knew [Ruiz] was behind me. It’s not the prettiest looking thing, but it will do the trick.

“We’re athletes but we’re also entertainers. Tonight was about entertainment.”

The entertaining play also ended the Galaxy’s three-game losing streak to the Earthquakes, who beat them in overtime of last year’s MLS Cup title match.

Ruiz’s first goal came in the 34th minute.

With Gavin Glinton trapped in the right corner, he found Ezra Hendrickson to his left. Hendrickson quickly passed to the middle of the box, where Ruiz stepped in front of San Jose midfielder Manny Lagos and headed the ball past Cannon.

The Earthquakes had scored four minutes earlier.

Ramiro Corrales lofted a high pass into the box from the left side and Lagos leaped into the scrum, redirecting the ball into the net with the outside of his right foot for his second goal of the season.

It was the only shot to get by Galaxy goalkeeper Kevin Hartman, who had seven saves, five in the second half.

Also having a good game for the Galaxy was midfielder Peter Vagenas, who marked and shut out Earthquake forward Landon Donovan.

“[The win] is very important for a couple of reasons,” Galaxy Coach Sigi Schmid said. “We didn’t beat them last year so now we’ve established [that we can] in their minds and also in our minds.

“And now it also puts the onus on them that they need to take a victory at home.”