Ruiz, Galaxy Are in Control
There would be no drama this time. Carlos Ruiz made sure of it.
Three weeks after the Galaxy fell behind to an amateur club in the U.S. Open Cup before rallying to win, Ruiz punished the A-League’s Seattle Sounders with a hat trick, propelling the Galaxy to a 5-1 victory Wednesday night in a quarterfinal match before 7,542 at Seahawks Stadium.
The Galaxy will next meet the Chicago Fire, 2-1 winners over the Colorado Rapids, in a semifinal match on a date and in a venue to be determined by U.S. Soccer.
Any drama that existed in Seattle before the match was extinguished by Ruiz in the third minute. That’s when he converted a penalty kick past Sounder goalkeeper Rich Cullen.
Ruiz’s first score was set up when forward Alejandro Moreno, who had received a pass from midfielder Chris Albright from the right sideline, was taken down in the penalty box.
Ruiz would finish the hat trick late, scoring in the 87th and 90th minutes.
By then, the Galaxy had built a 3-1 lead.
The Galaxy’s second goal came in the 39th minute when midfielder Antonio Martinez, having taken a floating feed from midfielder Simon Elliott, slid the ball into the right corner of the net.
The Galaxy went up, 3-0, in the 67th minute when Moreno scored off a Martinez assist.
Seattle, which advanced to the tournament’s quarterfinals by upsetting the San Jose Earthquakes, 1-0, finally got on the board in the 70th minute, when Jason Farrell rebounded a miss off a corner kick and beat Galaxy goalkeeper Kevin Hartman from 20 yards out.
Ruiz then closed the show.
The Galaxy, which came from behind to beat the Fresno Fuego in the quarterfinals and improved to 14-3 overall in the nation’s oldest domestic tournament, has advanced to at least the semifinals of the competition every year since 1999, when it lost in the quarterfinals.
The defending Major League Soccer champions return to MLS play Saturday night by playing host to the Dallas Burn at the Home Depot Center.
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In other U.S. Open Cup quarterfinal games: Amado Guevara scored in the third minute of the second overtime to lift the MetroStars to a 2-1 victory over the New England Revolution in front of 3,853 at Piscataway, N.J. Clint Mathis also scored for the MetroStars.... Ronald Cerritos scored in the 30th minute to lead D.C. United to a 1-0 victory over the Wilmington Hammerheads of the United Soccer Leagues-Pro Soccer League in front of 5,026 at Wilmington, N.C.... An own goal by Robin Fraser off a shot by DaMarcus Beasley in the 53rd minute was the difference as the Chicago Fire pulled out a one-goal victory over the Colorado Rapids in front of 5,156 at Naperville, Ill. Beasley also scored the Fire’s other goal.
