Toronto FC have dropped French midfielder Robert Laurent and added Carlos Ruiz to their roster. The French midfielder joined TFC at the beginning of April this year and started 16 of 17 games since then. In those games he has 1 goal and 3 assists.
Carlos Ruiz joins after another short time spent with the LA Galaxy. With the great form of Edson Buddle and Landon Donovan, Ruiz didn’t get much playing time. Ruiz is tied for 7th place on the league all time scoring list with 82 goals in his career. The 28 year old striker has 59 goals for his team prior to joining the LA Galaxy the first time his career brought him to MLS. If those had all been goals in MLS Ruiz would be by far on top of the all time scoring list. Can Ruiz keep scoring lots of goals? Probably not at the same rate he scored during his first time spent at the Galaxy, but he should be able to help TFC.
The LA Galaxy will have to be without striker Carlos Ruiz for 4-6 weeks after his knee injury he picked up in their season opener against the Colorado Rapids. Towards the end of that game Ruiz tore the meniscus and sprained the medial collateral ligament of his right knee.
What do the Galaxy do without Ruiz? Do they hope Alan Gordon can step up and score the goals that Ruiz is supposed to be scoring? They could always push Chris Klein up to striker!
The Los Angeles Galaxy are back to a familiar position, on the losing side of the score sheet. I haven’t been able to watch the Galaxy vs FC Seoul yet but I have it on the DVR. Alan Gordon is a guy that I have criticized a lot but he got the go ahead goal for the Galaxy on a David Beckham free kick that came to him behind the defense. Ten minutes after the Galaxy took the lead Celestine Babayaro committed a foul in the area giving FC Seoul a penalty kick which was converted successfully. The game stayed this way through the 90 minutes which then led to a shoot out.
Based only on what I read the FC Seoul keeper must be the man of the match. David Beckham converted the first PK but after that Carlos Ruiz, Peter Vagenas, Chris Klein and Greg Vanney all had their shots saved according to what I read. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen one keeper make 4 saves in a shootout and I’m kinda worried that I won’t be able to. I read that FSC didn’t show the shootout, didn’t even mention it. Most of the TV audience thought the game ended a draw. I hope to watch the game tonight.
The Galaxy will continue the Asia tour and you can catch these games on FSC: (all times CST)
Wednesday (March 5th) @ Shanghai Hong Kong United on FSC @ 10:00 PM (tape delayed)
Saturday (March 8th) @ Hong Kong Union on FSC @ 1:00 AM (live) – March 9th 10:00 PM (replay)
Well I guess this year it is serious in LA. David Beckham wants to win something. I could think of best dressed – richest – most popular MLS player. I think those types of awards would be right up his alley.
I suppose an MLS Cup is more along the lines of what Beckham does want to win though. The Galaxy have had a couple of bad seasons including last year with minimal Beckham playing time due to a sprained ankle and then a sprained knee. The Galaxy finished the season with a great run that saw them miss the playoffs on the last day of the season by losing in Chicago.
Since last year the Galaxy brought back Carlos Ruiz from FC Dallas, but they traded away 2 starters. Joe Cannon went to the expansion San Jose Earthquakes and defender Chris Albright was traded off the the New England Revolution. Ruiz will for sure help in the goal scoring department but the missing Cannon and Albright is going to hurt. Both of those guys are potentials for the All Star game if they are healthy. Albright missed a lot of last season due to injury.
So, what do you think Beckham is going to win this coming season, if anything?
Carlos Ruiz on on his way out of FC Dallas and going back to his first MLS team the LA Galaxy. The Galaxy paid an undisclosed amount of allocation money as well as a 2nd round draft pick to bring Ruiz back to LA.
The Kansas City Wizards have sent a quality defender, Nick Garcia, to the San Jose Earthquakes in exchange for the first overall pick in the expansion draft that will take place this Friday. It is rumored that the Wizards will Patrick Nyarko to replace Eddie Johnson who is rumored to be on his way to Fulham. Nyarko is a native of Ghana playing for Virginia Tech. He is one of three finalists for the Hermann Trophy, which is awarded to the nation’s best player. Nyarko has college eligibility left but will be coming to the MLS rather than finishing his collegiate career.
In my search for a video of that nice Taylor Twellman goal from last nite I came across this video that shows some of the best in the history of MLS. Carlos Ruiz makes the video twice and TT would now have 2 appearances in it. None of them match Balboa’s goal though. I remember watching that game on TV when he got that one!
In the 89th minute of Houston Dynamos 3-0 destruction of FC Dallas yesterday both Ricardo Clark and Carlos Ruiz were red carded. Aparently Ruiz punched Clark as they were going up for an air ball. Ruiz was on the ground after the play when Clark hauled off and kicked him in the shoulder. I found a video (with no sound) on YouTube and I have it here for you.
What kind of penalty is Clark going to pay for this kick? It will probably be a pretty big if not the largest suspension ever dished out in Major League Soccer history. What do you think the appropriate suspension would be? Will Clark miss playoffs?
Last night was my first chance to see Blanco, Denilson and Wanchope in action as the Chicago Fire traveled to Pizza Hut Park to take on FC Dallas. This was a big game for both teams as the Fire are fighting for the last playoff spot and FC Dallas would like to get back up to the top of the Western Division.
Chicago has been on a good run recently and FC Dallas has been on a bit of a slide since their wonderful start to the season. I had predicted a Fire victory in this game and for a lot of the game it looked like I was going to be right. Chris Rolfe scored a really nice goal in the 56th minute which gave the Fire the lead well into the 90+ minute. Then finally Carlos Ruiz got behind the defense and tied the game in the 93rd minute. Both goals were very nice but Rolfe’s could be a goal of the week candidate.
As I said this was my first chance to see some of these big name newcomers to the MLS and none of them impressed me much. Blanco looked okay but just didn’t impress. I probably expected the most from him. Denilson did a couple fancy footwork moves that only ended in one of the Fire taking the ball the other way. He had one or two decent looking shots that usually got blocked before getting close to the goal. Wanchope looked like he was ready to play a full 90 minutes, but he was on the field the full 90. The most disappointing moment for the Fire was Wanchope and Calen Carr passing back and forth on a semi-break away that should have either resulted in a goal or probably more importantly one of them taking the ball to the corner and using valuable time. That probably would have kept a lead and a full 3 points for the Fire. Too bad for Chicago. At least Wanchope should have enough experience to know what to do in that situation.
Well I guess this year it is serious in LA. 
Carlos Ruiz on on his way out of FC Dallas and going back to his first MLS team the LA Galaxy. The Galaxy paid an undisclosed amount of allocation money as well as a 2nd round draft pick to bring Ruiz back to LA.