Ruiz Is Fine With MLS’ Punishment
Carlos Ruiz, $250 lighter in the pocket after being fined Thursday by Major League Soccer for his part in Saturday night’s halftime dust-up with San Jose defender Troy Dayak, said the punishment fit the crime.
“I think it is a just [ruling] and that’s the declaration of the league,” Ruiz said after practice on Friday. “At least I get to play on Sunday and that was the only thing I was worried about.”
Dayak was fined $1,500.
Galaxy Coach Sigi Schmid said he expected Sunday’s Game 2 of the aggregate-goal playoff series against the Earthquakes, in which the Galaxy hold a 2-0 advantage, to be a physical affair, even before Ruiz and Dayak tussled.
“We have to expect a physical game. It’s physical just because the field is so small,” Schmid said, referring to the Spartan Stadium field, the smallest in the league. “So we’ve done a lot of training this week in small spaces, tight spaces, so our guys know they have to play out of it quickly.
“But I’m confident that you’ve got two professional teams there that know how to play hard and stay within the rules and you have a referee as well. But just the smallness of the field makes the game physical.”
The training session was physical enough as Ruiz twinged his right hamstring in a collision with backup goalkeeper Dan Popik, Ruiz leaving the field with a bag of ice strapped to his leg as a precautionary measure.
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Return of Man U?
Manchester United, successful in last summer’s American tour, will return to the United States for another preseason run next summer, sources told Associated Press, as the English Premier League champion announced Friday that it would hold a news conference Tuesday in New York with Coach Alex Ferguson.
And although the topic of the conference was not disclosed -- Manchester United spokesman Paddy Harverson declined comment -- two U.S. soccer officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said another tour was the subject.
Manchester United was undefeated in four games on this year’s tour, its first Stateside games since 1982, beating Glasgow Celtic, 4-0, in Seattle; Club America, 3-1, at the Coliseum; Juventus of Turin, 4-1, in East Rutherford, N.J.; and Barcelona, 3-1, in Philadelphia.
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Times wire services contributed to this report.
