Each day, a dusty courtyard buffeted by high-rise apartments in the Bellas Horizontes subdivision of Guatemala filled with boys playing soccer. Here, Carlos Ruiz was known as one of the best goalkeepers in the barrio. He guarded two large stones as goalposts.
When the weekends came and with it league play, Carlos often got bored with goalkeeping because his team, San Juan de Dios, dominated most of its opponents. Around age 11, he started moving to forward at times.
One day, Angel Godinez and Renato Morales, two of Carlos' closest friends, showed him an ad in the newspaper. Municipal, one of the city's richest professional clubs, was holding open tryouts for its youth academy. Angel pledged to convince his father to take the trio. Angel's father not only provided transport, he also bought his son a proper pair of soccer cleats, because the tryouts would be on grass, not hard dirt like the courtyard. Carlos and Renato did not own cleats. Carlos' mother had refused to buy more after he swiftly ruined several pairs by wearing them constantly.
When tryouts began, Angel discovered a solution. All three friends were in different age groups and took the field at different times. Angel lent his shoes to Carlos and Renato when each took his turn.
Angel was 16 at the time. Carlos was just 12, so the shoes were a bit big, but he managed to catch a scout's eye. Out of a field of nearly 1,000 kids, Carlos, playing in the field, became one of the few that Municipal chose to enroll in their academy.
Adjusting to the commitments of a pro club took some time, as Ruiz was torn between attending practice and watching after his younger siblings.
In the evenings, Carlos returned to his modest dwelling in Zone 21 and played some more with his pals in Bellas Horizontes – Beautiful Horizons.
''It was a very dangerous neighborhood,'' Ruiz recalls. ''I never got in trouble, because even though there were a lot of troublemakers, they all knew me, and they knew I would not bother anyone.''
JUST 'FISH.' Ruiz made his professional debut for Municipal at age 16 and eventually played for all of Guatemala's youth national teams – under-17, U-19, U-21 and U-23 before making his debut for the full national team in 1999.
In 2000, he captained Guatemala's Olympic team, which, at the qualifying tournament in Hershey, Pa., came within one game of going to Sydney. That is where Los Angeles Galaxy coach Sigi Schmid began tracking Ruiz.
Ruiz scored against the United States to earn Guatemala a 1-1 tie in the semifinal round of qualifying for the 2002 World Cup. His eight goals in qualifying led Guatemala, which fell to Costa Rica in a semifinal round tiebreaker. He also scored two goals in January's Gold Cup.
''In a lot of ways, going after Carlos was a lot more like recruiting a college player than signing an international for me,'' Schmid says. ''I got several opportunities to see him in person over the course of a few years. … This offseason, our staff went round and round before deciding to sign Carlos because Ariel Graziani was on the market, [Ruiz] didn't have a great showing at the Gold Cup, and it was difficult not to go for the known commodity. But I was pretty convinced that Carlos had the right attitude before he got here.''
In the wake of the expensive fiasco known as Luis Hernandez, the Galaxy desperately needed a player such as Ruiz. The 22-year-old striker has brought determination, enthusiasm, audacity and, most importantly, lots of goals to Los Angeles.
Concerned about the integration of a player with very little knowledge of English, Schmid initially roomed Ruiz with Pete Vagenas, an American close to his age but with limited Spanish. Vagenas started calling Ruiz ''Fish,'' a rough translation of his nickname at Municipal, ''Pescadito.'' Ruiz says he cannot remember who gave him the moniker at Municipal or why, only that most of his peers had nicknames, too.
''Nobody with the Galaxy calls him Carlos anymore, just 'Fish,''' Schmid says. ''He has fit in great with his teammates. He's easy to get along with, and he understands more English than he lets on. … He is a happy person, not a moody person.''
During a recent of keepaway at training, when the defenders finally broke up possession after an extended period of time, Ruiz shuffled through the middle of the circle doing some sort of Zorro impression, slicing the weary pair with an imaginary rapier while yelling, ''OlT! OlT!''
When Ruiz takes the field for games, that jovial side of him stays on the sidelines. He does not seem to have any exceptional physical qualities, although Schmid says his jumping ability and quickness in turning are underrated. He does, however, combine a feisty nature with a poacher's slyness.
''He does a good job of sort of hiding at times,'' Schmid says. ''You kind of forget about him, and that's when he burns you. He's also willing to take risks. Sometimes you want to pull your hair out, but I had a coach that used to say, 'You have to dare to be brilliant,' and he definitely dares to be brilliant.''
Against Columbus last month, Ruiz scored the gamewinner in the 75th minute by attacking an Alejandro Moreno cross with a bold full volley that found side netting. Nary coaches will recommend using such power from such close range, but Ruiz made it work. Eleven days later, Ruiz ended a U.S. Open Cup quarterfinal match in San Jose with another bit of flair. Bumping Jeff Agoos as he turned on an Ezra Hendrickson service, Ruiz deftly flicked the ball over another Earthquakes defender, Jimmy Conrad, before tucking the ball behind goalkeeper Joe Cannon for the game's only goal, 11 minutes into overtime.
Ruiz's volley against Columbus, his 16th goal in 18 league games, nudged him past New England's Taylor Twellman in the league's goalscoring race.
GROUNDED AND GENEROUS. In Guatemala, Municipal and Comunicaciones are the two strongest clubs, strong enough to attract players from other countries. But Ruiz says this is part of the reason for Guatemala's lack of success as a national team.
''Those two clubs are full of foreign players,'' Ruiz says. ''Still, when they go to play top clubs from other countries, they do not do so well. The Guatemalan league is not strong enough to prepare our national team players. For the future of Guatemalan soccer, I think we need to have more players playing internationally.''
This is part of Ruiz's motivation in signing with MLS. He wants the league to be a stepping stone in a career he hopes will help change the world's perception of Guatemalan players. Last year, his stint with struggling PAS of the Greek First Division ended after just six months. Seeing the mixed results that Latin American players have had in MLS did not worry Ruiz.
''This is a very strong league,'' he says. ''People in Latin America don't see much of this league, so they cannot judge it, and they cannot understand how strong it is. You need to come to this league with the desire to succeed. … If some players who came here did not succeed, maybe it was because they didn't have the desire to wake up every morning and work and work and work.''
Ruiz has a four-year contract with MLS but does not hide his aspirations of moving on to bigger leagues.
''What I'm trying to do is improve myself as a soccer player and as a person, confirm myself next season and I'm sure that will open doors for me,'' Ruiz said. ''I think a second season in a row doing this will affirm my name, and my value may increase.''
Refusing to accept complacency may come from staying in touch with his humble upbringing. Renato and Angel are still among Ruiz's closest friends. Ruiz invited Godinez, the one who lent him the shoes off his feet, to stay in his hotel room in Washington, D.C., during All-Star weekend.
''It fills me with emotion to see my friend, who I would consider my brother, playing at this level,'' says Godinez, who still lives in Zone 21, near Bellas Horizontes. He received special permission from his employer, DHL Worldwide Express, to watch his childhood friend play. ''I feel honored and happy for him. He was only one from our neighborhood who made it to be a professional.''
Soon after returning to his job in Guatemala, Godinez found his friend's name in the paper again, this time as one of six nominees for the best Guatemalan player ever.
Ruiz's popularity there has skyrocketed in part because of his kind gestures. Ruiz sends money home to family and friends. Through his contract with adidas, he has given several pairs of shoes to his former teammates. And he is negotiating with the company to make large numbers of cleats available to Municipal's youth program at an affordable price.
''I will never forget my friends from home,'' Ruiz said. ''Now that I have the means to help them, I have to. They helped me get here.''
by Soccer America Senior Editor Will Kuhns