Capitan Ruiz
April 24th, 2007 . 8:53 pm . By: Chamo JonesWhen Morrow handed over the captain’s armband to Ruiz, we could not help but wonder if Ruiz would be able to assume the responsibility. Events that have taken place in the last two games suggest that Morrow made the right choice. Early in the game last week against New York Cooper and Freeman got into it as they were fighting for position off a throw in. As tempers flared, Ruiz got in the middle of things so that Cooper could get away from the situation. As soon the play restarted, Ruiz deliberately commited the “message” foul and took the yellow card. A calculated move to keep Cooper from losing his head and doing something silly. Personally, I don’t think Cooper would have lost his head and commited a red card offense. But Ruiz decided not to take that chance. On Sunday against Colorado, Ruiz rose to ocassion once again. In the first 20 minutes of the game, Beckerman was kicking everybody in sight. Especially bad were the fouls on Toja and Yi. Just as I was wondering who was going to assume Valakari’s enforcer role, Ruiz came through once again. Beckerman was trying to control a ball in the center circle, when Ruiz brought it. Ruiz took the yellow card, but Beckerman clearly got the “message”. You keep playing like that, and we will take you out. Beckerman was erased for the rest of the game. Who knew that a forward would be able to fulfill the enforcer duties of being captain? I can’t wait to see how else Ruiz will surprise us in his role as captain. No Comments No comments yet. Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI Leave a comment |