Carlos Ruiz Gutierrez

Carlos Humberto Ruiz Gutiérrez, known as "El Pescadito" (Guatemala City, September 15, 1979), is a former Guatemalan soccer player. He worked as a striker and is the top scorer for the Guatemalan team. He is considered the best soccer player in Guatemala.

He is recognized for being the top scorer in the history of the World Cup qualifiers with 39 goals, a figure he achieved in his last game as a national team when he scored five goals in Guatemala's 9-3 victory over Saint Vincent and the Grenadines on September 6, 2016, a record that it still holds today.

Trajectory

With a goal Los Angeles Galaxy gets its sixth MLS title in 2002

Carlos Ruiz was born and raised in the Bellos Horizontes neighborhood in zone 21 of Guatemala City, and is known by the nickname El Pescadito.

As a curious fact, Carlos Ruiz has always preferred to wear #20 on his jersey in the teams he has played for, with the exception of Toronto FC where he wore #25, Club Olimpia where he wore #29, Aris FC in who used the #11 camisole and the Guatemalan National Team in which, for reasons of change of image, he wore #9.

CSD Municipal

He began his sports career in the youth categories of CSD Municipal, where he played from 1991 to 1995. He made his professional debut at the same club in 1995 in a match where CSD Municipal faced Xelajú Mario Camposeco, and scored his first goal as a professional against Azucareros team in 1996 playing the Gallo Cup. He remained in CSD Municipal until mid-2002, and with said club he won the 2000 Clausura Tournament, the 2001 Apertura Tournament, the 2002 Clausura Tournament and the Uncaf Interclube Cup in 2001.

With CSD Municipal he scored 25 goals.

He was briefly at PAS Giannina in Greece in 2000. He shared a team with the same Guatemalan, Guillermo & # 34; el pando & # 34; Ramírez, a player already retired from the soccer fields.

First year in MLS and the LA Galaxy

In 2002, Carlos Ruiz was signed by the Los Angeles Galaxy. With this team he came to achieve his greatest achievements. In that same year, Ruiz played 26 matches and set a new record for goals in a tournament with 24 goals (beating Eduardo Hurtado's in 1996). The player held that record until the 2012 MLS season, when Chris Wondolowski surpassed him with 27 touchdowns in a season, and was named player of the month for April and July and three times player of the week by US networks. He also achieved one of his greatest triumphs as a player, the first championship in the history of the Los Angeles Galaxy in 2002.

FC Dallas

He arrived at FC Dallas in March 2005. Since entering the MLS league in 2002, he is the top postseason scorer in his history, with 16 goals, having scored 8 in 2002, keeping the record for most goals scored in a postseason.

Carlos Ruiz performing his characteristic celebration imitating the dorsal fin of a fish during a meeting with the selection of Guatemala.

Playing for FC Dallas, he reached the final of the U.S. 2007 Open Cup, won the Western Conference in the 2006 regular season and reached the Western Conference final, being the first time that FC Dallas reached this instance.

On August 12, 2007, Carlos Ruiz scored his 100th MLS goal wearing the FC Dallas jersey, with a header in the 80th minute against the Columbus Crew; this generated some controversy, because the regular season and postseason goals were added, one more that he scored against Las Chivas de Guadalajara in the 2003 All-Star Game, two more that he scored with FC Dallas in the North American Super League, goals he scored at the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup and in the MLS Supporters' Shield. That is why Carlos Ruiz is considered among the 8 best in MLS history.

He also played in the 2007 North American Super League with FC Dallas and had a good performance where he scored two goals; he scored a goal for his former team Los Angeles Galaxy in a memorable match that ended 6-5 in favor of the Galaxy, and the other goal was scored against Pachuca from Mexico. In addition to that, he assisted Arturo Álvarez so that he scored a goal against Las Chivas de Guadalajara of Mexico.

Playing for FC Dallas, he converted a "Chilena" goal, which was selected as the best goal of the decade in MLS, out of more than 5,000 that were analyzed. The Guatemalan striker participated with three goals along with thirty other players, coming out the winner with the one scored on May 28, 2005 against D.C. United.

Return to LA Galaxy

On January 15, 2008, he returned to the Los Angeles Galaxy where he shared a team with the internationals David Beckham and Landon Donovan, in a friendly game against Shanghai Shenhua Ruiz scored 3 goals, receiving an assist from David Beckham. It is worth mentioning that in a statement by David Beckham, he says he admires Carlos Ruíz adding: "If Carlos were European, they would immediately recognize him as a world star of great value".

On March 29, 2008, on the opening day of MLS, he received a strong kick from the player Ciaran O'Brien of the Colorado Rapids, and, due to that, Carlos Ruiz underwent surgery on his right knee. All this motivated the player to miss a large part of the season, scoring only one official goal and playing a total of 10 games.

Toronto FC

On August 21, 2008, he was transferred to Toronto FC where, due to injury, he did not perform well.

Olympia from Paraguay

On January 30, 2009, he was acquired by Club Olimpia of Paraguay, where he recovered his level of play, highlighting his participation in the Paraguayan team.

The first goal with the Olimpia club was scored on January 27, 2009 against Sol de América

In the Apertura tournament Carlos Ruiz scored the opening goal in the Paraguayan classic against Cerro Porteño with which Club Olimpia ended up winning 2-0. In the same Apertura tournament he became the team's top scorer, getting a hat-trick on May 23 against Rubio Ñu, for a total of 10 goals, ranking third in the top scorers in the Paraguayan soccer league. To this was also added the participation of the already veteran Carlos Figueroa, sharing a dressing room with "el fish".

On June 29, when his contract expired (it expired the following day), Carlos Ruiz tearfully announced his dismissal from the institution for family reasons, ruling out economic reasons. On one occasion, his satisfaction with the treatment received by the fringed fans, as well as his regret for not being able to continue and the guarantee that he will not forget what he experienced during his stay in the country. "Nothing is going to compare to the five months I spent in Olimpia", the Guatemalan confessed emotionally.

Mexico Town

On June 30, 2009, he was hired by Puebla de México.

On July 25, 2009, in matchday 1 of the 2009 Apertura Tournament in Mexico, he scored his first official goal in Puebla, in the match played against Tigres. In that same tournament with Puebla, he managed to become the team's top scorer, getting 5 goals in 17 games played, also scoring a double against Santos Laguna.

At the beginning of 2010 he played the 2010 InterLiga where he scored 2 goals against Tigres de México, at the Pizza Hut Park stadium, which had previously been his home and where he scored many goals with FC Dallas.

In 2010 he played the Torneo Bicentenario tournament where he scored 4 goals, and on April 11, 2010 he scored a goal against Indios, which was later considered one of the best in the tournament.

On July 10, 2010 Carlos Ruiz resigned from Puebla for having a good offer from Aris FC of Greece.

Aris FC

On July 13, 2010, it was announced that Carlos Ruiz would join Aris FC of the Super League Greece.

His first official goal with Aris FC was achieved on August 17, 2010, against Austria Vienna, in the qualifying phase of the 2010-11 UEFA Europa League, and in the second leg against Austria Vienna Vienna scored another goal with which Aris FC qualified for the group stage of the 2010-11 UEFA Europa League. Already in the group phase, Aris FC had to play in Group B, where they would have to face Atlético de Madrid (current UEFA Europa League Champion) , Bayer Leverkusen and Rosenborg BK. On September 16, 2010, he assisted Javito so that he scored the goal with which Aris FC would defeat Atlético de Madrid in Greece. On the second day of the 2010-11 UEFA Europa League, against Rosenborg BK, Ruiz would score the goal of the partial tie for the Greeks, who ended up behind on the scoreboard, with this Carlos Ruiz became the first Guatemalan to play in a European competition and score goals.

For the Super League Greece played 16 games, scoring one goal against AO Kavala.

On February 10, 2011, Aris FC announced on its website that by mutual agreement they had terminated the two-year contract that the Guatemalan striker had with the institution, thus ending Carlos Ruiz's adventure in Greek soccer, in which he had an acceptable performance, especially in the UEFA Europa League, where he scored 3 goals in 8 games played, including the two goals he scored against Austria Vienna with which Aris FC qualified for the group stage of the UEFA Europa League. Ruiz also participated in the games that Aris FC played in the group stage of the UEFA Europa League in group B, facing teams like Bayer Leverkusen, Rosenborg BK and Atlético de Madrid and scoring a goal against Rosenborg BK. In the game played in Norway, Carlos Ruiz participated in the historic match for Aris FC played against Atlético de Madrid on Spanish soil. There, the Greek team ended up beating the Spanish team 2-3, thus achieving Aris FC the first victory of a Greek team on Spanish soil in a European competition.

Philadelphia Union

On February 22, 2011, MLS announced on its website the official incorporation of Carlos Ruiz with the Philadelphia Union. Carlos Ruiz's official debut was on March 19, 2011, in the game in which the Philadelphia Union defeated the Houston Dynamo 1-0, and in which Carlos Ruiz participated for 85 minutes.

Carlos Ruiz's first official goal with the Philadelphia Union was scored on March 26, 2011 in the game that his team beat the Vancouver Whitecaps with the goal of Pescadito. On April 6 In 2011, he scored a goal against the D.C. United contesting the U.S. Open Cup 2011, and on May 21, 2011 he scored another goal against the Chicago Fire in the 75th minute, which was named goal of the week by the MLS on matchday #10 and with that goal the Philadelphia Union won 2- 1,. Ruiz also obtained the same recognition on matchday #18. Thanks to his performance, he has been named a Latino player on matchdays 10, 15, 16 and 18 of the MLS in 2011.

On July 29, 2011, coach Piotr Nowak announced the departure of Carlos Ruiz from the Philadelphia Union team. Carlos's last game with the Union was a friendly match against Real Madrid which the Union lost 1-2.

Red Sharks of Veracruz

On August 2, 2011, the hiring of Pescadito was announced. The Guatemalan player signed for two years, with a clause indicating that if the team were promoted the contract would be extended to 3. For the first time, el Pescadito played in a promotion team, in which he made his debut on August 6, 2011.

He debuted as a scorer on August 20, 2011 in the game that Tiburones Rojos de Veracruz beat Correcaminos 1-0., with 6 goals scored in 12 games played.

Carlos Ruiz started his second tournament with the Tiburones Rojos de Veracruz on January 7, 2012, scoring a goal at the start of the 2012 Clausura Tournament Liga de Ascenso that allowed his team to win 1-0 over the Pumas Morelos. He started that tournament with a good scoring streak since he scored 3 goals in the same number of games.

Return to Guatemala

On January 31, 2013, the return of Carlos Ruiz to CSD Municipal was announced after more than 11 years playing outside of Guatemala. However, the negotiations were overshadowed by the Veracruz sharks team, and on February 20 of the same year the news was released that Ruiz had signed a one-year contract with the club from the North American capital, D.C. United. In 2014 Ruiz finally returned to Municipal de Guatemala after many years of not playing in his country. The agreement for his contract is signed for 18 months.

On May 25, 2016, it was officially announced that Carlos Ruiz would not continue with "los rojos".

Return to Fc Dallas

On September 15, 2016, the American club announces the return of the little fish to its ranks

National team

He participated in 111 international matches, scored 68 goals and made his debut with the Guatemalan soccer team on November 18, 1998, scoring his first goal for the Guatemalan national team on March 19, 1999 in a game against the national team of El Salvador in the framework of the UNCAF Nations Cup.

On June 14, 2008, he broke Juan Carlos Plata's record as the top scorer for his team by scoring 4 of the 6 goals with which his team beat the Saint Lucia soccer team.

He has scored important goals for his team, such as the one scored against Honduras on October 13, 2004, which helped the Guatemalan National Team to enter the Final Hexagonal towards the 2006 World Cup in Germany. On October 12, In 2005 he scored a goal in Costa Rica that was later considered the best in the Concacaf tie, although the Costa Rican team has received the most goals from Carlos Ruiz (eight in total).

On February 3, 2009, Carlos Ruiz stated in an interview that he has no intention of wearing the national team shirt again based on the differences he had had with some leaders of the Guatemalan National Football Federation. That is why he has said that his withdrawal from the national team is irrevocable, having played his last match against the Cuban soccer team on October 15, 2008.

In January 2011 it was rumored that Carlos Ruiz would return to the national team at the hands of the current technical director, Ever Hugo Almeida, the same one who also directed him at Municipal de Guatemala and Olímpia de Paraguay. The reason for returning to the national team was to play the Central American Cup, which was played in Panama in January 2011.

The official return of Carlos Ruiz to the Guatemalan national team was on January 16, 2011 in a game for the Copa Centroamericana, facing the Costa Rican national team. After his return to the Guatemalan national team, he scored his first goal in three years on March 28, 2011 against the Bolivian national team.

Carlos Ruiz is the second Guatemalan soccer player to have worn the shirt of the Guatemalan national team on more occasions with 104 participations.

Ruiz had announced some time ago that the qualifier for Brazil 2014 would be the last participation with the Guatemalan team, so on October 16, 2012 he played and scored in his last game, against the United States team, after which was considered his retirement from the Guatemalan national team. Due to his actions on the field of play, Ruiz also served as captain in most games during his tenure with it.

On August 7, 2014, Carlos Ruiz announced his second return to the Guatemalan national team, to participate in several friendly matches and in the 2014 Central American Cup.

International Goals

Carlos Ruiz holds the record for top scorer for the Guatemalan soccer team with 68 goals scored in 133 games played. On September 6, 2016, he broke the world record for the most goals in qualifying for the FIFA World Cup, a record previously held by Iranian Ali Daei by scoring 5 goals against the Saint Vincent and the Grenadines team in a valid match. for the classification of the Soccer World Cup of 2018.

Summary of goals with the Guatemalan national team

• Rating for the World Cup Soccer: 39 goals

• Friendly: 15 goals

• Gold Cup: 8 goals

• Central American Cup: 6 goals

• Total: 68 goals

International goals

Gol	Date	City and Country	Oponente	Outcome	Competition
1	19/03/1999	San José, Costa Rica	SLVEl Salvador	1-1	Uncaf Cup 1999
2	18/06/2000	Cd. de Guatemala, Guatemala	ATGAntigua and Barbuda	8-1	Concacaf Classification for the World Cup 2002
3	03/07/2000	Montreal, Canada	HAIHaiti	4-1	Friendly
4	16/07/2000	Mazatenango, Guatemala	USAUnited States	1-1	Concacaf Classification for the World Cup 2002
5	22/07/2000	Quetzaltenango, Guatemala	BRBBarbados	2-0
6	08/10/2000	Bridgetown, Barbados		3-1
7	15/11/2000	Mazatenango, Guatemala	CRCCosta Rica	2-1
8
9	06/01/2001	Miami, United States		2-5
10
11	06/01/2002	Havana, Cuba	CUBCuba	1-0	Friendly
12	31/10/2002	Cd. de Guatemala, Guatemala	JAMJamaica	1-1	Friendly
13	18/02/2003	Panama, Panama	NCANicaragua	5-0
14
15
16	17/07/2003	Miami, United States	COLColombia	1-1	Gold Cup 2003
17	05/05/2004	Guatemala City, Guatemala	HAIHaiti	1-0	Friendly
18	20/06/2004		SURSuriname	3-1	2006 Concacaf Classification
19
20	18/08/2004	Burnaby, Canada	CANCanada	2-0
21
22	08/09/2004	San Pedro Sula, Honduras	Honduras	2-2
23	13/10/2004	Cd. de Guatemala, Guatemala		1-0
24	13/11/2004	Washington DC, USA	BOLBolivia	1-0	Friendly
25	21/12/2004	Caracas, Venezuela	VENVenezuela	1-0	Friendly
26	17/01/2005	Los Angeles, United States	COLColombia	1-1	Friendly
27	26/03/2005	Guatemala City, Guatemala	TRITrinidad and Tobago	5-1	2006 Concacaf Classification
28
29	08/07/2005	Carson, United States	JAMJamaica	3-4	Gold Cup 2005
30
31
32	08/10/2005	San Luis Potosí, Mexico	MEXMexico	2-5	2006 Concacaf Classification
33	12/10/2005	Cd. de Guatemala, Guatemala	CRCCosta Rica	3-1
34	10/10/2006	Atlanta, Estados Unidos	Honduras	1-2	Friendly
35	12/06/2007	Foxboro, United States	TRITrinidad and Tobago	1-1	Gold Cup 2007
36	14/06/2008	Guatemala City, Guatemala	LCASaint Lucia	6-0	2010 Concacaf Classification
37
38
39
40	10/09/2008		CUBCuba	4-1
41
42	28/03/2011	Mazatenango, Guatemala	BOLBolivia	1-1	Friendly
43	13/06/2011	New York, United States	GRNGrenada	4-0	Gold Cup 2011
44	18/06/2011	New Jersey, United States	MEXMexico	1-2
45	11/10/2011	Guatemala City, Guatemala	BLZBelize	3-1	Concacaf Classification for the World Cup 2014
46	22/02/2012	Asunción, Paraguay	Paraguay	1-2	Friendly
47	25/05/2012	San José, Costa Rica	CRCCosta Rica	2-3	Friendly
48
49	01/06/2012	Cd. de Guatemala, Guatemala		1-0	Friendly
50	15/08/2012	Washington, United States	PARParaguay	3-3	Friendly
51	07/09/2012	Guatemala City, Guatemala	ATGAntigua and Barbuda	3-1	Concacaf Classification for the World Cup 2014
52
53	11/09/2012	Saint John, Antigua and Barbuda		1-0
54	12/10/2012	Cd. de Guatemala, Guatemala	JAMJamaica	2-1
55	16/10/2012	Kansas City, United States	USAUnited States	3-1
56	07/09/2014	Houston, United States	BLZBelize	2-1	Central American Cup 2014
57	13/09/2014	Los Angeles, United States	CRCCosta Rica	1-2
58	09/07/2015	Chicago, United States	TRITrinidad and Tobago	1-3	Gold Cup 2015
59	08/09/2015	Guatemala City, Guatemala	ATGAntigua and Barbuda	2-0	Concacaf Classification for the World 2018
60	25/03/2016		United StatesUnited States	2-0
61	28/05/2016	Carson, United States	ArmeniaArmenia	1-7	Friendly
62	02/09/2016	Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago	TRITrinidad and Tobago	2-2	Concacaf Classification for the World 2018
63
64	06/09/2016	Guatemala City, Guatemala	VINSaint Vincent and the Grenadines	9-3
65
66
67
68

His last goals for the national team came in a knockout match against Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, he currently has 68 goals on his national team tally.

Clubs

Club	Country	Year	PJ	Goles
CSD Municipal	Guatemala	1995-2002	143	25
PAS Giannina	Greece	2000-2001	7	0
♪Los Angeles Galaxy	United States	2002-2005	101	68
**FC Dallas		2005-2008	88	41
Los Angeles Galaxy		2008	10	1
Toronto FC	Canada	2008	5	0
Olympia	Paraguay	2009	21	10
***Puebla	Mexico	2009-2010	37	11
****Aris Thessaloniki	Greece	2010-2011	25	4
*****Philadelphia Union	United States	2011-2011	14	6
Veracruz	Mexico	2011-2012	23	10
D.C. United	United States	2013	14	0
CSD Municipal	Guatemala	2014-2016	93	50
FC Dallas	United States	2016	4	1
Selection	Guatemala	1998-2009/2011-2012/2014-2016	133	68

Data updated as of January 31, 2013

• ♪ Games and goals of Postemporada and Lamar Hunt U.S. are included. Open Cup 2002, 2003 and 2004

• ** Games and goals of Postemporada, SuperLiga Norteamericana and Lamar Hunt U.S. are included. Open Cup 2005, 2006 and 2007

• *** Games and goals are included in InterLiga 2010

• **** Games and goals are included in previous rounds of UEFA Europa League 2010-11

• ***** Lamar Hunt U.S. games and goals are included. Open Cup 2011

Honours of Prizes

Local tournaments

Title	Club	Country	Year
National Football League	CSD Municipal	Guatemala	2000
National Football League			2001
National Football League			2002
MLS Supporters' Shield	Los Angeles Galaxy	United States	2002
MLS Cup			2002
Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup	D.C. United		2013
MLS Supporters' Shield	FC Dallas		2016

International tournaments

Title	Club	Headquarters	Year
UNCAF Interclub Cup	CSD Municipal	San José	2001

Individual awards

• Year goal award in Major League Soccer Philadelphia Union 2011
• Most Valuable Player (MVP) 2002
• Major League Soccer 2002 Gold Boot (24 goals)
• Gold Boot of the Major League Soccer 2003 (15 goals)
• MVP 2003 Star Game
• Maximum historical scorer of the Guatemalan National Team. (68 international goals)
• Maximum elimination scorer with 39 so many