Galaxy Tries a Star Swap
# L.A. is poised to trade Ruiz to Dallas so it can bring Donovan back to
MLS.

By Grahame L. Jones, Times Staff Writer

The Galaxy is poised to trade its leading player, Guatemalan striker
Carlos Ruiz, to FC Dallas so that it can acquire U.S. national team
standout Landon Donovan from Bayer Leverkusen of the German Bundesliga.

Official announcement of the stunning double play could come as early as
today but is more likely after this weekend's round of World Cup
qualifying games.


Ruiz, who knows of the impending trade, is in Guatemala City for
Saturday's qualifying match against Trinidad and Tobago. Donovan leaves
Colorado Springs, Colo., with the rest of the U.S. team today for Sunday's
qualifier against Mexico in Mexico City.

Doug Hamilton, the Galaxy's president and general manager, would not
confirm Thursday that Donovan would be coming to Los Angeles, but sources
told The Times that the 23-year-old midfielder could be in a Galaxy
uniform in time for the team's April 2 Major League Soccer season opener
at Columbus.

"As a general policy, we don't comment on speculation or rumors," Hamilton
said of a Kicker magazine article published in Germany on Thursday that
reported Donovan was returning to MLS.

"I have not seen the Kicker article, but I have been made aware of it,"
Hamilton continued. "I don't think it quotes anybody from Germany or the
player or the player's representatives, so for me those are all just
rumors."

Galaxy Coach Steve Sampson was not available to comment Thursday, a team
spokesman said.

Donovan, the U.S. player of the year for the last three years and possibly
the sport's most accomplished American, spent the last four seasons with
the San Jose Earthquakes, on loan from Bayer Leverkusen, and won MLS
championships with San Jose in 2001 and 2003.

He announced in November that he would return to Europe for a second stint
with Bayer Leverkusen, which holds his contract.

Since rejoining the Bundesliga club in January, however, Donovan has
played only sporadically, most often off the bench, and experienced what
Kicker described as "an athletic Waterloo" with what the magazine termed
"his totally ineffective performance in the Champions League against
Liverpool."

The article said the 3-1 home loss in that March 9 game had devastated
Donovan. "Within two weeks, he lost all inspiration," Kicker said. "He
will continue his career in the USA."

If so, it will be in Los Angeles.

"If you're asking me if a player of his quality would be available in our
league, yeah, we'd probably try to make a run at him," Hamilton
acknowledged. "Pending cap issues and other things, sure."

Ruiz was the Galaxy's leading goal scorer in each of his three seasons
with the club, scoring 61 goals in 83 regular-season and playoff matches.
It was his goal that gave the Galaxy a 1-0 victory over the New England
Revolution in MLS Cup 2002, earning Los Angeles its only MLS title to
date.

Ruiz was the league's most valuable player in 2002, and the Guatemalan
striker, nicknamed "El Pescadito" or "the Little Fish," was also MLS' top
goal scorer in 2002, and its co-leading scorer in 2003.

At FC Dallas, Ruiz will be paired with Eddie Johnson, the league's
co-leading scorer in 2004, giving the Galaxy's Western Conference rival
one of the most potent offenses in MLS in 2005.

Dallas added another former Galaxy player Thursday when it signed defender
Greg Vanney, who had been playing for Bastia in the French league for the
last three years.

To acquire Donovan and still stay under the salary cap, the Galaxy was
forced to part with Ruiz, as well as several other players Los Angeles
traded away this year.

It was a price the Galaxy was willing to pay.

Tim Leiweke, the influential president of the Anschutz Entertainment
Group, which counts five MLS teams, including the Galaxy, among its
holdings, said in an interview with The Times in November that he believed
Donovan's place was in MLS.

"Landon Donovan's the best player in MLS," Leiweke said. "Landon Donovan's
the best player in the United States Soccer Federation's entire system.
And Landon Donovan, God bless him, loves Major League Soccer.

"Landon has an issue he has to resolve in Germany one way or another. He
has to resolve it once and for all. We knew this was coming for a while,
and the league's going to have to work this out."

The message was clear: AEG wanted MLS to do whatever was necessary to help
Donovan sever ties with Germany and return America's star to America's
league.

As it turned out, Donovan opted to honor the contract he had with Bayer
Leverkusen, which signed him as a highly promising 16-year-old out of
Redlands East Valley High in February 1999.

He spent two predominantly unhappy years in Leverkusen, a grim industrial
town without a hint of the California lifestyle to which Donovan was
accustomed, and was unable to break into the first team.

After four years in MLS, however, he believed that he was ready to try
again and was morally obligated to do so.

"This is not me having to go back to Germany," he said on Nov. 24. "This
is me wanting to go back to Germany.

"They've assured me it's not a prison I'm going back to. If I don't like
it, they will do whatever they need to do to make me happy."

And then there was this:

"I want to assure everyone [that] MLS is absolutely in my future at some
point," he said. "I wish I could tell you when. I don't know. I'm going to
Leverkusen with an open mind, but I can promise you I'll be back in MLS
someday."

April 2 might be that day.

*

The Donovan File

Name: Landon Timothy Donovan

Born: March 4, 1982, in Ontario, Calif.

Current club: Bayer Leverkusen (Germany)

Previous MLS club: San Jose

MLS record: Four years, 101 games, 42 goals, two MLS Cup championships

National team caps: 59

National team goals: 19

U.S. player of the year honors: 2002, '03, '04

International honors: MVP of 1999 FIFA Under-17 World Championships

*

The Ruiz File

Name: Carlos Humberto Ruiz Gutierrez

Born: Sept. 15, 1979, in Guatemala City

Current club: Galaxy

MLS record: Three years, 83 games, 61 goals, one MLS Cup championship

Guatemala caps: 32

Guatemala goals: 18



On Fri, 25 Mar 2005, Gavin O'Brien wrote:

> Where did this rumor come from? Is there anything on the net?
>
>
>
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> Gavin O'Brien
> Apple Computer, Inc.
> 1 Infinite Loop (MS: 301-1ES)
> Cupertino, California 95014
>
>
>
>
> On Mar 25, 2005, at 1:14 PM, Ned wrote:
>
> > If the Donovan-to-LA-and-Ruiz-to-Dallas rumor turns out to be true, it
> > could be that Donovan prefers LA to San Jose because of family and
> > girlfriend in LA area
>
>