Before Saturday night's 3-2 loss at Real Salt Lake, FC Dallas forward Carlos Ruiz hadn't scored in 11 games -- or more than three months, the longest scoring drought of his MLS career.
The Guatemalan international broke out for two goals against RSL. He quickly put his slump to rest with a goal in the fourth minute to give his side a 1-0 lead and then added another tally in first-half stoppage time.
Ruiz termed the evening bittersweet. On a personal level, he ended his scoring drought. But more importantly, his team fell and failed to clinch a playoff spot for the second consecutive game.
"It felt great to finally score again," he said. "It was good for me but bad for the team because we lost to Real Salt Lake. The good thing is that Chivas USA and Houston tied, so we are still in first place. Our next game is at home and we can win that and take advantage of that."
FCD head coach Colin Clarke was also happy to see Ruiz find his scoring touch again.
"I'm very happy for Carlos," he said. "He needed it. You could see the relief on his face. We always knew (the end of his scoring drought) would happen, it was just a matter of when. He had two good goals with two good finishes and was unlucky to not get a hat trick in what was a very disappointing result for us."
Before Saturday, which was his second two-goal game of the season, Ruiz's last goal came in a 2-1 win against Chivas USA in Frisco on June 11. The man known as "El Pescadito" is glad to be finding his form so late in the season heading into the playoffs.
"I think it's good," Ruiz said. "We have four games left in the regular season and then the playoffs. If I score in these games, I get confidence for the playoffs and for my teammates to believe in me again. This is good for me and everybody. I try to do my job and need to keep going and try to score more goals."
Clarke added that scoring droughts are all part of being a forward.
"It's one of those things," he said. "As a forward, you go through a dry spell from time to time. You just have to make sure that you continue to do the right things as much as possible, getting in the right areas and doing the right things when you have the ball.
"Goal scorers never dry up. It always comes back to them. This one lasted longer than any other one has before," Clarke added. "It's all about confidence. He's got his confidence back. I'm sure he'll go on from here and score plenty more."
With the two goals on Saturday, Ruiz now has a team-leading 10 on the season. That's not a bad total considering he also missed more than a month after suffering a hamstring injury in the 2-1 win against the New York Red Bulls on July 8. He missed three games in all and did not return until Aug. 12 at Houston, when he came on as a second-half substitute.
Currently mired in a two-game losing streak in which both defeats have come while playing with a man advantage, FCD will need Ruiz to be at the top of his game if they hope to nail down a playoff spot on Saturday against Real Salt Lake in Frisco.
Steve Hunt is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
