Pablo Ruiz thinks we should all try to score from midfield, just like him

Who needs to get close to goal anyway?

Pablo Ruiz, take a bow.

The Real Salt Lake midfielder scored an unreal goal on the road against D.C. United, firing a 68-yard effort — that is, at least a full yard inside RSL’s half — to open the scoring just before halftime.

This has been a brewing storyline for United this season. Wayne Rooney’s tactical approach has involved bringing Miller up very high in possession. The idea is simple: Miller’s comfort on the ball allows United to create an overload elsewhere in possession, and attacking overloads are more dangerous than being even-numbers.

Rooney has been clear about the risks all season, noting to reporters more than once that eventually United might pay the price on a goal somewhere along the way. From a big-picture perspective, the gains would outweigh the long odds of someone actually scoring from midfield.

Last weekend at Atlanta, Miller paid the price for the aggression baked into his role in a different way. His attempt to cut Giorgios Giakoumakis off on an angled ball saw the Greek striker win the race, sliding home a finish into an empty net.

This time? With all due respect to Giakoumakis, Ruiz’s goal was something from another realm.

The sequence leading to the goal couldn’t have been less threatening. United was playing with a higher line despite going down a man in the 26th minute after captain Steven Birnbaum was given a red card.

RSL was stuck slowly building in possession against United’s 4-4-1 formation when Andrew Brody passed backwards to Ruiz, who had dipped back into some space away from the home team’s midfield.

Ruiz had tried and failed from around 40 yards out earlier, but with no one closing him down, he decided to up the ante with a shot that couldn’t have been placed better. His effort arced into the upper corner of the south goal at Audi Field, tantalizingly out of Miller’s reach.

After the match, Ruiz told reporters that scoring a goal like that was “my dream.”

“I talked to Pablo, so I know this keeper plays more [outside] the area. When I touched [the ball], I looked,” explained Ruiz, noting that he had an inkling that such a goal was possible on the night. “I’m very happy. I’m very happy for the goals, for these three points.”

RSL head coach Pablo Mastroeni compared the strike to one Marco Etcheverry scored for United (ironically enough against the Miami Fusion, featuring Mastroeni as a player in 1999. That goal went on to win MLS Goal of the Year.

“Pablo has a wand for a left foot,” said Mastroeni. “It’s an amazing football play, man. Super happy for Pablo… the angle in which he put it in, the distance from which he shot it, the execution was top class.”

United manager Wayne Rooney — who knows a thing or two about long-range goals — may not have been happy to lose, but couldn’t deny it was a magnificent strike.

“It’s a great strike,” said Rooney. “Sometimes you have to appreciate good goals, and it’s an incredible strike by the lad.”

Watch Ruiz’s otherworldly strike

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