LTA Agency’s Spanish striker Maria Ruiz, better known as Mery, scored a crucial second goal and provided two assists for her Zvezda-2005 teammates as they defeated Norwegian Champions and Cup Winners Røa IL 4:0 in the second leg of the UEFA Women’s Champions League round of 16 to qualify for the spring quarterfinal stage 5:1 on aggregate.

The result represents the reverse of the last-year’s round of 16 tie between the same opponents when Røa went through on away goals after 1:1 and 0:0 draws. It marks the second time the Russian club from the most eastern European city of Perm makes it to the spring stages of the competition after a run to the final in 2008-2009 season. Zvezda-2005 joins the other 7 European powerhouses in this Friday’ s quarterfinal draw in Nyon, Switzerland along with English Arsenal and Everton, French Juvisy and Lyon, German Turbine and Duisburg, and Linköpings of Sweden.

Mery is the last remaining representative of Spain in Europe’s best 2010-2011 women’s club competition after last year’s Superliga Champions Rayo Vallecano were eliminated by Arsenal in London. The Madrid-born striker was also named player of the match in the previous round of the tournament when she scored a goal and had an assist in Limassol against the Cypriot victors of the giants from Umea – FC Apollon. Zvezda-2005 won the match 2:1.

Along with Mery, LTA Agency’s Mexican midfielder Fatima Leyva, South African forward Busi Ndimeni, and Bulgarian strength and conditioning coach Kaloyan Petkov were part of Zvezda’s success and will be preparing for the quarter final matches in March of next year.

All eight quarter-finalists in focus from UEFA.com: 2010-2011 UEFA Women’s Champions League Quarter-Finalists

LTA Agency’s striker Maria Ruiz, better known as Mery, scored two goals in as many games in La Copa de La Reina Final Four tournament in Basauri to help RCD Espanyol de Barcelona retain their Spanish Cup crown.

The win caps a highly successful season for Espanyol which lost the Superliga Final by one goal to Rayo and won the Spanish Cup for the second time in a row. Mery and LTA’s Italian international forward Pamela Conti were instrumental in Espanyol’s impressive run this season by notching 17 and 27 goals respectively. They both add the first Spanish Cup title to the Cup triumphs they have previously experienced in the USA and Italy. Mery was part of FC Indiana’s 2008 US Open Cup winning team, and Conti has 4 Coppa Italia titles to her name won with Eurospin Torres in her native Italy.

Both prolific strikers are subject to a number of potential offers from leading clubs in Spain, Europe, and the US, but RCD Espanyol seems to be in the pole position to retain the services of Mery and Conti for the upcoming 2010-2011 season.

María Ruiz is more known to most people as Mery. “My first team had three girls who were called María, and I was nicknamed ‘Mery’ to differentiate,” she explains. Mery is one of the best strikers in Spain and one of the few Spanish players who has played in the American Women’s Soccer Leagues, which are some of the best in the world. Her football quality is unquestionable, but her other great virtue is her love for teaching children. “… I started coaching in the U.S., and one of the conditions I set before signing for Espanyol was to be able to continue training kids. I’m also still in school together with (LTA’s Italian forward) Pamela Conti,” she says. It is not easy, but Mery finds time for everything.

First steps

Like many girls, Mery started playing football in the street and in school with other children. Because of her parents’ work, she moved to Morocco where she continued playing. “They had to convince the physical education teacher to let me play football. I spent all day with the other kids my age playing,” she recalls. Mery knew she wanted to move back to Spain and join her first girls’ team. “I was 13 years old, and it was difficult to find a team for girls. In the end, it was Lourdes, which was also my school. We played in a league in which there were girls of 13 and women of 32 years old. I spent two years there, and then a U16 category was created,” she remembers.

Once in the U16s, Mery’s team became successful. “We started in the regional competition and went all the way up to the Nationals, which was a huge success,” she says. She personally did so well that a team from the Superliga called Estudiantes decided to sign her. “We were a group of seven players who lived and trained in Madrid. We would just go to matches together. If we played at home, we just met the team at the field, and if it was an away game the team bus came to pick us up at some midpoint,” she explains. Mery recalls those days with great joy. “We did our physical conditioning in a park. We had a personal trainer, who knew one of my teammates, who did an outstanding job. She was always able to surprise us and teach us something new. Her workouts were the best I’ve ever experienced.”

Despite the difficulties Estudiantes had a couple of very good seasons. “I spent two seasons there: in the first we finished third, and in the second – fourth and even led the league midseason. We even managed to reach the final of the Copa de la Reina (the Spanish Cup),” she says. Mery has always been very impulsive, and she decided she wanted to try playing in the US, one of the greatest countries in the world for women’s football.

America

“My English was not very good, but I still signed up with a company which took players for 30-day trials in America. We were in Florida, and it was terribly hot. It seemed like it was 50 degrees Celcius because of the humidity … At the end of the trials, I had offers from three universities, and I opted for Park (Missouri) because they gave me full scholarship. I went there with a friend from Madrid Laura Baeza,” she says.

Mery, who had begun studying for a teacher in Spain, started a course of Athletic Training. She spent five years playing in the college league, but in her third season she got another great opportunity. “I was called by a team named FC Indiana to play in the Women’s Premier Soccer National League, which lasted from May to August. I played there two very successful years in a row, in the first we won the league and lost the cup final, and in the second it happened in reverse,” she reveals. Her last year in the US, she played in Buffalo. “I wanted a change, but things did not go as well, and we lost to Indiana in the play-offs.” Mery thought about staying another year in the United States where football is lived quite differently. “Being a new sport for them there is not so much machismo, and many people follow women’s football,” she says. However, after much thought, she decided to accept the offer from Espanyol.

“My experience in the United States was very good. I have grown both in football terms and academically. Also, it was difficult because I had to survive in a country very different from mine. The support of my parents was fundamental because they insisted that I should stay when things were not going so well,” she says.

Mery closed her US stage for now and embarked on a new adventure. “I had options to play in Europe, but Espanyol’s interest was the decisive factor. I spoke with Pamela Conti, and she told me she was going to sign there, as well. It is a team with great players, who in recent seasons has been competing at the very top, and it is part of the structure of a great club. I did not hesitate,” she stresses.

The coaching

“When I was in America, I realized that a lot of young girls came to our games. I saw a lot of girls play in the gardens, parks, backyards … We were role models for them. While in college, we did a few camps, and some coaches asked me to train young girls. But there was also a group of girls trained by one of the fathers, who didn’t really know much about soccer, so he hired me to come and help from time to time,” she explains.

Thus began her coaching career. She organized and worked in multiple camps as well as working with individual players. She remembers helping two twins for a period of four years: “Everyone learned so much during the four years we were there, and the girls improved a lot.” “The parents also absorbed a lot of football concepts in that time!” she points out.

Obviously, Mery wanted to continue with coaching. “I’m with Lino now coaching an academy team, and I really enjoy it! Also, I’m coaching a futsal team together with Pamela,” she says. For the Madrid-native, one of the most positive aspects is that more and more girls receive more personalized training. “I wish I had been able to train like this when I was little. I would have liked to have an all-girls team. Fortunately, it is now changing for the better,” she says.

Mery feels very rewarded with this work. “Seeing children improve makes you feel very useful. You feel very grateful because by doing a little you get a lot in return. Children appreciate your efforts and your dedication to them; it’s something very beautiful,” she remarks.

Mery, who recalls that she started learning by playing against “the tree and the wall,” is not only one of the best on the football pitch but is also remarkable off of it.