Raúl Díaz Arce (born February 1, 1970 in San Miguel, El Salvador) is a retired Salvadoran football (soccer) player. He is El Salvador's second most goal scorer behind Jorge "Mágico" González with 39 goals in just 55 appearances.

[edit] Playing Career

[edit] Early Career

Diaz Arce played for Dragon of the Salvadoran second division from 1988 to 1991, were he was the leagues leading scorer in the 1991/92 season with 21 goals. He then moved up to play for C.D. Luis Angel Firpo of the Salvadoran first division from 1991 to 1996. Here he would go onto win the leagues top scorer three season in a row (1993-1996) with 24, 21 and 25, respectively.

[edit] D.C. United

In 1996, Diaz Arce signed with Major League Soccer, and was drafted tenth overall in the MLS Inaugural Player Draft by D.C. United. He quickly established himself as a dangerous striker in the league, scoring 23 goals in his first season with United, second in the league behind Roy Lassiter, and still the fifth best single-season mark in MLS history. Diaz Arce was also the first player in MLS history to score a hat-trick in postseason play. He scored 3 against the Tampa Bay Mutiny on October 10, 1996. DC United won 4-1 and would go on to become the first MLS Champions. Diaz Arce continued to light things up in his second season, registering 15 goals, and helping D.C. United to win their second consecutive MLS Cup.

[edit] New England Revolution

Salary cap pressures, and reported conflicts between Diaz Arce and Marco Etcheverry, resulted in D.C. trading one of the league's most prolific scorers to the New England Revolution in the offseason of 1997. Diaz Arce continued to excel in New England, scoring 18 goals and 8 assists for his new team.

[edit] End of MLS career

Nevertheless, Diaz Arce was traded again, and would eventually play for the Tampa Bay Mutiny and San Jose Clash, as well as being briefly owned by the MetroStars, registering 13 goals and 7 assists in the 1999 season. Diaz Arce would continue to be shuttled around in 2000, playing for Tampa Bay and D.C. again in 2000, and scoring a career low 9 goals. Diaz Arce continued to decline in 2001, playing only briefly for D.C. United before being traded again to the Colorado Rapids, with whom he would end his career in MLS. Diaz Arce left MLS second in career goals scored with 82, behind only Roy Lassiter, although he has fallen to sixth as Jason Kreis, Jaime Moreno, Ante Razov and Jeff Cunningham have surpassed both of their totals.

[edit] Charleston & Puerto Rico

For the 2002 season, Diaz Arce played for the Charleston Battery of the A-League, scoring 6 goals and 4 assists in 1319 minutes. He was not the success Charleston had hoped for, however, and left following the year. In 2004, Diaz Arce joined the struggling expansion Puerto Rico Islanders, and gave the team a significant boost, scoring two goals in his first game and a total of 7 in 1233 minutes, and helping the team attain a level of respectability. He is now the U.S. Soccer Development Academy Director at the Chicago Magico Soccer Club.

[edit] Honours

On August 26, 2009 he was announced as a new member in the DC United Hall of Tradition.

[edit] External links

• [1]
• [2]
• Charleston Battery Player Profile

v • d • e El Salvador squad – 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup 1 Alfaro • 2 Hernández • 3 Cárcamo • 4 Rojas • 5 de la Cruz • 6 Vicevic • 7 Renderos • 8 C. Castro • 9 I. Castro • 10 González • 11 Cerritos • 12 Cienfuegos • 14 Amaya • 16 Argueta • 17 Rodríguez • 18 Guerra • 19 Díaz • 20 Iraheta • 21 G. Rivera • 22 S. Rivera • Coach: Dojčinovski