Raúl Díaz Arce (born February 1, 1970 in

San Miguel, El Salvador San Miguel () is a city in eastern El Salvador. It is the country's third most populous city. It is located 138 km east of the capital, San Salvador. It is also the capital of the department of San Miguel and a municipality. The population ...

) is a Salvadoran former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as a forward. He is El Salvador's most prolific goal scorer, with 39 goals in just 68 appearances.

Playing career

1985 to 1986 Arce played for Deportivo Jalapa in Guatemala. From 1988 to 1991, Arce played for Dragon in the Salvadoran second division, where he was the league's leading scorer in the 1991/92 season with 21 goals. Playing for Dragon, in two seasons in first division, Ignacio Raul scored 34 goals (89/90 = 13 90/91 = 21), in the second season he was the scoring champion of the regular season when he played four laps. He then moved up to play for C.D. Luis Ángel Firpo of the Salvadoran first division from 1991 to 1996. Here he won the league's top scorer three season in a row (1993–1996) with 24, 21 and 25, respectively. In Luis Ángel Firpo he scored in five seasons with a total of 119 goals. These early achievements earned him a spot in the national team and employment in the U.S. Soccer.

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 Roy Lee Lassiter (born March 9, 1969) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a forward. He played the first few years of his professional career in Costa Rica. He returned to the United States to play in Major League So ...

, 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 went 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 The MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Cup Playoffs. The game is held in November and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Conferen ...

New England Revolution

Salary cap pressures and reported conflicts between Diaz Arce and

Marco Etcheverry Marco Antonio Etcheverry Vargas (born 26 September 1970) is a Bolivian retired professional footballer who played as a forward. A creative playmaker, he is considered one of the greatest Bolivian players of all time. Etcheverry played for D.C. ...

, resulted in D.C. trading one of the league's most prolific scorers to the

New England Revolution The New England Revolution is an American professional soccer club based in the Greater Boston area that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), in the Eastern Conference of the league. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having compe ...

in the offseason of 1997. Diaz Arce continued to excel in New England, scoring 18 goals and 8 assists for his new team.

End of MLS career

Nevertheless, Diaz Arce was traded again, and eventually played for the

Tampa Bay Mutiny Tampa Bay Mutiny was a professional soccer team based in Tampa, Florida. They were a charter member of Major League Soccer (MLS) and played from 1996 to 2001. They played their home games at Tampa Stadium and then at Raymond James Stadium. The ...

and San Jose Clash, as well as briefly with the MetroStars, registering 13 goals and 7 assists in the 1999 season. Diaz Arce continued 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 The Colorado Rapids are an American professional soccer club based in the Denver metropolitan area. The Rapids compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Founded in 1995, as part of the Anschutz Corporation, lat ...

,with whom he ended his career in MLS. Diaz Arce left MLS second in career goals scored with 82, behind only Roy Lassiter; although he has fallen as Jason Kreis, Jaime Moreno,

Ante Razov Ante Razov (born March 2, 1974) is an American soccer coach and former player who is an assistant coach for Los Angeles FC. One of the leading goal scorers in the history of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the all-time leading goal scorer for t ...

and

Jeff Cunningham Jeff Cunningham (born August 21, 1976) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a forward. He is Major League Soccer's third-all-time leader in regular-season goals scored with 134. Youth and college Cunningham was born ...

and others have surpassed both of their totals.

Charleston & Puerto Rico

For the 2002 season, Diaz Arce played for the

Charleston Battery The Charleston Battery are an American professional soccer club based in Charleston, South Carolina, and member of the USL Championship. Founded in 1993, the Battery are one of the oldest continuously operating professional soccer clubs in th ...

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 Puerto, a Spanish word meaning ''seaport'', may refer to: Places *El Puerto de Santa María, Andalusia, Spain *Puerto, a seaport town in Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines *Puerto Colombia, Colombia *Puerto Cumarebo, Venezuela *Puerto Galera, Orient ...

, 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.

International career

Diaz Arce made his debut for El Salvador in an April 1991 UNCAF Nations Cup qualification match against

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the countr ...

in which he scored two goals. Over his career, he earned a total of 68 caps, scoring a record 39 goals. He represented his country in 28 FIFA World Cup qualification matches and played at several UNCAF Nations Cups as well as at the 1996 and

1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the fourth edition of the Gold Cup, the soccer championship of North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF). The tournament was once again held in the United States, in Los Angeles, Miami, and Oakla ...

s.CONCACAF Championship, Gold Cup 1998 - Full Details
- RSSSF His final international was a September 2000 FIFA World Cup qualification match against Honduras.

International goals

:''Scores and results list El Salvador's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each El Salvador goal''.

Honours

C.D. Luis Ángel Firpo *

Primera División de Fútbol de El Salvador The ''Primera División'' of the (''Professional Football League''), more commonly known as ''La Liga Mayor'' or ''La Primera'', is the top professional football league in El Salvador. It was established in 1969, and in 2011 had 10 clubs. Init ...

(2): 1991/92, 1992/93 D.C. United *

(2): 1996,

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

MLS Supporters' Shield The Supporters' Shield is an annual award given to the Major League Soccer team with the best regular season record, as determined by the MLS points system. The Supporters' Shield has been annually awarded at the MLS Supporters' Summit since ...

(1):

* U.S. Open Cup (1): 1996 Charleston Battery *

USL First Division The USL First Division (usually referred to as USL-1) was a professional men's soccer league in the United States and Canada from 2005 to 2010. During its existence, it formed the second tier of soccer in the United States soccer league system ...

(1): 2003 *

Southern Derby The Southern Derby is a fan-based U.S. professional soccer cup competition between USL Championship (USLC) teams based in the South-Atlantic region of the United States ( North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.). It was founded in 2000. ...

(1): 2003 ''On August 26, 2009, Díaz-Arce was announced as a new member in the DC United Hall of Tradition.''

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Diaz Arce, Raul 1970 births Living people People from San Miguel, El Salvador Association football forwards Salvadoran footballers Salvadoran expatriate footballers El Salvador international footballers 1996 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup players C.D. Luis Ángel Firpo footballers D.C. United players New England Revolution players San Jose Earthquakes players Tampa Bay Mutiny players Colorado Rapids players Charleston Battery players C.D. Águila footballers Puerto Rico Islanders players Expatriate soccer players in the United States Salvadoran expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate footballers in Puerto Rico Salvadoran expatriate sportspeople in Puerto Rico A-League (1995–2004) players Salvadoran football managers Major League Soccer players Major League Soccer All-Stars