Raúl Díaz Arce (born February 1, 1970 in San Miguel, El Salvador) is a Salvadoran former professional footballer who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

. 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 Club Deportivo Luis Ángel Firpo (often abbreviated to Firpo) is an El Salvador professional association football club based in Usulután. The club was founded in 1923, and has played at its current home ground, Estadio Sergio Torres, since 1930 ...

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

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D.C. United

In 1996, Diaz Arce signed with

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

, 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 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.

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.

End of MLS career

Nevertheless, Diaz Arce was traded again, and eventually played for the Tampa Bay Mutiny 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,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 Jason Clarence Kreis (born December 29, 1972) is an American soccer coach and former player who currently serves as an assistant coach for MLS club Inter Miami CF and as head coach of the United States under-23 team. He coached Orlando City S ...

, Jaime Moreno, Ante Razov and Jeff Cunningham and others have surpassed both of their totals.

Charleston & Puerto Rico

For the 2002 season, Diaz Arce played for the Charleston Battery of the

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, 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.

International career

Diaz Arce made his debut for

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

in an April 1991 UNCAF Nations Cup qualification match against Nicaragua 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 The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are hel ...

matches and played at several UNCAF Nations Cups as well as at the

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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 O ...

s.CONCACAF Championship, Gold Cup 1998 - Full Details
- RSSSF His final international was a September 2000

match against

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

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

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 t ...

* MLS Supporters' Shield (1):

U.S. Open Cup The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in men's Soccer in the United States, soccer in the United States of America. It is the oldest ongoing nati ...

(1):

Charleston Battery * USL First Division (1):

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* Southern Derby (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