Raúl Díaz Arce (born February 1, 1970) 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 lea ...

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

Playing career

From 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 (13 in 1989–90 and 21 in 1990–91), 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 was the league's top scorer three season in a row (1993–1996) with 24, 21 and 25 goals, 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 a move to the United States.

D.C. United

In 1996, Diaz Arce signed with

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

, and was drafted tenth overall in the MLS Inaugural Player Draft by D.C. United on February 6. On April 20, Diaz Arce recorded the first goal in D.C. United's history when he scored in the 7th minute against the

LA Galaxy The Los Angeles Galaxy are an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The Gal ...

. 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. 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 perform well in his second season, registering 15 goals, and helping D.C. United to win their second consecutive

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

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 former professional association football, footballer who played as a forward (association football), forward or midfielder. A creative playmaker, he is considered one of the ...

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

New England Revolution The New England Revolution are an American professional association football, soccer club based in the Greater Boston area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. It is on ...

. The deal was not well received by D.C. United's fanbase. On February 5, 1998, in what would become the first three-team trade in MLS history, New England acquired Diaz Arce from D.C. United in exchange for Alexi Lalas and a second-round pick in the 1999 MLS College Draft, which were traded to the MetroStars with the MetroStars' second-round pick in the 1999 MLS College Draft and future considerations going to D.C. United along with New England's first-round pick in the 1999 MLS College Draft. Diaz Arce made his Revolution debut in the first match of a season, a loss to his former club, on March 29, 1998. He scored his first Revolution goal the following match, in a 2–1 defeat to the

Miami Fusion Miami Fusion F.C. was an American professional soccer club based in the Miami metropolitan area. The club competed in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team played from 1998 to 2001. Announced in 1997 as one ...

on April 4. Diaz Arce made his Revolution home debut on April 18, providing an assist in a 1–1 draw against D.C. United in front of a crowd of 24,133 at

Foxboro Stadium Foxboro Stadium, originally Schaefer Stadium and later Sullivan Stadium, was an outdoor stadium in the New England region of the United States, located in Foxborough, Massachusetts. It opened in 1971 and served as the home of the New England ...

. The Revolution would lose the subsequent shoot out. Diaz Arce's success continued in New England. In the 1998 New England Revolution season, he started all 32 league matches, leading the team in minutes played and games played. He was named the Revolution's 1998 scoring champion, notching 18 goals and recording 8 assists. His 18-goal tally was the highest in a single season in club history for a Revs player - a record that would stand for four more seasons, until it was broken by

Taylor Twellman Taylor Timothy Twellman (born February 29, 1980) is an American former soccer player who played professionally from 1999 to 2010. He now works in the media as a soccer television commentator for MLS Season Pass on Apple TV. Twellman is best kn ...

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

. He represented New England in the 1998 MLS All-Star Game alongside his teammate Mike Burns. On January 20, 1999, the Revolution traded Diaz Arce to the MetroStars in return for Giovanni Savarese and a second-round pick in the

2000 MLS SuperDraft The 2000 Major League Soccer MLS SuperDraft, SuperDraft was held on February 6, 2000 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and consisted of six rounds. One of the most successful draft picks was goalkeeper Nick Rimando, a third round pick, who went on t ...

End of MLS career

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

Tampa Bay Mutiny The Tampa Bay Mutiny were an American professional soccer team based in Tampa, Florida. The club competed in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The Mutiny were a charter member of MLS, playing from 1996 to 2001. Th ...

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 Association football, soccer club based in the Denver metropolitan area. The Rapids compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. Founded in ...

, 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 others have surpassed both of their totals.

Charleston & Puerto Rico

For the 2002 season, Diaz Arce played for the

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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, officially the Republic of 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 by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...

in an April 1991 UNCAF Nations Cup qualification match against

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

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 set of competitive matches that a national association football team plays in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the men's FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments ar ...

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

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

and

1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the fourth edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, Gold Cup, the association football, soccer championship for the member associations of CONCACAF, which governs the sport in North America, Central America, and the Caribb ...

s. His final international was a September 2000

match against

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

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 de Fútbol Profesional de El Salvador (First Division of Professional Football of El Salvador), more commonly known as La Liga Mayor or La Primera, also known as Liga Pepsi for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional ...

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

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

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 199 ...

* U.S. Open Cup (1):

Charleston Battery *

USL First Division The USL First Division (USL-1) was a professional men's soccer league in the second tier of the United States league system. It was organized by the United Soccer League as its premier league for men from 1996 to 2010, above the USL Second ...

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

* Southern Derby: 2003 Individual *

MLS All-Star The Major League Soccer All-Star Game is an annual Association football, soccer game held by Major League Soccer featuring selected players from the league against an international club or selected players from another league. MLS initially ado ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

* DC United Hall of Tradition: August 26, 2009

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Diaz Arce, Raul 1970 births Living people Sportspeople from San Miguel, El Salvador Men's association football forwards Salvadoran men's footballers Salvadoran expatriate men's footballers El Salvador men's 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 men's soccer players in the United States Salvadoran expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's 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