Raúl Díaz Arce
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Raúl Ignacio Díaz Arce | ||
| Date of birth | February 1, 1970 | ||
| Place of birth | San Miguel, El Salvador | ||
| Height | 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) | ||
| Playing position | Forward | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1988–1990 | Dragón | ? | (34) |
| 1991–1996 | Firpo | ? | (119) |
| 1996–1997 | D.C. United | 50 | (38) |
| 1998 | New England Revolution | 32 | (18) |
| 1999 | San Jose Clash | 18 | (4) |
| 1999–2000 | Tampa Bay Mutiny | 22 | (13) |
| 2000–2001 | D.C. United | 18 | (6) |
| 2001 | Colorado Rapids | 12 | (3) |
| 2002 | Charleston Battery | 24 | (5) |
| 2002 | Águila | 24 | (5) |
| 2003 | Charleston Battery | 26 | (6) |
| 2004 | Puerto Rico Islanders | 15 | (7) |
| Total | 241+ | (266) | |
| National team‡ | |||
| 1987–2003 | El Salvador | 68 | (39) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 30 March 2010. ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 30 March 2010 |
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Raúl Díaz Arce (born February 1, 1970 in San Miguel, El Salvador) is a retired Salvadoran football player.
He is El Salvador's most prolific goal scorer, with 39 goals in just 68 appearances.
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 would go on to win 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.
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.
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.
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.
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