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Raúl Díaz Arce (born February 1, 1970) is a Salvadoran former professional footballer who played as a forward. He is El Salvador's most prolific goal scorer, with 39 goals in just 68 appearances. ^[1]

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 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 a move to the United States. ^[2]

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.^{[ citation needed]} 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.

New England Revolution

Salary cap pressures and reported conflicts between Diaz Arce and Marco Etcheverry,^{[ citation needed]} 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;^{[ citation needed]} although he has fallen as others have surpassed both of their totals.

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.

International career

Diaz Arce made his debut for El Salvador 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 matches ^[3] and played at several UNCAF Nations Cups as well as at the 1996 ^[4] and 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cups. ^[5] 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.

List of international goals scored by Raúl Díaz Arce

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition	Ref.
1	4 April 1991	Dennis Martínez National Stadium, Managua, Nicaragua	Nicaragua	1–0	3–2	1991 UNCAF Nations Cup qualification
2				3–2
3	24 April 1991	Estadio Cuscatlán, San Salvador, El Salvador		2–0	2–0
4	29 May 1991	Estadio Nacional, San José, Costa Rica	Costa Rica	1–0	1–7	1991 UNCAF Nations Cup
5	6 December 1992	Estadio Cuscatlán, San Salvador, El Salvador	Jamaica	2–1	2–1	1994 FIFA World Cup qualification
6	18 February 1993	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, United States	Russia	1–2	1–2	Friendly
7	7 March 1993	Estadio Tiburcio Carías Andino, Tegucigalpa, Honduras	Panama	1–0	1–1	1993 UNCAF Nations Cup
8	12 March 1993	Estadio Cuscatlán, San Salvador, El Salvador	Bolivia	1–1	2–2	Friendly
9				2–1
10	23 March 1993		United States	1–0	2–2
11	9 May 1993		Honduras	1–0	2–1	1994 FIFA World Cup qualification
12	3 May 1994	Miami Orange Bowl, Miami, United States		1–0	3–1	Miami Cup
13				2–0
14				3–0
15	29 November 1995	Estadio Cuscatlán, San Salvador, El Salvador	Belize	3–0	3–0	1995 UNCAF Nations Cup
16	10 December 1995		Costa Rica	1–0	2–1
17	10 January 1996	Anaheim Stadium, Anaheim, United States	Trinidad and Tobago	1–0	3–2	1996 CONCACAF Gold Cup
18				3–2
19	8 September 1996	Estadio Cuscatlán, San Salvador, El Salvador	Cuba	1–0	5–0	1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
20				4–0
21	8 September 1996	Estadio Rommel Fernández, Panama City, Panama	Panama	1–1	1–1
22	10 November 1996	Estadio Cuscatlán, San Salvador, El Salvador		1–1	3–2
23	1 December 1996		Cuba	2–0	3–0
24	4 May 1997		Costa Rica	1–0	2–1
25	29 June 1997		United States	1–1	1–1
26	14 September 1997		Canada	4–1	4–1
27	16 November 1997	Foxboro Stadium, Foxboro, United States	United States	2–3	2–4
28	8 October 1999	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, United States	Canada	1–1	1–2	2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup qualification
29	10 October 1999		Cuba	1–1	1–3
30	29 February 2000	Estadio Jorge "Mágico" González, San Salvador, El Salvador	Panama	2–0	3–1	Friendly
31				3–1
32	5 March 2000	Estadio Cuscatlán, San Salvador, El Salvador	Belize	3–0	5–0	2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
33	28 March 2000	Estadio Jorge "Mágico" González, San Salvador, El Salvador	Haiti	1–0	3–1	Friendly
34	2 April 2000	Estadio Doroteo Guamuch Flores, Guatemala City, Guatemala	Guatemala	3–0	5–0	2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
35	16 April 2000	People's Stadium, Orange Walk Town, Belize	Belize	1–0	3–1
36	7 May 2000	Estadio Cuscatlán, San Salvador, El Salvador	Guatemala	1–0	3–1
37	23 July 2000		Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	5–1	7–1
38				6–1
39				7–1

Honours

C.D. Luis Ángel Firpo

• Primera División de Fútbol de El Salvador: 1991/92, 1992/93

D.C. United

• MLS Cup: 1996, 1997
• MLS Supporters' Shield: 1997
• U.S. Open Cup (1): 1996

Charleston Battery

• USL First Division: 2003
• Southern Derby: 2003

Individual

• MLS All-Star: 1997, ^[6] 1998, ^[7] 1999 ^[8]
• DC United Hall of Tradition: August 26, 2009

References

External links

• Raúl Díaz Arce at National-Football-Teams.com
• Charleston Battery Player Profile at the Wayback Machine (archived 2008-03-16)