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Fourth team the charm?

Diaz Arce gets fresh start with trade to Mutiny

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Posted: Friday July 23, 1999 12:36 PM

For the third time in two years, Raul Diaz Arce, Major League Soccer's second all-time leading goalscorer (60 goals), has been traded, this time from the struggling San Jose Clash to the Tampa Bay Mutiny.

Diaz Arce, who has forged a reputation as an opportunistic scorer, began his career with two-time MLS champion D.C. United. To get under the mandated salary cap, United was forced to deal Diaz Arce to the New England Revolution before the 1998 season, where he led the team with 18 goals. But he did not fit into the plans of new coach Walter Zenga and was dispatched in one of the league's famous three-way trades (via the New York/New Jersey MetroStars) to the Clash.

Things did not work out for the 29-year-old Diaz Arce with the Clash. He was a pre-season holdout, seeking to double his $108,000 salary. After he finally negotiated for a salary in the $200,000 range, Diaz Arce never got into tune with his new team. He had only four goals in 14 games this season, including a 10-game goal drought, so he was traded to the Mutiny on Monday for Costa Rican Alejandro Sequiera.

Maybe things will work out for Diaz Arce, who enjoyed a promising Mutiny debut on Thursday, setting up the first goal and scoring the 83rd-minute equalizer before Tampa Bay lost in the final minute to Kansas City on Thursday night, 4-3.

Sometimes all a player needs is a change of scenery to get his batteries recharged. This time Diaz Arce will have a master creator setting him up -- Carlos Valderrama. This time there cannot be any excuses.

Throw-Ins

• Trivia question: In light of the capacity crowd of 90,185 at the Rose Bowl for the Women's World Cup final on July 10, what is the all-time attendance for a soccer crowd in the U.S.? Answer below.

• Not very appetizing: Saturday's ABC match between the New York/New Jersey MetroStars and Miami Fusion can be likened to the movable object vs. the resistible force. The MetroStars (5-12, nine points), who entered the all-star with the lowest point total of any team in the four-year history of the league, are in sixth and last place in the Eastern Conference. The Fusion (6-12, 14) are in fifth place.

Diaz Arce enjoyed a promising Tampa Bay debut, setting up the first goal and scoring the 83rd-minute equalizer. Doug Pensinger/Allsport

How unappealing is this game? If you add the point totals of the MetroStars and Fusion, they would be tied with the Columbus Crew for second place in the East. Moreover, they would be out of the playoff picture in the Western Conference, trailing the fourth-place Los Angeles Galaxy (10-7, 24).

• Woeful record: The MetroStars hope to be energized by a pair of new foreign allocations -- Yugoslavian midfielder Sasa Curcic and Colombian forward Henry Zambrano. They need all the help they can get. Over the past 26 league games-regular season and playoffs, they have been abysmal. The MetroStars have won two games in regulation over that span and another four in shootouts, while losing 20. That doesn't include a 3-2 overtime loss to the Staten Island Vipers (A-League) in a U.S. Open Cup third-round match last week. They're also 2-14-4 under coach Bora Milutinovic, who has that reputation as a miracle at the international level.

• Looking into the mirror: Give MLS commissioner Doug Logan some credit.

Logan, who at times has taken a beating in the media, took the responsibility for the poor turnout at the All-Star game in San Diego, when 23,277 spectators showed up. It was the smallest crowd in the four-year history of the game. The previous low was 24,816 for the 1997 game -- a mid-week affair in the rain at Giants Stadium. It will be difficult to beat the all-time crowd of 78,416 at Giants Stadium, which was part of a doubleheader with the FIFA All-Star team and Brazilian Olympic team, a year prior.

It seemed the game was snake-bit. While the game itself was entertaining -- the East scored in the first minute, but the West registered a 6-4 win-- the match was supposed to be televised on ABC before the John F. Kennedy Jr. crash pushed it to espn2. Perhaps it worked out for the best so fans wouldn't have had to see so many empty seats, especially a week after the packed house at the Women's World Cup final up the road in Pasadena.

Speaking of snake-bit, the next scheduled MLS broadcast on ESPN -- Diaz Arce's debut with the Mutiny -- was pre-empted by technical difficulties, and the network instead ran a replay of a July 10 matchup between the Colorado Rapids and D.C. United. According to MLS officials, efforts to restore the fiber-optic network or find alternate means of transmission were unsuccessful.

• Trivia answer: The record is 101,799 for the 1984 Olympic gold-medal match between France and Brazil at the Rose Bowl. Incidentally, France won, 2-0.

Michael Lewis covers soccer for the New York Daily News and is editor of Soccer Magazine.

 

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