Luis Díaz (Costa Rican footballer)

Luis Mario Díaz Espinoza (born 6 December 1998) is a Costa Rican professional footballer who plays as a winger for Major League Soccer club Columbus Crew and the Costa Rica national team.[1]

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Díaz and the second or maternal family name is Espinoza.
Luis Díaz
Diaz with Columbus Crew in 2019
Personal information
Full name Luis Mario Díaz Espinoza
Date of birth (1998-12-06) 6 December 1998
Place of birth Nicoya, Costa Rica
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s) Winger
Team information
Current team
 Columbus Crew
Number 11
Youth career
2005–2016 AD Guanacasteca
2016 Grecia
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2016–2018 Grecia 45 (2)
2019 Herediano 19 (1)
2019– Columbus Crew 81 (6)
International career‡
2017–2018 Costa Rica U20
2021 Costa Rica U23 3 (0)
2019– Costa Rica 8 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 09:00, 26 April 2023 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 00:39, 29 November 2022 (UTC)

Career

Díaz started his career in the academy of his local team, AD Guanacasteca at the age of five, remaining with the academy until he was seventeen. In 2016, he attended a tournament with Guanacasteca in which he was noticed by Municipal Grecia, where he was subsequently signed.[2] In the 2016–17 season, he and Grecia earned promotion to Liga FPD, the first division of Costa Rican football.[3] Over the summer of 2018, Díaz was the subject of transfer rumors from Herediano;[4] he would officially join Herediano for the 2019 Clausura.[5] On July 2, 2019, it was announced that Díaz had been transferred to Major League Soccer club Columbus Crew SC for $1 million, and would join the club as a Young Designated Player.[6][7]

Díaz made his Columbus debut on July 17 against the Chicago Fire.[8] Coming on in the 65th minute for Eduardo Sosa, Diaz assisted fellow debutant Romario Williams in scoring a 90th-minute equalizer as part of a 2–2 draw.[8] He went on to finish the 2019 season making 13 appearances along with two goals and four assists.[9] During the 2020 season, Diaz was part of the Columbus team that won the 2020 MLS Cup, making a total of 25 appearances for the club.[9][10] Though Diaz was in and out of the starting lineup throughout the season, he started three out of four of the club's playoff games, including the final in which Columbus beat the Seattle Sounders 3–0.[10]

International

He made his Costa Rica national team debut on 6 September 2019 in a friendly against Uruguay, when he replaced Joel Campbell in the 68th minute and was cautioned in the remaining minutes.[11]

Career statistics

Club
As of 28 November 2022[12][13]
Club Season League Cup Continental[lower-alpha 1] Other[lower-alpha 2] Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Grecia 2016–17 Segunda División 00––2[lower-alpha 3]020
2017–18 Liga FPD 272–––272
2018–19 180–––180
Total 452––20472
Herediano 2018–19 Liga FPD 191–2020231
Columbus Crew 2019 MLS 132–––132
2020 21 0 1[lower-alpha 4] 0 – 4 0 26 0
2021 18 1 1[lower-alpha 5] 0 4 0 – 23 1
2022 26 3 – – – 26 3
Career total 14292060801589
  1. All appearances in the CONCACAF Champions League
  2. Appearances in the Liga FPD playoffs and the Major League Soccer Playoffs
  3. Appearances in the Segunda División promotion playoffs
  4. Appearance in the MLS is Back Tournament
  5. Appearance in the Campeones Cup

International
As of 15 May 2022[14]
Costa Rica
Year Apps Goals
201920
202020
202140
Total80

Honours

Columbus Crew

References
  1. "Luis Díaz formará parte del Club Sport Herediano". January 2, 2019.
  2. "Los tres jugadores que el Saprissa llamó, pero estaban firmados por Herediano". La Nación (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-11-29.
  3. "VIDEOS: El Municipal Grecia es campeón y asciende a la primera división". everardoherrera.com. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  4. Ramirez, Wender (23 November 2018). "Luis Díaz deja Grecia para iniciar su aventura en Herediano" [Luis Díaz leaves Grecia to begin his adventure in Herediano]. MarioSegura.com (in Spanish). MarioSegura.com. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
  5. "Luis Díaz formará parte del Club Sport Herediano". Club Sport Herediano (in Spanish). 2 January 2019. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  6. "Crew Sign Luis Diaz". Major League Soccer. 2 July 2019.
  7. Myers, Jacob. "Columbus Crew signs Costa Rica winger Luis Diaz on $1 million transfer fee". The Columbus Dispatch. Retrieved 2021-08-05.
  8. "Chicago Fire vs. Columbus Crew SC - Football Match Line-Ups - July 17, 2019 - ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
  9. "Costa Rica - L. Díaz - Profile with news, career statistics and history - Soccerway". int.soccerway.com. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
  10. Straus, Brian. "Resilient at Their Core, Crew Are Fitting MLS Cup Champions in 2020". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
  11. "Costa Rica v Uruguay game report". ESPN. 6 September 2019.
  12. Luis Díaz at Soccerway. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
  13. Luis Díaz at Major League Soccer
  14. "Luis Díaz". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmermann. Retrieved 16 September 2019.
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