The Red Bulls are looking ahead as they will be without the services of number one goalkeeper Luis Robles for the Champions League. So they dipped into their own USL team, New York Red Bulls II to sign Rockaway N.J. native Rafael Diaz.
Diaz has a lot of accomplishments under his belt such as the winning New Jersey Player of the Year for Gatorade and the NSCAA as senior. In college he often kept a clean net with 32 shutouts in four years at St. John’s University.
The 26-year old has sharpened his skills professionally in the USL ranks first with Orlando City in 2014 before coming to New York playing for NYRB II. He has shut out opponents in three of his five appearances and two allowed in eleven matches impressing the man who matters most head coach Jesse Marsch. “Rafi has done well to learn and improve over the last two seasons,” Marsch said, “He has proven to be a good professional and we look forward to him continuing his development with the club this season.”
If the 6-0 foot product from the Dominican Republic Diaz improves over his USL save percentage best of .905 the Red Bulls will be tickled to death. He already has a USL Cup to his credit, something the Red Buls hope will translate up here with the big club.
For now he is a solid third behind Ryan Meara and in competition with Evan Louro, who the Red Bulls signed to a Homegrown player contract. Diaz will most likely be up and down but he will get a chance to impress further.
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