Alejandro Diaz’s ingenuity in attack has been abundantly evident the past two seasons for Pacific FC in the Canadian Premier League. Fluent in Spanish, he may have to show his versatility off the pitch as well this year as team interpreter. That’s because PFC will also play home and away in the CONCACAF League this year against top clubs from Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, a perk of winning the 2021 CPL soccer championship.
The Tridents announced Monday that Diaz will be returning for a third season in 2022. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Transfermarkt has Diaz’s current market value listed at $330,000, although CPL clubs are salary-capped and can not pay individual players that much.
The 26-year-old, nicknamed El Wero Diaz, was born in Mexico City and has played on the home side in Azteca Stadium for Club America in Mexico’s top-tier pro Liga MX.
“It is a magical and historical place,” Diaz has said.
Starlight Stadium hasn’t proven too bad for him, either, as the clever-footed five-foot-10 attacker last season had 10 goals and four assists in CPL play and two more goals in Canadian Championship games in 28 overall appearances in 2021.
Diaz’s skills were evident early in his career as he scored three goals in 12 games for Mexico in a run to the 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup final as runner-up to Nigeria. He also had four goals in seven appearances in U-20 as Mexico won the CONCACAF championship before being knocked out in the group stage at the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup. Diaz also made three appearances for the U-23 Mexico Olympic team.
Diaz has already played in the CONCACAF Champions League with Club America and was also loaned out to Atlas and Necaxa. That experience of playing at the highest levels in Mexico has shown on CPL pitches across sa国际传媒.
“Diaz is a top striker in this league who brings great experience and confidence to our team,” said PFC head coach James Merriman, in a statement.
“His daily approach to our environment is invaluable.”
Diaz joins fellow-veteran striker Josh Heard and sa国际传媒 U-23 defender Thomas Meilleur-Giguère as retentions after PFC lost three-season-original players Terran Campbell and Alessandro Hojabrpour to rival CPL power Forge FC of Hamilton while original three-season defender Lukas MacNaughton has moved up to Toronto FC of Major League Soccer.
