Feature image courtesy BSFC Communications

Bethlehem Steel FC have acquired Panamanian youth international forward Saed Diaz , on loan with an option to extend or purchase PSP has since learned, the club announced Friday.

Sporting Director Ernst Tanner calls him the best forward from the November 2018 Concacaf U20 Championship tournament held in Bradenton, FL that was won by the USMNT U20s, ranking him ahead of the tourney’s official  best IX strikers from Mexico and the United States.

Steel head coach Brendan Burke said, “Saed Diaz is big, athletic and displays a willingness to work hard without the ball. We think he will fit and develop well with us.”

Diaz started for Panama in last November’s Concacaf U20 championship tournament as one of two strikers on the side that qualified for this coming spring’s FIFA U20 World Cup in Poland, the same tournament that runs from May 23 to June 15, 2019 in which Union defenders Mark McKenzie and Matt Real are also likely to participate.

Diaz’s Panamanian side tied Mexico in the semifinal but failed to advance because a back-up tie-breaker, number of yellow cards accumulated, favored the Mexicans. The new Steel man had an assist on the first goal against El Tri.

Diaz is 19 years old, stands 6-1, weighs 175 lbs., and is right-footed.

Transfermarkt.com lists him but gives no valuation. He had been with Tauro FC’s first team since last July, after a few years with their reserve sides.

Should Diaz earn a starting role with Bethlehem, like McKenzie and Real, he will need backup while he is in Poland. It is too early to know whether the support will come down from the first team, up from the Academy, or emerge off Bethlehem’s bench.

There are now four players rostered to Bethlehem for the 2019 season, Faris, Michee Ngalina, Selmir Miscic and Diaz.