Sacramento Republic’s Rafael Diaz makes competitive debut for Dominican Republic

Sacramento Republic FC goalkeeper Rafael Diaz made his competitive debut for the Dominican Republic on Wednesday, as his country played to a 1-0 win against Dominica in Concacaf World Cup qualifying in Santo Domingo.

Diaz, who made his debut for DR in January in a friendly, was in net as qualifying for the 2022 World Cup began this week in the region.

The hosts found the breakthrough in the 52nd minute, as Francisco Nuñez hit a shot that just squirted in under the crossbar to give Dominican Republic the lead.

And that was all they needed, as they held on for the win. It’s a great start, but DR will need to keep racking up wins if they have hope of advancing in World Cup qualifying, seeing as only one of five teams in their group advances and one of those opponents is Panama, who reached the last World Cup.

Still, you can only play the games in front of you, and Dominican Republic’s next match is another World Cup qualifier, Saturday against Anguilla at 3 pm PT on Paramount+.

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