El Salvador national football team

The El Salvador national football team is the national team of El Salvador and is controlled by the Federación Salvadoreña de Fútbol. They have qualified for two World Cups, Mexico 70 and España 82.

In the 1970 tournament, El Salvador lost their first game 3-0 to Belgium in Mexico City on June 3. On June 7, the team played its second match against the host nation. It proved to be a controversial affair: with the score still at 0-0, the Egyptian referee Hussain Kandil awarded a free-kick to the Salvadorans in their own half. It was immediately taken by Mexico, who scored a couple of seconds later. The Salvadoran players protested vigorously, to the extent of physically jostling Bermudan linesman Keith Dunstan, but the goal was allowed to stand. El Salvador were demoralised as a result, and Mexico subsequently won the game 4-0 with ease in Mexico City. On June 10, El Salvador lost their final match in the tournament 2-0 to the USSR in Mexico City, to finish bottom of Group A.

In 1982, El Salvador took a 20-man squad (two players short of the normal 22, for reasons that remain unclear), coached by Mauricio "Pipo" Rodríguez, to Spain. However, the team's experience was an unhappy one. In their first match on June 15, in Elche, they were defeated 10-1 by Hungary, a scoreline that stands as a World Cup record to this day. One crumb of comfort was that Luis Ramírez Zapata did score the country's first ever World Cup goal during the game, albeit at a point when the Salvadorans were already down 5-0.

El Salvador managed to regain some pride in their subsequent games: displaying much-improved levels of organisation and commitment, they lost 1-0 to Belgium on June 19 in Elche and 2-0 to the then reigning world champions Argentina in Alicante on June 23.

The Salvadoran football is also known for its part in the Football War, which started after a qualifying game for Mexico 70 against Honduras. After massive rioting between the fans, the Salvadoran army launched an attack against Honduras on July 14, 1969. A ceasefire came into effect six days later. However the reality is that the war came upon conflicts that had been going on for some time, due to problems with the national borders between the two countries.

World Cup record

Year	Finish	Wins	Losses	Draws	Goals Scored	Goals Against
1930 to 1934	Did not enter
1938	Withdrew
1950 to 1966	Did not enter
1970	Round 1	0	3	0	0	9
1974 to 1978	Did not qualify
1982	Round 1	0	3	0	1	13
1986 to 2006	Did not qualify
Total		0	6	0	1	22

Gold Cup record

1991 - Did not qualify
1993 - Did not qualify
1996 - Round 1
1998 - Round 1
2000 - Did not qualify
2002 - Quarterfinals
2003 - Quarterfinals
2005 - Did not qualify

Continental Titles

Central American and Caribbean Games Gold Medal: 1954, 2002
CCCF champions: 1943

Trivia

First Central American team to qualify for a FIFA World Cup (1970) and first Central American team to qualify twice (1982).

For the 1982 FIFA World Cup, Mexico did not qualified because it was eliminated by both El Salvador and Honduras in the qualifying hexagonal tournament.

The worst team finish ever in a World Cup was El Salvador in 1982 FIFA World Cup.

Current squad

Misael ALFARO Marvin BENITEZ Victor VELASQUEZ (Captain) Erick PRADO Fredy GONZALEZ Ronald CERRITOS Dennis ALAS MORALES Deris UMANZOR Julio CASTRO Jorge RODRÍGUEZ Cristian ALVAREZ

Reserves

Noel RIVERA Santos CABRERA Rudis CORRALES Isaac SARAVIA Emiliano PEDROZO Edwin GONZALEZ Mauricio QUINTANILLA

Selected famous players

Notes and references

FIFA.com Association page at FIFA.com. Accessed 12 April 2006.
1970 FIFA World Cup History Accessed 12 April 2006.
1982 FIFA World Cup History Accessed 12 April 2006.
FIFA Match Report for Belgium-El Salvador on June 3, 1970 Accessed 12 April 2006.
FIFA Match Report for Mexico-El Salvador on June 7, 1970 Accessed 12 April 2006.
FIFA Match Report for Soviet Union-El Salvador on June 10, 1970 Accessed 12 April 2006.
Did You Know? table Stating that Hungary broke the record for most lopsided victory against El Salvador. Accessed 12 April 2006.
FIFA Match Report for Hungary-El Salvador on June 15, 1982 Accessed 12 April 2006.
FIFA Match Report for Belgium-El Salvador on June 19, 1982 Accessed 12 April 2006.
FIFA Match Report for Argentina-El Salvador on June 23, 1982 Accessed 12 April 2006.

External links

North American national football teams | Football in El Salvador

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