El Salvador national football team

El Salvador

Shirt badge/Association crest
Nickname(s)	La Selecta Selección Cuscatleca Cuscatlecos La Azul Guanacos
Association	Federación Salvadoreña de Fútbol
Confederation	CONCACAF (North America)
Head coach	Carlos De Los Cobos
Most caps	?
Top scorer	Raúl Díaz Arce (39)
Home stadium	Estadio Cuscatlán
FIFA code	SLV
First colours Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	138
Highest	60 (October 1993)
Lowest	169 (November 2006)
First international
El Salvador 0 - 7 Costa Rica (Guatemala City, Guatemala; Sept 14, 1921)
Biggest win
El Salvador 9 - 0 Nicaragua (El Salvador; May 1, 1929) El Salvador 10 - 1 Nicaragua (El Salvador; December 16, 1943)
Biggest defeat
Hungary 10 - 1 El Salvador (Elche, Spain; June 15, 1982)
World Cup
Appearances	2 (first in 1970)
Best result	Round 1, 1970 and 1982
CONCACAF Gold Cup
Appearances	5 (first in 1996)
Best result	Quarterfinals, 2002 and 2003

The El Salvador national football team is the national team of El Salvador and is controlled by the Federación Salvadoreña de Fútbol. ^[1] They have qualified for two World Cups, Mexico 70 and España 82. ^{[2] [3]}

In the 1970 tournament, El Salvador lost their first game 3-0 to Belgium in Mexico City on June 3. ^[4] 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. ^[5] 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. ^[6]

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. ^[7] One crumb of comfort was that Luis Baltazar 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. ^[8]

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. ^{[9] [10]}

El Salvador had lost or tied every single game between 2004 and 2007, when suddenly as the underdogs, in january 2007, they defeated the Danish national football team.

World Cup record

Year	Finish	Matches	Wins	Draws	Losses	Goals Scored	Goals Against
1930 to 1934	Did not enter
1938	Withdrew
1950 to 1966	Did not enter
1970	finals	11	11	0	0	10	19
1974 to 1978	Did not qualify
1982	Round 1	3	0	0	3	1	13
1986 to 2006	Did not qualify
Total		6	0	0	6	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
• 2007 - Qualified

UNCAF Nations Cup record

• 1991 - 4th place
• 1993 - 4th place
• 1995 - 3rd place
• 1997 - 3rd place
• 1999 - 4th place
• 2001 - 3rd place
• 2003 - 3rd place
• 2005 - Round 1
• 2007 - 4th place

Major Honours

• 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 qualify because they were eliminated by El Salvador in the qualifying hexagonal tournament. ^[11]

Current squad

Goalkeepers

Name	Club
Juan Jose Gomez	Firpo
Manuel Gonzalez Hernandez	Vista Hermosa
Dagoberto Portillo	A.D. Isidro Metapan

Defenders

Name	Club
William Antonio Torres	San Salvador
Victor Manuel Velasquez	Alianza
Luis Alonso Anaya	Águila
José Rolando Torres Mendonza	Águila
Leonel Arístides Guevara	Vista Hermosa
Juan Carlos Moscoso	FAS
Manuel Alejandro Salazar Rivas	Firpo

Midfielders

Name	Club
Alfredo Alberto Pacheco	FAS
Gilberto Alfredo Murgas	FAS
José Eliseo Salamanca	Chalatenango
Josue Nahun Galdamez	Chalatenango
Alfonso Alberto Perla Fuentes	Vista Hermosa
Dennis Jonathan Alas	San Salvador
Josue Odir Flores	FAS
Eliseo Quintanilla	San Salvador
Victor Hugo Merino Dubon	Firpo
Ronald Pimentel	Once Municipal

Strikers

Name	Club
Hector Anibal Avalos Tobar	Once Municipal
Jose Orlando Martinez	Firpo
Juan Diaz Rodriguez	FAS
Alex Amílcar Erazo	Águila
Juan Alexander Campos Hernández	Águila

Personnel

Current technical staff

Head Coach	Carlos De Los Cobos
Assistant Coach	Ignacio Hernández
2nd assistant Coach	Mauricio Alberto Alfaro
Physical	Dudley Hitchman
Medical trainer	Francisco Amaya Cruz
massagerist	José Luis Rodríguez
trainer	Rodrigo Antonio

Selected Famous Players

• Juan Francisco Barraza
• Conrado Miranda
• Luis Baltazar Ramírez Zapata
• Ronald Cerritos
• Mauricio Cienfuegos
• Raúl Díaz Arce
• Jorge "Mágico" González
• Norberto Huezo Montoya
• Jaime Rodríguez
• Mauricio "Pipo" Rodríguez
• Raul Magana
• Jose Quintanilla

• Carlos Recinos
• Wilfredo Huezo

Selected Famous Managers

Name	Period	country
Marck Scott Thompson	1930-1935
Pablo Ferre Elias	1935-1938
Maximo Garay	1940-1941
Amaricano Gonzalez	1943-1948
Orlandini	1949-1951
Marcelo Estrada	1953
Carbilio Tomasino	1954-1959	*
Milo Guardado	1959-1960
Gregorio Bundio	1960-1961
Conrado Miranda	1961
Luis Comitante	1962-1963
Hernán CARRASCO Vivanco	1965-1967
Rigoberto Guzman	1968
Gregorio Bundio	1968-1970
Hernán CARRASCO Vivanco	1970
Conrado Miranda	1971
Hector D'Angelo	1972
Jorge Tupinamba	1973
Mauricio “pipil” Rodriguez	1973-1974
Conrado Miranda	1975
Marcelo Estrada	1975-1976
Raul Magana	1976
Aurelio Pinto Beltrao	1976
Ricardo Facio Porta	1977
Julio Contreras Cardona	1977
Ricardo Tomasino	1977
Raul Magana	1979
Mauricio “pipo” Rodriguez	1979-1982
Armando Contreras Palma	1983
Raul Magana	1984
Juan Quarterone	1984-85
Paulo Roberto Cabrera	1986
Raul Magana	1987
Milovan Djoric	1988
Miroslav Bucasinovich	1988-89
Conrado Miranda	1988
Kiril Dojcinovski	1989
Oscar Benitez	1991
Jorge Aude	1991-1992
Aníbal Ruiz	1992
Jorge Viera	1993-1994
José Omar Pastoriza	1995-1996
Armado Contreras Palma	1996-1997
Milovan Djoric	1997-1998
Kiril Dojcinovski	1998
Mario “Marinho” Perez	1998
Oscar Emigdio Benitez-	1999-2000
Carlos “humberto” Recinos	2001-02
Carlos “humberto” Recinos	2003
Juan Ramon Paredes	2004-2005	*
Armando Contreras	2005
Carlos De Los Cobos	2006-

Notes and references

1. ^ FIFA.com Association page at FIFA.com. Accessed 12 April 2006.
2. ^ 1970 FIFA World Cup History Accessed 12 April 2006.
3. ^ 1982 FIFA World Cup History Accessed 12 April 2006.
4. ^ FIFA Match Report for Belgium-El Salvador on June 3, 1970 Accessed 12 April 2006.
5. ^ FIFA Match Report for Mexico-El Salvador on June 7, 1970 Accessed 12 April 2006.
6. ^ FIFA Match Report for Soviet Union-El Salvador on June 10, 1970 Accessed 12 April 2006.
7. ^ Did You Know? table Stating that Hungary broke the record for most lopsided victory against El Salvador. Accessed 12 April 2006.
8. ^ FIFA Match Report for Hungary-El Salvador on June 15, 1982 Accessed 12 April 2006.
9. ^ FIFA Match Report for Belgium-El Salvador on June 19, 1982 Accessed 12 April 2006.
10. ^ FIFA Match Report for Argentina-El Salvador on June 23, 1982 Accessed 12 April 2006.
11. ^ 1982 FIFA World Cup Preliminary History Overview which mentions that Mexico was eliminated by El Salvador and Honduras during the final qualifying stage. Accessed 21 July 2006.

External links

• Federación Salvadoreña de Fútbol Official Site (Spanish)
• El Salvador national football team (Non-Official Site) (Spanish)
• National Football Teams site