El Salvador national football team

Infobox National football team
Name = El Salvador
Badge = El Salvador football association.png FIFA Trigramme = SLV
FIFA Rank = 120
FIFA max = 50
FIFA max date = December 1992
FIFA min = 169
FIFA min date = November 2006
Elo Rank = 90
Nickname = La Selecta
Selección Cuscatleca
Cuscatlecos
La Azul
Association = Federación Salvadoreña
de Fútbol
Confederation = CONCACAF (North America)
Coach = flagicon|Mexico Carlos de los Cobos
Captain = Alfredo Pacheco
Most caps = Luis Guevara Mora (89)
Top scorer = Jorge "Mágico" González (41)
Home Stadium = Estadio Cuscatlán
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First game = flagicon|El Salvador El Salvador 0 - 7 Costa Rica flagicon|Costa Rica
(Guatemala City, Guatemala; Sept 14, 1921)
Largest win = flagicon|El Salvador El Salvador 12 - 0 Anguilla flagicon|Anguilla
(San Salvador, El Salvador; February 6, 2008)
Largest loss = flagicon|Hungary Hungary 10 - 1 El Salvador flagicon|El Salvador
(Elche, Spain; June 15, 1982)

World cup apps = 2
World cup first = 1970
World cup best = Round 1, 1970 and 1982
Regional name = CONCACAF Gold Cup
Regional cup apps = 5
Regional cup first = 1996
Regional cup best = 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. ref|FESFUT1 The team have qualified twice to the FIFA World Cup Finals; firstly in the 1970 and then in 1982. ref|WC1970 ref|WC1982

History

The beginning of the national team

Although El Salvador played a few games in the early part of the 20th Century, it is seen by many, that it did not become a fully committed national team until 1921. This year is seen by many as being the starting point, to what we now know as "La Selecta". It was this year that many fans began to pay attention to the national football team, and many stars began to shine through the side, players such as Pablo Huezo, Carlos Escobar Leiva and Santiago Barrachina.

El Salvador's first tournament

In September 1921, Guatemala organised a football tournament comprising itself, Honduras, Costa Rica and El Salvador. The tournament was organised in order to celebrate 100 years of Central American independence, and was played in a round-robin format, with Guatemala playing Honduras and El Salvador playing Costa Rica.

Sadly, El Salvador lost their game 3-0 to Costa Rica who would then go on to defeat Guatemala in the final. Despite the loss, this tournament is seen as the starting point for the El Salvador national team.

First win ever

Since the tournament in Guatemala in 1921, El Salvador had only played 2 other international matches, both against Honduras. El Salvador had lost the first encounter 1-0 and drawn the second 0-0.

Three games without a win came to an end on December 7th 1928, when El Salvador recorded its first ever win. A 5-0 thumping of what would later become their traditional rivals, Honduras. The game was played on on a field called Marte de San Salvador. Not only was this El Salvador's first ever win, but also the first time they had scored in an international friendly. It was also a day that few will forget, as it saw Gustavo "Taviche" Marroquin become the first ever player to score 5 goals in one game for the national team.

1970 FIFA World Cup

In the 1970 tournament, El Salvador lost their first game 3-0 to Belgium in Mexico City on June 3. ref|Belgium1 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. ref|Mexico2 El Salvador were demoralised as a result, and Mexico subsequently won the game 4-0 with ease in Mexico City. ref|Mexico1 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. ref|USSR1

1982 FIFA World Cup

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. ref|Hungary1 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. ref|Hungary2

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. ref|Belgium2 ref|Argentina1

Tournament records

World Cup record

:"*Results include games played in qualifiers :"**El Salvador withdrew from the tournament, as a result of the infamous Football War with Hondurascol-2

UNCAF Nations Cup record

Previous squads

*1982 FIFA World Cup - Spain
*1970 FIFA World Cup - Mexico

Former players of note

Upcoming games

Trivia

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

* El Salvador was the first Central American team to defeat Mexico in Mexico City

* For the 1982 FIFA World Cup, Mexico did not qualify because they were eliminated by El Salvador in the qualifying hexagonal tournament. ref|MexicoEliminated

Notes and references

# [http://www.fifa.com/en/organisation/confederations/associationdetails/0,1483,SLV,00.html?countrycode=SLV FIFA.com] Association page at FIFA.com. Accessed 12 April 2006.
# [http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/p/pwc/r/1970.html 1970 FIFA World Cup History] Accessed 12 April 2006.
# [http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/p/pwc/r/1982.html 1982 FIFA World Cup History] Accessed 12 April 2006.
# [http://2002.fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/02/en/pf/h/pwc/mr/1747.html FIFA Match Report for Belgium-El Salvador on June 3, 1970] Accessed 12 April 2006.
# [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsh080cOTVk Number 4 in the top dodgiest goals of the World Cup History Gürkan topsun olm] Accessed 20 September 2007
# [http://2002.fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/02/en/pf/h/pwc/mr/1820.html FIFA Match Report for Mexico-El Salvador on June 7, 1970] Accessed 12 April 2006.
# [http://2002.fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/02/en/pf/h/pwc/mr/1823.html FIFA Match Report for Soviet Union-El Salvador on June 10, 1970] Accessed 12 April 2006.
# [http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/p/pwc/1982.html Did You Know? table] Stating that Hungary broke the record for most lopsided victory against El Salvador. Accessed 12 April 2006.
# [http://2002.fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/02/en/pf/h/pwc/mr/896.html FIFA Match Report for Hungary-El Salvador on June 15, 1982] Accessed 12 April 2006.
# [http://2002.fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/02/en/pf/h/pwc/mr/774.html FIFA Match Report for Belgium-El Salvador on June 19, 1982] Accessed 12 April 2006.
# [http://2002.fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/02/en/pf/h/pwc/mr/751.html FIFA Match Report for Argentina-El Salvador on June 23, 1982] Accessed 12 April 2006.
# [http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/p/pwc/q/1982.html 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.

ee also

*Federación Salvadoreña de Fútbol
*Primera División de Fútbol Profesional
*El Salvador U-23 men's national football team
*El Salvador U20 men's national football team
*List of football clubs in El Salvador
*Salvadoran Primera División player list
*List of Salvadoran football players playing abroad
*El Salvador national beach soccer team

External links

* [http://www.digicelfutbol.com/medias/El%20Salvador3.jpgA Picture of the Team]
* [http://www.fesfut.org.sv/ Federación Salvadoreña de Fútbol Official Site] (Spanish)
* [http://www.elbaloncuscatleco.com/ El Salvador national football team (Non-Official Site)] (Spanish)
* [http://www.rsssf.com/tablese/elsal-intres-detwcq.html El Salvador - Details of World Cup Qualifiers]