El Salvador national football team

The El Salvador national football team ( es, Selección de fútbol de El Salvador) represents El Salvador in international football, and is governed by the Salvadoran Football Federation (FESFUT).

In 1899, two teams from Santa Ana and San Salvador met for the first known football game in El Salvador. The national team's first match was played in September 1921, when they were invited to participate in a tournament to celebrate 100 years of Central American Independence.

El Salvador has made two FIFA World Cup appearances: first in 1970 and again in 1982, but have never progressed beyond the first stage of a finals tournament. They were the 1943 CCCF champions, and finished in second-place in the 1941 and 1961 championships. They have competed in the CONCACAF regional tournaments fourteen times, finishing as runners-up in 1963 and 1981. ''La Selecta'' also competes in the biennial UNCAF Nations Cup, the Pan American Games, the Olympics, and have won two gold medals in the Central American and Caribbean Games.

The Estadio Cuscatlán, also known as "El Coloso de Montserrat" and "La Catedral del Espectáculo", is the official home stadium of the El Salvador national football team. Since 2017, the national team has had a kit sponsorship contract with England-based supplier Umbro. Raúl Díaz Arce is the all-time top-scorer for the national team, with 39 goals, while Alfredo Pacheco has the most caps, with 85 appearances.

History

Beginnings

Salvadoran football had its origins in the city of Santa Ana, on a field called "Campo Marte". The first recorded game took place on 16 July 1899 between players from Santa Ana and San Salvador. Both teams had several foreign players from England who are credited with introducing football to El Salvador. The home team won the game 2–0.

Although El Salvador played a few games in the early part of the twentieth century, they did not form an official national team until 1921, when players such as José Pablo Huezo, Carlos Escobar Leiva or Santiago Barrachina revolutionised football in the country. In September 1921, El Salvador were invited to Guatemala to take part in the Independence Centenary Games, to celebrate 100 years of Central American Independence. The tournament was between Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, and El Salvador. The Guatemalans and Costa Ricans had more experience than the Salvadorans and Hondurans. It was a knockout tournament with Guatemala playing Honduras and El Salvador playing Costa Rica. El Salvador, wearing white shorts and black shirts, used a classic 2–3–5 scheme with their team consisting of Carlos Escobar Leyva; Spanish resident Santiago Barrachina, José Pablo Huezo; Benjamín Sandoval, Emilio Dawson, and Frenchman Emilio Detruit; Víctor Recinos, brothers Guillermo and José E. Alcaine, Guillermo Sandoval and Enrique Lindo. By half-time Costa Rica led 3–0, and at the final whistle, after two 40-minute halves, won 7–0.

El Salvador's other matches in the 1920s were friendlies against Costa Rica and Honduras. They lost their first friendly 3–0 against the national football team of Costa Rica, while the second and third ended in a 1–0 loss and 0–0 draw against Honduras. On 7 December 1928, El Salvador recorded their first ever win, 5–0 over Honduras, the team that would become their traditional rivals, with Gustavo "Taviche" Marroquín scoring every goal. The game was played at Campo Marte, San Salvador, and was also the first time the team had scored in an international match.

1930s

In the early 1930s, El Salvador appointed their first official national coach, the American Mark Scott Thompson in Havana. El Salvador finished in fourth place at the games. The Salvadoran Football Federation was founded in 1935. By this time, El Salvador were coached by the Spaniard, Pablo Ferre Elías. The 1935 Central American and Caribbean Games took place in El Salvador's new government-funded Estadio Flor Blanca, at that time the biggest stadium in the country. The Salvadoran squad consisted of Edmundo Majano as goalkeeper; Tobias Rivera and Raúl Castro in defence; Américo Gonzalez and Napoleon Cañas as midfielders; and Álex Morales, Rogelio Aviles, Fidel Quintanilla, Miguel "Americano" Cruz, and Andrés Hernández as strikers. Previously the national team had worn black and white striped jerseys and this was the first time they turned out in a blue strip. The team finished in third place as bronze medal winners.

In 1938, the Salvadoran Football Federation became affiliates of FIFA. El Salvador participated in the 1938 Central American and Caribbean Games, hosted in Panama, which were won by Mexico, with Costa Rica in second place. El Salvador won two and lost three of their five matches. A match for third place against Colombia was cancelled because of the bad state of the players, and El Salvador finished in fourth place.

1940s

On 26 April 1940, the first national football federation was approved, with Dr. Luis Rivas Palacios as president. In 1941, the first Central American and Caribbean Championship (CCCF) took place in Costa Rica, organised by CONCACAF, the international governing body for football in North America, Central America and the Caribbean. El Salvador competed alongside Costa Rica, Curaçao, Nicaragua and Panama. El Salvador were runners-up, recording two wins, one draw and one loss.

The 1943 CCCF Championship took place in San Salvador with the participation of Costa Rica, Guatemala and Nicaragua. El Salvador were coached by the former national player Américo González. El Salvador and Guatemala finished with the same number of points, Guatemala failed to attend a deciding play-off, resulting in El Salvador winning their first international title. El Salvador's 10‒1 win over Nicaragua set the team's record for the most goals scored in a single game. It was also the second time a Salvadoran player ( Miguel "Americano" Cruz) had scored five goals in a match. El Salvador defended their title in the 1946 CCCF Championship in Costa Rica alongside six other participants and finished in third place, winning three matches and losing two. In the 1948 CCCF Championship, hosted in Guatemala, Costa Rica won the championship for the third time, with El Salvador finishing in fifth place.

1950s

El Salvador did not participate in qualification for the World Cups in 1954, 1958, 1962 and 1966. During these years El Salvador had a good squad, including goalkeeper Manuel "Tamalón" Garay, Rafael "Chapuda" Reyes, Conrado Miranda, Miguel "Americano" Cruz, Rafael Corado and Mando Rivas.

In the group stage of the 1950 Central American and Caribbean Games in Mexico, El Salvador recorded two wins, one draw and one loss. They began the final round by beating Curaçao 3–1, but lost their other two matches, leaving them in fifth place. In 1953, El Salvador took part in their fifth CCCF Championship. The hosts, Costa Rica, became champions for the fourth time, and El Salvador finished in fifth place again.

At the 1954 Central American and Caribbean Games, El Salvador won their second international title under the Carbilio Tomasino, with a team consisting of Yohalmo Aurora, Manuel "Tamalón" Garay, Hugo Moreno, Armando Larín, Luis Regalado, Conrado Miranda, Fernando Barrios, Ramón "Pezote" Chávez, José Hernández, Mario Montoya, Juan Francisco "Cariota" Barraza, Ricardo "Chilenito" Valencia, Alfredo "Baiza" Ruano, and Obdulio Hernández. They began with a 2–2 draw against Colombia, and then beat Cuba 3–1, Mexico 3–2 and Panama 1–0 with a goal by Barraza. The win against Mexico, with two goals from Montoya and one from Valencia, was the first by a Central American team against Mexico.

In the 1955 CCCF Championship, hosted in Honduras, Costa Rica became champions for the fifth time, with El Salvador finishing fourth. El Salvador did not participate in the 1957 and 1960 CCCF Championships.

1960s

El Salvador returned to participate in the 1961 CCCF Championship, hosted in Costa Rica, alongside nine other national teams. El Salvador were placed in a four-team first group with Honduras, the Netherlands Antilles, and Nicaragua, which they topped with two wins and a draw. In the final round they finished in second place behind Costa Rica, who won their seventh CCCF Championship. Afterwards the tournament was dissolved and replaced with the CONCACAF Championship.

In the first CONCACAF Championship, in 1963, El Salvador hosted both the qualification round and the final tournament. Costa Rica became the first champions, and El Salvador finished as runners-up. In 1964, the Chilean Hernán Carrasco Vivanco, who would later revolutionize Salvadoran football, became the coach of the national team. He led the national team for the first time at the 1965 CONCACAF Championship, hosted in Guatemala, where they won two games, drew one and lost two, finishing in fourth place. In 1966, El Salvador took part in the Central American and Caribbean Games for the sixth time, in Puerto Rico. They finished in fourth place.

In 1968, El Salvador qualified for the Olympic Games for the first time. They lost 4–0 to Hungary, 3–1 to Israel, and drew 1–1 with Ghana. The coach at this time was Rigoberto Guzmán.

Gregorio Bundio and his assistant José Santacolomba coached the team in the qualifying stages for the 1970 World Cup. This was the first time that El Salvador participated in World Cup qualifying. As hosts, Mexico qualified automatically, leaving one further qualification spot available for the CONCACAF region. El Salvador won Group 3, winning three and losing one. They qualified for a play-off against their traditional rivals, the Group 2 winners Honduras. The first game, on 8 June 1969 in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa, was won 1–0 by the home team and was followed by crowd violence. El Salvador won the second game 3–0 a week later in San Salvador, which was followed by even greater violence. A play-off match took place in Mexico City on 26 June, which El Salvador won 3–2 after extra time. On 14 July, as a result of existing tensions being exacerbated by these matches, the two countries began the hundred-hour-long conflict known as the Football War. As a result, El Salvador and Honduras were both disqualified from entering 1969 CONCACAF Championship qualification.

In the deciding World Cup qualifier, El Salvador faced Haiti. El Salvador won the away leg 2–1, with goals from Elmer Acevedo and Mauricio "Pipo" Rodríguez, but lost the second leg 3–0 at home. El Salvador finally won the play-off on 8 October with a goal by Juan Ramón "Mon" Martínez in extra time, allowing them to qualify for the World Cup finals at the first attempt.

"El Pajaro Picón Picón" was a Colombian song written by Eliseo Herrera which was very popular in El Salvador during the World Cup qualifying stages. During a radio show, Mauricio Bojórquez parodied the song, which he named "Arriba con la Selección". That parody became so famous that it became the official anthem of the El Salvador national football team.

1970s

In the World Cup finals El Salvador were drawn into a group with Belgium, Mexico and the Soviet Union. El Salvador lost their first game 3–0 to Belgium in Mexico City on 3 June. The second match, against Mexico on 7 June, was marred by a controversial call near the end of the first half, with the score still at 0–0. The Egyptian referee Ali Kandil appeared to signal for a free kick to El Salvador in their own half. However, a Mexican player took the kick, passing to Javier Valdivia, who scored. The Salvadoran players protested vigorously, to the extent of physically jostling the Bermudan linesman, Keith Dunstan, but the goal was allowed to stand. El Salvador restarted the game by kicking the ball into the crowd in protest. They eventually lost 4–0. The team's third game took place on 10 June, with El Salvador losing 2–0 to the Soviet Union to finish at the bottom of Group A.

El Salvador advanced from the first round of 1971 CONCACAF Championship qualification by beating Nicaragua 4–2 on aggregate. In the second round, they withdrew from their play-off against Honduras, allowing their opponents to qualify by default. The national team also took part in the 1973 CONCACAF Championship qualification, which doubled as qualification for the 1974 World Cup, but they did not advance to the final stage after they were eliminated by Guatemala 2–0 on aggregate (1–0, 1–0). The team was managed by Hector D'Angelo.

El Salvador participated at the Pan American Games for the first time in 1975 in Mexico. They began with a 4–1 win against Nicaragua on 14 October, with a hat-trick from "Pajarito" Huezo, on the début of Francisco "Paco" Jovel. They then lost 2–0 to Brazil and drew 0–0 against Costa Rica, with "Pelé" Zapata missing a penalty. They finished in third place in Group D and failed to advance to the next round.

In 1977 CONCACAF Championship qualification, El Salvador finished second in their group, behind Guatemala and ahead of Costa Rica and Panama, to qualify for the final tournament, hosted in Mexico. They finished in third place, behind Haiti and Mexico, with the hosts winning the tournament. El Salvador participated in the 1978 Central American and Caribbean Games, hosted in Colombia. Cuba were crowned champions for the fourth time and El Salvador finished ninth.

1980s

El Salvador played Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras and Panama in 1981 CONCACAF Championship qualification, in a home-and-away round-robin group with the top two teams advancing to the final tournament. El Salvador and Honduras finished with equal points at the top of the group, with Honduras winning the group on goal difference. Once again the finals doubled up as World Cup qualification, this time for the 1982 World Cup, with the top two of the six teams qualifying. Going into the final matches, El Salvador had four points and were in third place on goal difference, with Mexico and Canada both also having four points, behind Honduras with seven. On 19 November 1981, El Salvador beat Haiti 1–0, with a penalty by Norberto Huezo. On 21 November, Canada drew 2–2 with Cuba and were eliminated. In the decisive match the following day, Honduras and Mexico drew 0–0, meaning El Salvador qualified for the World Cup for the second time.

El Salvador took a 20-man squad to Spain, two players short of the maximum number allowed, as a controversial cost–saving measure. They were coached by "Pipo" Rodríguez. In their first match on 15 June in Elche