El Salvador at the FIFA World Cup

The El Salvador squad at the 1970 FIFA World Cup.

The El Salvador national football team has qualified for the FIFA World Cup final tournament on two occasions, the first time in 1970 in Mexico and the second time in 1982 in Spain. El Salvador has played in six group stage matches, losing all six and never advancing to the knockout stage.

El Salvador qualified for the 1970 FIFA World Cup, the first FIFA World Cup the country qualified for. During qualification, El Salvador played Honduras over three matches in June 1969, with El Salvador advancing to the next round of CONCACAF qualification. The matches between El Salvador and Honduras increased political tensions between both countries, resulting the outbreak of the Football War in July 1969 causing over 2,000 deaths. After defeating Haiti over three matches, El Salvador qualified. El Salvador lost all three matches it played against Belgium, Mexico, and the Soviet Union and failed to score a goal.

El Salvador next qualified for the 1982 FIFA World Cup as runners-up of the 1981 CONCACAF Championship. As occurred in 1970, El Salvador lost all three of its matches against Hungary, Belgium, and Argentina. The match against Hungary resulted in the largest defeat in FIFA World Cup history when El Salvador lost by a score of 10–1. El Salvador's lone goal in the match, scored by Luis Ramírez Zapata in the 64th minute, remains the only goal scored by El Salvador at the FIFA World Cup.

Since 1970, El Salvador has participated in every FIFA World Cup qualification but has failed to qualify for another FIFA World Cup since 1982. The country has selected 42 players to play at the FIFA World Cup across both times it qualified, 17 of which are tied for making the most appearances for El Salvador at 3 appearances each. Hernán Carrasco was the country's manager in 1970 while Mauricio Rodríguez was the manager in 1982. El Salvador is ranked 80th (last place) all-time for its performance at the FIFA World Cup by the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation.

History

1970 Mexico

Qualification

El Salvador entered FIFA World Cup qualification for the first time for the 1970 FIFA World Cup. ^[1] During the first round of CONCACAF qualifiers, El Salvador was drawn into a double round-robin group against Suriname and Netherlands Antilles, winning all four of its matches. El Salvador advanced to the second round with three wins and one loss. ^[2]

During the second round, El Salvador played Honduras in a two-legged tie. ^[2] Prior to the matches, tensions were high between the Salvadoran and Honduran governments regarding the status of 300,000 illegal immigrants from El Salvador who were living and working in Honduras. Hondurans saw the Salvadoran immigrants as taking Honduran land and economically crippling the country, ^[3] and the Honduran government announced in April 1969 that it would expel people who had acquired property under an agrarian reform who could not prove that they were Honduran citizens by birth. ^[4]

In the first leg, held in Tegucigalpa on 8 June 1969, Honduras defeated El Salvador by a score of 1–0. Reports were made that hostility between fans was present during the match. In the second leg, held in San Salvador on 15 June 1969, El Salvador defeated Honduras by a score of 3–0. Before the match, Salvadorans harassed the Honduran players as they were sleeping and the Honduran national flag was desecrated. The defeat and actions by Salvadorans resulted in rioting in Honduran towns where many Salvadorans were killed and thousands fled the country; the Salvadoran government condemned the deaths as a "genocide" and demanded reparations. ^{[4] [5]} A third leg was held in Mexico City on 27 June 1969 as both teams had won a match; El Salvador defeated Honduras by a score of 3–2 after an extra time goal by Pipo Rodríguez in the 101st minute. ^[6] Following the match, Honduras severed all diplomatic ties with El Salvador, and on 14 July 1969, the Salvadoran Army invaded Honduras beginning the Football War. The war ended on 20 July 1969 after the Organization of American States (OAS) negotiated a cease fire. The war killed over 2,000 people. ^[4]

After defeating Honduras in the third leg, El Salvador played a two-legged tie against Haiti; El Salvador defeated Haiti 2–1 in Port-au-Prince on 21 September 1969 and then Haiti defeated El Salvador 3–0 in San Salvador on 28 September 1969. A third leg was held in Kingston, Jamaica on 8 October 1969 as both teams had won a match, where El Salvador defeated Haiti 1–0 in extra time. ^[2] With the victory, El Salvador qualified for its first ever FIFA World Cup ^[4] and became the first Central American country to qualify for the tournament. ^[7]

Final tournament

For the 1970 FIFA World Cup, El Salvador was drawn into Group 1 along with Belgium, Mexico (the tournament's host), and the Soviet Union. ^[8] El Salvador's squad consisted of 22 players. Chilean Hernán Carrasco was the manager and Salvador Mariona was the captain. ^[9]

El Salvador lost their first match against Belgium on 3 June 1982 by a score of 3–0; Wilfried Van Moer and Raoul Lambert scored Belgium's goals. ^[10] In its second match against Mexico on 7 June 1970, El Salvador lost by a score of 4–0; Javier Valdivia (scored twice), Javier Fragoso, and Juan Ignacio Basaguren scored Mexico's goals. ^[11] In El Salvador's final match, it lost to the Soviet Union by a score of 2–0 on 10 June 1970; both goals for the Soviet Union were scored by Anatoliy Byshovets. ^[12] El Salvador lost every match, failed to score a goal, and failed to advance to the knockout stage. ^{[9] [13]}

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Soviet Union	3	2	1	0	6	1	+5	5 [lower-alpha 1]	Advance to knockout stage
2	Mexico	3	2	1	0	5	0	+5	5 [lower-alpha 1]
3	Belgium	3	1	0	2	4	5	−1	2
4	El Salvador	3	0	0	3	0	9	−9	0

Source: ^[14]
Notes:

1. Having finished level on both points and goal difference, the Soviet Union and Mexico were separated by the drawing of lots.

1982 Spain

Qualification

Qualification for the 1982 FIFA World Cup was determined via the 1981 CONCACAF Championship. During the tournament, El Salvador won two matches, drew two, and lost one. Both Honduras, the tournament's winner, and El Salvador, the runner-up, both qualified for the 1982 FIFA World Cup. ^[15]

Final tournament

For the 1982 FIFA World Cup, El Salvador was drawn into Group 3 along with Argentina, Belgium, and Hungary. ^[16] El Salvador's squad consisted of 20 players, ^[17] rather than the 22 allowed as Salvadoran officials decided to bring some "cronies" in their place. The players were outraged once they found out and attempted to raise money to help Gilberto Quinteros and Miguel González (the two players left behind) come to Spain, but their effort failed as they were not able to raise enough money. ^[18] Mauricio Rodríguez, who played for El Salvador at the 1970 FIFA World Cup, ^[9] was the manager and Norberto Huezo was the captain. ^[17]

According to a survey conducted by a Salvadoran radio station before El Salvador's first match against Hungary, 60 percent of respondents believed that El Salvador would win its first match. On 15 June 1982, Hungary defeated El Salvador by a score of 10–1, inflicting the heaviest defeat in El Salvador's history as well as the heaviest defeat in FIFA World Cup history. ^[18] Hungary's 10 goals, which remains the record for the most goals scored by a team in a single match at the FIFA World Cup, ^[19] were scored by Tibor Nyilasi (scored twice), Gábor Pölöskei, László Fazekas (scored twice), József Tóth, László Kiss (who scored a hat-trick), and Lázár Szentes. Meanwhile, Luis Ramírez Zapata scored El Salvador's lone goal in the 64th minute. His goal remains the only goal ever scored by El Salvador at the FIFA World Cup. ^[20] According to Ramírez, his teammates told him to not celebrate the goal he scored as they were "afraid that it would make Hungary angry" and result in El Salvador conceding more goals. After the match, three players—Huezo, Francisco Jovel, and Ramón Fagoaga—announced that they would determine the team's tactics for its next two matches instead of Rodríguez. ^[18]

In El Salvador's second match, the team lost by a score of 1–0 to Belgium. Ludo Coeck scored the match's lone goal in the 19th minute. ^[21] Prior to the match, Belgian manager Guy Thys described El Salvador's loss to Hungary as "the most shameful" to ever occur at the FIFA World Cup. ^[18] El Salvador lost their final match to Argentina by a score of 2–0; Daniel Passarella and Daniel Bertoni scored Argentina's goals. ^[22] El Salvador lost all three matches, scored only one goal, and failed to advance to the knockout stage. ^{[17] [23]}

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Belgium	3	2	1	0	3	1	+2	5	Advance to second round
2	Argentina	3	2	0	1	6	2	+4	4
3	Hungary	3	1	1	1	12	6	+6	3
4	El Salvador	3	0	0	3	1	13	−12	0

Source: ^[24]

Record at the FIFA World Cup

The following table displays El Salvador's all-time results for the FIFA World Cup and FIFA World Cup qualification. El Salvador is ranked 80th (last place) all-time for its performance at the FIFA World Cup. ^[25]

FIFA World Cup finals record [25]										FIFA World Cup qualification record [1] [26] [27]
Year	Host	Round	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA		Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
1930	Uruguay	Did not enter								Did not enter
1934	Italy
1938	France	Withdrew								Withdrew
1950	Brazil
1954	Switzerland	Did not enter								Did not enter
1958	Sweden
1962	Chile
1966	England
1970	Mexico	16th	3	0	0	3	0	9		10	7	0	3	19	12
1974	West Germany	Did not qualify								2	0	0	2	0	2
1978	Argentina									11	4	4	3	18	16
1982	Spain	24th	3	0	0	3	1	13		13	7	4	2	14	6
1986	Mexico	Did not qualify								6	4	1	1	15	2
1990	Italy									8	2	2	4	8	8
1994	United States									14	8	1	5	28	11
1998	France									16	5	5	6	23	22
2002	South Korea   Japan									10	6	1	3	23	15
2006	Germany									8	2	2	4	6	14
2010	South Africa									20	8	3	9	39	21
2014	Brazil									12	7	2	3	28	16
2018	Russia									10	3	3	4	12	16
2022	Qatar									20	7	5	8	27	19
2026	Canada   Mexico   United States	To be determined								To be determined
2030	Morocco   Portugal   Spain   Argentina   Paraguay   Uruguay	To be determined							To be determined
2034	Saudi Arabia	To be determined							To be determined
Total	Group stage	2/26	6	0	0	6	1	22	160	70	33	57	260	180

* Draws include knockout matches decided via penalty shoot-out.

By match

Scores and results list El Salvador's goal tally first.

Year	Round	Opponent	Score	Venue	El Salvador scorers
1970	Group 1	Belgium	0–3	Estadio Azteca, Mexico City	—
		Mexico	0–4	Estadio Azteca, Mexico City	—
		Soviet Union	0–2	Estadio Azteca, Mexico City	—
1982	Group 3	Hungary	1–10	Nuevo Estadio, Elche	Ramírez
		Belgium	0–1	Nuevo Estadio, Elche	—
		Argentina	0–2	Estadio José Rico Pérez, Alicante	—

Record by opponent

FIFA World Cup matches (by team)
Opponent	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Confederation
Argentina	1	0	0	1	0	2	–2	CONMEBOL
Belgium	2	0	0	2	0	4	–4	UEFA
Hungary	1	0	0	1	1	10	–9	UEFA
Mexico	1	0	0	1	0	4	–4	CONCACAF
Soviet Union	1	0	0	1	0	2	–2	UEFA

Records and statistics

Most appearances

A total of 42 players have been selected to play for El Salvador at the FIFA World Cup, of which, 33 have played in at least one match and 30 of which have started at least one match. A total of 17 players are tied for having the most appearances at the FIFA World Cup (8 from 1970 and 9 from 1980), appearing in three matches each.

Rank	Player	Matches	World Cups
1	Ernesto Aparicio	3	1970
	Salvador Flamenco	3	1970
	Raúl Magaña	3	1970
	Salvador Mariona	3	1970
	Saturnino Osorio	3	1970
	Roberto Rivas	3	1970
	Pipo Rodríguez	3	1970
	Jorge Vásquez	3	1970
	Jorge González	3	1982
	Luis Guevara Mora	3	1982
	Norberto Huezo	3	1982
	Francisco Jovel	3	1982
	Luis Ramírez Zapata	3	1982
	Carlos Recinos	3	1982
	José María Rivas	3	1982
	Jaime Rodríguez	3	1982
	Joaquín Ventura	3	1982
Source: [9] [17]

Top goalscorers

In six matches at the FIFA World Cup, El Salvador has only scored a single goal, scored by Zapata against Hungary in 1982. ^{[9] [17]}

See also

• El Salvador at the CONCACAF Gold Cup
• North, Central American and Caribbean nations at the FIFA World Cup

References

1. Courtney 2016.
2. Stokkermans & Jarreta 2006.
3. Haggerty 1990, p. 25.
4. Lisi 2007, p. 115.
5. Cable 1969, p. 662.
6. Luckhurst 2019.
7. Oinam 2023.
8. Lisi 2007, p. 116.
9. "1970 El Salvador Stats". FB Reference . Retrieved 22 June 2023.
10. "Belgium vs. El Salvador Match Report – Wednesday June 3, 1970". FB Reference . Retrieved 22 June 2023.
11. "Mexico vs. El Salvador Match Report – Sunday June 7, 1970". FB Reference . Retrieved 22 June 2023.
12. "Soviet Union vs. El Salvador Match Report – Wednesday June 10, 1970". FB Reference . Retrieved 22 June 2023.
13. Lisi 2007, pp. 377–378.
14. "1970 FIFA World Cup Mexico Groups". FIFA. Archived from the original on 24 February 2015. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
15. Reyes, Lugo & Mendoza 2023.
16. Lisi 2007, p. 160.
17. "1982 El Salvador Stats". FB Reference . Retrieved 22 June 2023.
18. Doyle 2018.
19. Lisi 2007, p. 413.
20. "Hungary vs. El Salvador Match Report – Tuesday June 15, 1982". FB Reference . Retrieved 22 June 2023.
21. "Belgium vs. El Salvador Match Report – Saturday June 19, 1982". FB Reference . Retrieved 22 June 2023.
22. "Argentina vs. El Salvador Match Report – Wednesday June 23, 1982". FB Reference . Retrieved 22 June 2023.
23. Lisi 2007, pp. 385–386.
24. "1982 FIFA World Cup Spain Groups". FIFA. Archived from the original on 3 February 2015. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
25. Stokkermans 2022.
26. King & Stokkermans 2018.
27. Di Maggio 2023.

Bibliography

• Cable, Vincent (October 1969). "The 'Football War' and the Central American Common Market". International Affairs . Oxford University Press. 45 (4): 658–671. JSTOR   2613335.
• Courtney, Barrie (30 June 2016). "El Salvador – List of International Matches". RSSSF . Retrieved 22 June 2023.
• Di Maggio, Roberto (5 March 2023). "World Cup 2022 Qualifying – North and Central America". RSSSF . Retrieved 23 June 2023.
• Doyle, Paul (17 May 2018). "World Cup Stunning Moments: El Salvador Humiliated in Spain". The Guardian . Retrieved 22 June 2023.
• Haggerty, Richard A., ed. (1990). El Salvador: A Country Study (PDF) (2nd ed.). Washington, D.C., United States: Library of Congress. ISBN   9780160226083. ISSN   1057-5294. LCCN   89048948 . Retrieved 22 June 2023.
• King, Ian; Stokkermans, Karel (5 July 2018). "World Cup 2018 Qualifying – North and Central America". RSSSF . Retrieved 23 June 2023.
• Lisi, Clemente Angelo (2007). A History of the World Cup: 1930–2006 . Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. ISBN   9780810859050 . Retrieved 22 June 2023.
• Luckhurst, Toby (27 June 2019). "Honduras v El Salvador: The Football Match that Kicked Off a War". BBC . Retrieved 22 June 2023.
• Oinam, Jayanta (17 February 2023). "1970 FIFA World Cup: When El Salvador Made Central American History". FIFA . Retrieved 22 June 2023.
• Reyes, Macario; Lugo, Erik Francisco; Mendoza, Eduardo (16 February 2023). "VIII. CONCACAF Nations Cup 1981". RSSSF . Retrieved 22 June 2023.
• Stokkermans, Karel (24 December 2022). "World Cup Final Tournaments 1930–2022 – Total Rankings". RSSSF . Retrieved 23 June 2023.
• Stokkermans, Karel; Jarreta, Sergio Henrique (13 November 2006). "World Cup 1970 Qualifying". RSSSF . Retrieved 22 June 2023.

External links

• El Salvador at FIFA.com
• FIFA World Cup official website