Last Round of Games & World Cup Draw

World Cup Qualifiers
Like the rest of the world (except South America and Oceania) El Salvador eagerly awaited the results of the World Cup Qualifying draw in Durban. CONCACAF has 3 and half places for the World Cup, and a torturous route to the finals, involving four phases: - Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3 and The Hexagonal Phase.

The seeds in the region (“Pot A” Mexico, USA and Costa Rica, “Pot B” Honduras, Panama and Trinidad & Tobago and “Pot C” Guatemala, Cuba, Jamaica, Canada, Guyana and Haiti) get a bye to the second phase, and are guaranteed to not meet a fellow seed. Because of numbers St Vincent also got a bye, but must meet a seed.

Phase One consists of 11 one-off home and away ties between “Pot E” and “Pot F” countries, to meet a seed in a similar home and away one-off tie in Phase Two. The 12th “game” is the bye for St Vincent (special “Pot D”, on their own)

Each one of these Phase Two “seed” v “Pot E/Pot F” games feeds into one of three Phase Three group, each of four countries. These groups are pre-designed and there will be no further draws. If all results go according to ranking then these groups will consist of 1 “Pot A” country, one “Pot B” country and 2 “Pot C” countries. Each team plays the other in the group home and away, and the top two teams from each group move on to the Hexagonal stage (6 countries). Once again the Hexagonal stage is a simple league of six countries, the top 3 go to South Africa , and the 4th placed team has a one off home and away tie with the 5th placed team from the CONMEBOL qualifiers, for the final berth from The Americas.

So now that’s clear, what lies in store for El Salvador? Working from the middle, then backwards, we shall see. Ideally for Phase 2 you want a “Pot C” country; unfortunately El Salvador got a “Pot B” country, but at least missed the big 3 of CONCACAF. They got Panama, which is probably a fixture slightly too strong for them, but of course if they play well away they could easily draw, making a home win possible. Put it this way: - it could have been worse. If they do manage this their group would also be one they could get into the top two, their opponents probably being Costa Rica, Guyana and Haiti.

Going back to the first phase El Salvador were in “Pot E”, so were guaranteed a weaker “Pot F” country. It’s not often the blue and white is favourite but they surely are here, as they drew Anguilla. This is a British Overseas Territory just east of Puerto Rico in the Caribbean Sea. It is an island 16 miles by 3 miles, whose capital is The Valley. The entire country’s population of 13,477 could fit into Charlton’s Valley twice over. It is one of the very few old British Colonies that do not list cricket as the national sport (surprisingly India is also one, as it lists Field Hockey). Despite sailing being the number one sport cricket is very popular, and they have produced one Test Cricketer, Omari Banks, currently of Somerset. In terms of football they consider themselves “one of the world’s weakest national teams”. Their football history is brief, the federation being formed in 1990 and this will be the first time they have ever played against a national team that is not from the Caribbean. It has been a tough road in their 32 international games so far, winning two, drawing 1 and losing 29. Their last win was again Montserrat, who enjoy the last position in the FIFA rankings. The home leg will be on 8th February 2008 at the Cuscatlán (39,000 capacity) and the away leg 26th March 2008 at Webster Park (4,000), The Valley. That may seem a small capacity for a national stadium, but as ratio of population Wembley would have to have a capacity of 15,052,014 to equal it.

A good result here could raise the El Salvadorians confidence level nicely going into the Panama match, and if the improbable happens, and they make the HEX, then who knows where the resulting confidence may take them. When relaxed and confident El Salvador play a fluid passing game that can be both attractive and effective – at times. I for one certainly hope for a long campaign.

So here we are with a round up of the last round of games in the normal season:-

FAS 3 – Aguila 1 video
The Salvadorian classic has rarely been so eagerly awaited. After a fine “first round” Aguila needed a win to get into the semi-finals, FAS also looking for a win, following a great “second round”.

In the end it was the team from Santa Ana that came out on top keeping Nicolas “Nicogol” Muñoz well and truly in a box, meanwhile Orlando “Papi” Rodriguez was a nightmare for the San Migueleño defence all afternoon. With both teams wanting the win this was as much a psychological battle as anything. Both managers opted for 3-5-2, but FAS played only Oscar Jimenez in the defensive “contención” position, whilst Águila had Juan Lazo and Eliseo Salamanca, allowing fewer attacking options. It was a surprise to see Alex Campos alongside Nicogol rather than Rudy Corrales. Obviously Luis “el Pele” Ramirez Zapata was trying to break the largely inexplicable bad run of Águila by mixing things up a little. I wonder if he knows that that nickname is already taken?

The local team scored from a set-piece in the second minute, and this really set the tone, although neither team could settle in the first half hour, but slowly FAS began to take control, and the second goal on 28 minutes (“el Papi” Rodriguez) really saw them in the driving seat.

So FAS are through to final four, and Águila not. A season of two halves could not be clearer. There are two “rounds” of 9 games here, so in a half-season each team plays all the others twice: - four times in the full year. In the first round Águila got 19 pts and FAS 8 pts, in the second round Águila got 6 points and FAS 22. Quite remarkable, and here are the full figures:-

Águila 1a vuelta – Pld 9, W 6, D 1, L2 GF 15 GA 7 Points 19
Águila 2a vuelta – Pld 9, W 1, D 3, L5 GF 9 GA 13 Points 6
Águila TOTAL – Pld 18, W 7, D 4, L7 GF 24 GA 20 Points 25

FAS 1a vuelta – Pld 9, W 2, D 2, L5 GF 12 GA 13 Points 8
FAS 2a vuelta – Pld 9, W 7, D 1, L1 GF 27 GA 8 Points 22
FAS TOTAL – Pld 18, W 9, D 3, L6 GF 27 GA 21 Points 30

Incidentally the FAS resurgence included 15 points in a fortnight, and Nelson Ancheta celebrated this win by "dancing like a child".

Alianza 3 – Metapan 0 video
With Alianza having had a very dodgy season, and Metapan safe for a semi final spot, and the team from the capital not beating the blue and whites for 2 years it looked like this might be a dull encounter. Kick off, in the “Magico” Gonzalez, being at 10am could hardly have helped, yet the first half was a tight and interesting battle, without any goals.

However the albos always had the better in this game and finally broke through in the 60th minute, Francisco “el Caballito” Alvarez scoring. Losing this game meant that Metapan lost their 2nd spot in the league, although they still qualify easily for the semi-finals. Worse for the visitors as late on as Alvarez got his second of the game, his eleventh of the season. This means he shares the title of “Hombre Gol” with Metapan’s own William Reyes, both with 11 goals leading scorers this half season the “Opening 2007”. Alianza, however, had no chance to qualify.

Chalatenango 4 – Nejapa 2 video
Chalate wanted to confirm their position as “super-leaders”, whilst Nejapa had no hope of qualifying. In the event Metapan losing meant the leaders would have stayed top, even with a loss, but a convincing performance (without Anel Canales) showed they were worthy winners. The game was effectively over at 3-0 after just 24 minutes with goals from Nahum Galdamez, Camilo Mejia and Franklin Webster. Straight after the break Ramon Sanchez added the fourth, and it was plain sailing.

In fact if Chalate have shown a weakness this season it has been taking the foot off the pedal when coasting in front, and two goals (Juan Carlos Reyes and Jose Luis Osorio) in quick succession (65 mins and 70 mins) gave them a start as the visitors had the better of a much more even second half.

Vista Hermosa 2 – Once Municipal 0 video
Firpo 1 – San Salvador 0 video
Both the home teams needed Aguila to not win, and to win themselves to get into the semis, and were playing against the bottom two clubs. The news coming over the loudspeakers from Santa Ana buoyed both sets of fans throughout the afternoon.

Firpo overcame a spirited-but-defensive San Salvador by a single goal, and this game showed up once again that Firpo need to take more chances. Meanwhile Vista Hermosa were more comfortable against the Canaries, who have had a season to forget.These two look favourites to battle for the drop, with San Salvador a single point ahead going into the Clausura 2008. At the end of the normal “full” season the points from both “half” seasons are added, the bottom team go down, and the second to bottom play off against the second division runners-up for the place in the top flight.

Meanwhile the two winners finish joint fourth, and so they fight over the last semi-final place. Firpo have a goal difference of plus 6, meanwhile the roadrunners have negative 1. But this counts for little, as here goal difference is not used – there will be a play off on Wednesday between the clubs on equal points for the last place. Personally I would rather see Vista Hermosa through, they have played with spirit and I think their tidy organised football deserves to see them into the play-offs.

Here is the final table:-
1st Chalatenango 34 pts
2nd CD FAS 30 pts
3rd Isidro Metapan 29 pts
4th L A Firpo 27 pts
4th Vista Hermosa 27pts
6th Águila 25 pts
7th Alianza 24 pts
8th Nejapa 22 pts
9th San Salvador 15 pts
10th Once Municipal 14 pts

Giant Screen For The Cuscatlan
It has been announced that a 40 square metre screen will be installed in the Estadio Cuscatlan before February 2008. Not sure if this will be in place for the Phase One Qualifier, and not sure it is a priority for El Salvadorian football. Also I really like the tiny scoreboard currently there, just displaying the score and the game time, but I can, unusually, actually see it.

El Salvador has a World Champion
Great news as El Salvador has a World Champion, and even better news he is a fat bloke with a tash. In the World Archery Championships Jorge Jimenez was well placed going into the last two rounds and he won them both, in Dover and Dubai, to take the World Crown. Jorge is now having a short rest before putting all his energies into 2008 Olympics.

Further Chaos in El Salavador

Owing to recent events (see photo) this will need to be brief. There are three stories to fill in on, the under 23 team, goings on at San Salvador, and the exciting “Caso Anel Canales”.

El Salvador Under-23 – Road to Beijing 2008, in Panama.

Firstly, who goes to the Olympics? Well, it is open to players born after 1st January 1985, that is the under 23 teams. CONCACAF have two places, and the final deciding round will be in the USA between 8 teams: - 3 from North America, 3 from Central America, and 2 from the Caribbean. Obviously the three North American teams are Canada, USA and Mexico. The Caribbean countries have decided already on Haiti and Cuba: that leaves three from Central America.

To decide there are two three-way tournaments, Panama, Honduras and El Salvador in Panama last week, and Guatemala, Costa Rica and Nicaragua, next week in Guatemala. Each team plays each team once, for a three-team table (think 2nd round 1982 World Cup). The top countries from each league go to the States, and the two second placed teams play a home and away tie for the third and final place. Then all 8 teams go to USA to decide the two who actually go to China. All very exciting and simple, no?

So first up in the Rod Carew Baseball stadium (I kid you not), in front of very few was El Salvador and Panama. Despite the visitors controlling the midfield, and the game in the most part, they could not find the net. Following a disastrous mix up, basically the goalkeeper was at fault, the hosts went one up. After this El Salvador had to push, and were unlucky to concede another, again errors at the back. They continued to be the better team and scored late into injury time, losing 2-1.

Incidentally I watched all this in a Chinese restaurant, as we enjoyed what will surely be our last night out together ever.

So this takes us to the Friday night showdown v Honduras, a win really required to guarantee at least the second place play-off chance. There must have been fewer than 100 people in the “bleachers”, as I believe they must be known at a Baseball Ground (no – not in Derby…). This was the little City fan’s first game, having been born earlier that day. She sat on my lap and watched as a less convincing El Salvador was brushed aside 3-0, to kill off any hopes at all of going to the Olympics. No matter that the score line once again flattered the winners, this little Salvadoreña has been crying ever since. I haven’t dared tell her about Plymouth Norwich yet.

San Salvador
I have copious notes on their latest loss at home, my last live game for a while, I think. Suffice to say the panteras played well again, and went ahead. A Quintanilla free kick met easily in the box to be headed home by and unmarked Cerritos, one of two home players on their own in the heart of the box, very poor from Vista Hermosa.

Without being spectacular, the visitors hustled well, and closed San Salvador down. They seemed determined to play a short passing game, with all players converging towards the player with the ball. The “Road-Runners” took full advantage of this, closing down the spaces consistently. The defending by SanSal was actually better, but they still went down to a businesslike Vista Hermosa, using the flanks well, 3-1.

Eliseo Quintanilla was a golden boy of Salvadorian football, and went off to seek fame and fortune a few years back at DC United. However a bad injury kept him out, and he returned, now 24, to El Salvador and signed for a year with San Salvador. “Cheyo” is clearly one of the best players on the team. One of the things I enjoyed about the game last Wednesday was how quickly the tiny crowd turned and got personal. When Pablo Hernandez, the keeper, came down to the home end for the second half, we all called his name, and generally gave him a bit of worship. A few minutes later he badly misjudged a long free kick, making it 2-1. The abuse was instant, and very personal, and went on far too long. This seemed worse in a crowd of 30-40 than a crowd of several thousand, although it’s the same I suppose.

Cheyo Qunitanilla was not having a great game, and we did get on his back a bit too. When in Washington there were some unpleasant rumours of drink and girls, all hotly denied. He has now, with 2 games left and less than a month on his contract, announced he is leaving San Salvador as of now, because “The results have not been what I hoped”. There is one word of this: - Character. I can’t see this talented young player amount to anything because of this flaw, although he is talking a lot about many offers and going abroad again, I doubt it. A blow for SanSal, none the less.

Anel Canales
Now, this is a cracker, and I may have mentioned it before, but the story has just exploded. Anel Canales is a Panamanian who was contracted this season by Chalatenango, during their best run ever, looking good for a semi-final spot.

He played in the 2-1 victory over San Salvador who made an official complaint to the federation. The complaint being that Chalat was the third team that Canales had played official matches for during this “FIFA year”, which is strictly forbidden.

He played at least one game for Tecnico Universitario in the second division of Ecuador, although he was only with them 15 days, and he was inscribed with Chorrillo FC in Panama. The directors of Chalat maintain that he was only inscribed, but did not play, and had a fax to this effect, which allowed the committee to throw out the complaint by San Salvador. The Pantera’s directors left the hearing muttering dark threats of appeals, etc.

I have looked into this, and it is astounding how little information is available, as to whether he played or not. I managed to find a listing of the game he was supposed to have played in Panama, but no team lists. An exhaustive search of the Panamanian newspapers online archives came up with no reports at all on this game. San Salvador have repeatedly stated they will not let it lie until the referees official report from the game is produced.

The player is saying nothing.

During the triangular tournament the Salvadorian federation (FEDEFUT) spoke privately with their counterparts in Panama (FEPAFUT), who are now referring everything to FEDEFUT. The head of FEDEFUT, Rodrigo Calvo called Lisandro Pohl, Director of Chalatenango, to say “I’m calling from Panama, as a friend - I advise you not to play Canales anymore this season”. Pohl declined the advice, and he continues to play.

Now with all this coming out, all the other teams who dropped points against Chalat whilst the Panamanian was playing have joined forces with SanSal, asking the points to be stripped, and for them to get the three points. These are:-
Aguila 0 – Chalatenango 1

Chalatenango 2 – San Salvador 1
Firpo 0 – Chalatenango 0
Vista Hermosa 1 – Chalatenango 1
Chalatenango 2 – Metapan 1
This would alter the table immensely, dropping Chalatenango from 1st to 8th, and giving them no chance to qualify for the semi-finals for the first time in their history. Metapan would go from second to first, Aguila 4th to 3rd, and FAS would drop from third to joint 4th, needing a play-off with Firpo, if the league finished today (they don’t use goal difference here).

At the other end of the table San Salvador currently have 11 points to Once Municipal’s 14. This would change to 14 each, and remember that SanSal have a game in hand (home v Aguila this Wednesday night), so you can see why they have been so keen to pursue this.

With only two jornadas left this season, maybe a decision will not be taken in time, and maybe Chalatenango will have to pay for it next season, but I am sure FEDEFUT do not want FIFA stepping in, as they did with Alianza last year, and so expect some swift action, and some bitter resentment from the north.

Teams Not Paying
Nelson Ancheta’s FAS join the list of teams whose players have been on strike over non-payment. This looks set to be resolved rapidly, but again it brings into question how things are run here. I have seen here in the press a movement building to make sure the league does not program games during the FIFA international dates, as the clubs are fed up of playing matches without their best players. Honestly…

Sorry made those exciting happenings all sound a little stale. Too tired probably….

Busy Fortnight for Clubs and Country

Two games this week just gone, and another coming on Wednesday, and we are beginning to see what Vanegas is trying to do with the team. Following the disaster of Metapan it could only get better, and by going back to basics it looks a lot better already.

The important bottom of the table clash against Once Municipal Wednesday, and the tricky weekend away match at Nejapa had many similarities. The main thing they have shown us is that San Salvador have a midfield capable of controlling the game, and probing any team. The flip side is distinct and fatal defensive frailties.

Henry Vanegas had made some telling remarks about the “big name” players, and I think reading between the lines, it seemed that the names have been too happy to blame their companions, meanwhile, they have been too content to leave all the work up to the international players.

His talk seemed to have worked well, in both these games; we really saw the whole team playing as a team, and at last keeping the concentration levels high throughout the entire 90 minutes. And we have seen that this is a team that could easily be at the other end of the table, but may need two or three new defenders to realise this potential.

San Salvador 2 Once Municipal 1 video
Wednesday night the Panteras started very positively and in full control, against an overwhelmed Once Municipal, whose 5-3-2 was not enough to control the midfield. Gochez, Alas and Quintanilla playing very well, Maldonado out on the left out of sorts. With these linking nicely with Cerritos and Obregon the Canaries owed a lot to Guevera in the centre of defence for not conceding.

It must have been quite a shock for both sets of players to go in with the score 1-0 in favour of the visitors. It seemed to be from nowhere; a long ball came to the far side, well chased down and crossed back. The San Salvador defence were caught ball watching, and wholly static.

Amazingly San Salvador kept their heads, and shortly after the break the centre back Zepeda scored, making it one each. The introduction of Valle for Maldonado shortly afterwards helped further, but it was mostly more of the same, as the home team continued to dominate. Last week I criticised them for a lack of attacking ideas, other than Alas free-kicks. In this game, however, not only did Quintanilla take all the free kicks, the movement and short passing, particularly in the box, was exciting and probing. They kept to their task admirably, and were rewarded with a Ronald Cerritos winner deep in injury time.

This result brought the two teams back level in the last spot. However the control of the game and the probing danger must have left Vanegas very happy, although still concerned a little at the organisation at the back. Incidentally, I ran into Dennis Alas and Henry Vanegas just before kick off, as I was hanging around the changing rooms. Gave me a thrill, at least.

Nejapa 2 San Salvador 2 video

So this set them up nicely for a trip to Nejapa, but it was much the same. Wholly in control two disastrous defensive lapses saw them two down at the break. And even worse, a strong challenge from Dennis Alas just on half time earned him a red card. It seemed harsh, but once again San Salvador’s new found belief allowed them to stick at their task, and they came back to get a point, Francisco Milla (pictured) coming on to score the equaliser. Unfortunately Once Municipal were winning 1-0 at home to Firpo, to push them two points ahead.

Elsewhere In El Salvador

Things are hotting up at the other end, looking for places in top four, to pass to the semi finals. Firpo have slipped, drawing (Metapan) and losing. Alianza had an odd week, losing 5-1 to Chalatenango, before beating leaders Aguila 1-0, and are now off the pace. Chalat also drew with Vista Hermosa, and look well placed to qualify for the first time in their history. But Metapan’s draw with Firpo, and victory over FAS sees them at the top.

Wednesday night the four remaining games back from Jornada 12 will be played, San Salvador entertaining Vista Hermosa, and after that all teams will have 3 further games this half season.

El Salvador National Team

The national under-23 team is now in Panama for the pre-Olympic qualifiers, they will play the hosts on Wednesday night at 7pm, and again on Friday 9th against Honduras also at 7pm. Both games will be at the Rod Carew Stadium, a baseball park converted for football. This means San Salvador will be without William Maldonado and Dennis Alas, who is likely to be named captain of the team.

Calamity in Metapan

This weekend the 4th round of the 2nd part of the 1st half-season of the 2007/2008 season was played, and we once again saw how important regular training is in professional football. A few weeks back Alianza lost 5-1 following a two week long training strike. The Alianza players are now being paid but their metropolitan colleagues at San Salvador are still not. After two and a half months they have now also walked out of training.

This, coupled with some odd decisions from their new manager Henry Vanegas, led to a disastrous game against Isidro Metapan. With 39 mins on the clock, four nil down and making the second tactical substitution, the manager’s and player’s faces told us that the second half was going to be a very long 45 minutes for them.

Edwin Portillo had the luxury of naming an unchanged team, and sticking to 4-4-2. Vanegas, meanwhile, switched to 4-4-2 and left two of his national team players on the bench, Dennis Alas and Ronald Cerritos, Eliseo Quintanilla missing through suspension. He had an odd formation with the defensive midfielder Francisco Milla as centre back, and Ernesto Gochez with Andres Medina in the centre, Medina slightly withdrawn, Doni Valle and William Torres on the wings. This proved to be highly ineffective, and Milla particularly looked awful, off the pace, and positionally naïve.

It was actually rather surprising that it was as late as the tenth minute that Metapan scored, as the SanSal defence seemed to have literally no idea how to deal with the lamest of balls lifted into the box. Paolo Suarez had a fine game on the right, making the first two goals, and scoring the fourth, he ran Doni Valle ragged, before the latter was removed just before the break.

However the first tactical change had come at just 24 minutes and it was a relief to see Milla removed, as it was a performance that was painful to watch. Alas came on for him, slipping into midfield, with Medina dropping to centre-back. This did stiffen the Pantera’s midfield to a degree, but also exposed a further problem – Alas’s free kicks were the visiting team’s sole attacking idea, he even made an attempt on goal from the half-way line.

So a fine night for Metapan who now occupy 2nd spot and particularly for Honduran William Reyes (pictured), whose hat-trick tonight puts him top of the goalscorers chart, with 9. It was quite a 31st birthday celebration for him, also passing the 150 goal mark in the top flight here - fourth on the all time list. I think they may even feel a little disappointed to have won only six nil. That really is how one sided this encounter was.

But what a miserable night for San Salvador, who attain 10 games without a win, and receive fellow low-fliers The Canaries of Once Municipal Wednesday night. This is a crucial match for them, one Vanges described as a “nine-pointer”, which is an idea even Tricky never came up with, answers to the usual place, please…. Your correspondent will be in the stadium for that one.

A very quick round up of the rest of the games. The aforementioned Once Municipal broke their six game losing trot, and 217 minutes without scoring, beating leaders Aguila one-nil at home. Despite being away and having only ten men for an hour, FAS beat Chalatenengo 1-0. Now looking back up to full fitness a rampant Alianza brushed Nejapa aside, 3-1. Vista Hermosa, not looking so good now the rains have finished, lost at home 1-0 to Firpo; and that completes the Jornada.

Next Up:-
Jornada 5, Segunda Vuelta (or 14th Jornada):

Wednesday 31st October 2007
Chalatenango v Alianza
Firpo v Metapan
San Salvador v Once Municipal
FAS v Vista Hermosa
Aguila v Nejapa

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Rained off – Again

Not much to report, as a tropical wave caused 24 hours of rain, leading to a suspension of the league program – for the second time this season, hence the headline “Rain 2 – Sport 0”.

The re-arranged program got changed three times in a week, at one point round 14 was going to be played before round 13, or something, anyway I think this is the next few games:-

Thursday 25th Oct
FAS v Firpo - Jornada 11

Saturday 27th Oct

Metapan v San Salvador - 13

Once Municipal v Aguila - 13

Sunday 28th Oct

Chalate v FAS - 13

Alianza v Nejapa - 13

Vista Hermosa v Firpo - 13

Wednesday 31st Oct
Aguila v Nejapa - 14

Firpo v Metapan - 14

Chalate v Alianza - 14

San Salvador v Once Municipal - 14

FAS v Vista Hermosa - 14

Wednesday 7th November

Firpo v Chalate - 12

FAS v Alianza - 12

Nejapa v Once Municipal - 12

San Salvador v Vista Hermosa – 12

Last night Alianza got a solid practical 2-0 home win against struggling Once Municipal – good news for the Panthers of San Salvador. The Canaries have not won for ages, and like Henry Vanegas at SanSal, Hugo Coria’s first game in charge ends in defeat.

The table is:-
Team – Pld – Points

Aguila – 12 – 23

Chalatenango – 11 – 20
Metapan – 12 – 19
Firpo – 10 – 17
Nejapa – 11 – 17
Vista Hermosa – 11 – 17

Alianza – 11 – 14
FAS – 10 – 11

Once Municipal – 11 – 7
San Salvador – 11 – 7

At the end of the (half) season, top four go into play-offs, semi finals being top vs. 4th and 2nd vs. 3rd, then a final to decide the Champions. I am not sure if relegation is every “season” or every year, and I am not sure if bottom club goes straight down, but there is, I think, a play-off with best team(s) from the second division to decide a relegation spot, not sure if there is only one, or a potential of two. I will keep looking into it.

So my next game will be Wednesday, my first evening game here, check back Thursday(ish) for a round up.

Finally everybody was tremendously excited by the footage of “Inside a Scottish Celebration” last week, and many asked to see the same bar the night of the Georgia 2 Scotland 0 game a few days later, well here it is…..

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International Week

International week, and El Salvador had two home friendlies, both of which I missed. The squad put together by Mexican coach Carlos De Los Cobos had more than one eye on the Olympic qualification to come, and so were mostly comprised of the under-23 squad, with a few senior players.

El Salvador v Costa Rica
In front of very few fans they faced a strongish Costa Rica team on Saturday night. This is a good test for the lads, as Costa Rica are traditionally stronger then them. This game, however, was no one-sided affair, and it was probably the slightly more mature professionalism that saw Costa Rica go two up.

A very heartening come back saw the “blue and white” of El Salvador come back to get two each, they also had a couple of goals disallowed, both probably offside. As for the San Salvador boys involved, Dennis Alas came on for a few minutes before receiving a red card for complaining about the second disallowed goal, which was scored from a free kick from his club and country team-mate Eliseo Quintanilla. Hs bustling and intelligent performance in this game saw him awarded man of the match. Ronald Cerritos also played and had a decent game up front.

Despite this being an International date San Salvador played, without those players, and lost again 2-1. This is now eight games without a win, and five loses on the spin … I am going Sunday for a tricky home fixture against Vista Hermosa, still playing well despite their narrow 1-0 home loss to leaders Aguila.

El Salvador v Trinidad & Tobago
Wednesday night the “socawarriors” (is that right?) of Trinidad & Tobago came over. They brought a good team, although the squad had only players who currently work in the local league.

Following a lambasting of the apathetic turn out on Saturday a much larger crowd came, hoping to see another fighting performance; they were not disappointed, and ended the game by sending the lads off to rapturous applause. The team from Jack Warner’s powerbase played well first half, and El Salvador had not quite found their feet, but in the second half they came into it more, and could have won it. However an interesting and hard fought nil all draw left most satisfied. As for the San Salvador representatives, Alas (17) played a half, but did not really impose himself, Ronald Cerritos (11) had a good second half and hit the post, and once again Quintanilla (10) was man of the match, running the show, always the route the team went through:- his is the ball which Cerritos headed onto the post. These two games, I think, will lead De Los Cobros to continue with his favoured 5-3-2.

Alianza’s strike finished once the players finally got paid, but the last I heard was that San Salvador had not paid their players either. There seems to be a belief here that “a hungry dog fights harder”, but the president of San Salvador has denied that that is his method.

Other News
Russia got a good and deserved victory against an England devoid of ideas, and tactically out-thought. And no amount of moaning about the ref can hide that. Time to give Marcello Lippi a call and offer him the Earth.

Scotland like to make things tricky for themselves, and after brushing Ukraine aside lost 2-0 away at Georgia, but a regulation home win against Italy will see them home.

Venezuela won away at Quito, of all places, with a remarkable free kick, and to get their world cup campaign off to a terrible start Ecuador then got slaughtered in Rio.

Mala Racha enters new FASe

What started a bright encounter finished as a genuinely exciting football match. Despite a heavy rainstorm in the lead up there was a decent number of Pantera fans for this match, and FAS brought about the same number. Just when you think Mexico is the king of the bizarre and inexplicable in the football world, El Salvador puts in its bid. With my 4 dollar ticket I got a free River Plate ruler and protractor set, most of you will guess who that ended up with (Maybe if Boca had won the superclasico we may have had a blue and yellow set – incidentally, that game was moved two hours for the rugby, must be a first, and sorry Ken, I promise no further mention of that).

The rain did make the pitch very heavy in places, and a couple of early San Salvador moves broke down when the ball simply stopped dead in the middle of the park. Nelson Ancheta reckons FAS could have gone in five nil up, but that is clearly nonsense. It was a bright and interesting half that FAS certainly had the best of, but only just. Defensively both teams looked very well organised, and in control. FAS were playing their usual 3-5-2 and I thought at the back they looked good, Marvin Gonzaelaz looking good, and it seemed impossible to get past the imposing figure of Joel Solanilla.

SanSal had Alas restored in the centre of 4-4-2, but he was not overly impressive, only occasionally making his presence felt, and his early free kick harmlessly hit the wall. Despite FAS being slightly ahead the home team grew in confidence as the half wore on. This led them to attack more and send more men up the field, full-back Torres having a decent game in defence, but lacking somewhat coming forwards,

Right on the stroke of half time it was one such failed attack that led to a fast FAS breakaway. With too few back a goal seemed inevitable, and Mardoq Henriquez made it 1-0.

After a half which saw much good work, including a couple of let-offs and the odd goal-line clearance SanSal were clearly disappointed to have conceded weakly so late on; one nil may have been fair, but it hardly seemed just.

Ten minutes in and the game seemed over. Sebastian Bini had made it two nil, and Quintanilla got his second yellow, for a hardish challenge, the first had been for a mild complaint about a clearly wrong offside decision. This was a hard blow for the locals, this Eliseo Quintanilla (pictured) is a winger out of the short, powerful, angry bastard mould, and his skill and determination had been causing problems all afternoon.

However, and credit to them, the SanSal boys did not put their heads down, and five minutes later William Maldonado (on since 26 minutes for injured Gochez) popped up to make it 2-1. This seemed out of nowhere, and suddenly we had a football game on our hands, the whole atmosphere changed, and FAS suddenly looked as indecisive and as unsure as they had looked so assured all day. The equaliser was almost predictable as Obregon made it two each and with less than quarter of an hour left, ten men San Salvador were now on top, and FAS clearly rattled.

This was by far the most exciting period of football I have seen in El Salvador, and soon afterwards a fine Ronald Cerritos cross was handled in the box, and Dennis Alas stepped up for the penalty which should have crowned a remarkable and deserved come back. He hit it hard, but at a nice height and not far from the keeper, Luis Contreras, who stopped it well. In the manic confusion that followed the ref stopped the game a couple of times to threatened both managers with cards, these stoppages along with the missed penalty put an end to San Salvador’s momentum; the comeback was over.

And deep into injury time when Marvin Gonzalez rose to head back across the goal, making it 2-3 the misery of the home side was complete – now 8 games without a win. Nelson Ancheta, who said afterwards he would have resigned if he had lost this game, was dancing a quite remarkable (and lengthy) victory dance in his managers “box”. For those of you with long memories it was a sort of mix between how John Peel used to dance on Top Of The Pops, and how Jimmy Corkhill reacted to his first experience of E.

I must say the level of dejection I felt leaving the stadium leads me to believe that my heart is softening to Los Panteras de San Salvador. I might just buy a hat.

San Salvador 2 FAS 3

Elsewhere in El Salvador
FIRPO’s trio of Argentinean strikers have come in for some stick recently (see my last post), and for their big game against Alianza they switched to 4-4-2, sticking Medrano on the wing. It worked; he had a blinder, and scored two. Barroche also got two, and Leguizamon the other, as they shut their detractors up with an emphatic win: - Firpo 5 Alianza 1. This may seem a surprising victory, but Alianza had to be a little out of shape. The players have not been paid for two months, and are on strike. Whilst agreeing to play, they are refusing to train until some wages materialise. They conceded a goal for each day of the strike so far.

Nejapa 2 - Vista Hermosa 1, Nejapa came from behind to make it four wins in four games, the Uruguayan Juan Carlos set up the winner. He looks like Iwan Roberts with teeth.

Once Municipal 0 – Metapan 1. Abel Moralejo lasted only 10 games for the Canaries, after yet another loss, and again no goals, he was sacked just after this game. I just hope another bunch of Canaries see sense and sack their manager soon. Alexander Escobar scored the winner for Metpan.

On Saturday night Chalatenango put pressure on the leaders, Aguila, with a good 1-0 away win.

Second Division News.
Santa Tecla beat Estudiantes well, four nil, back at home, the problems at Las Delicias now sorted. They are 3rd in Group A. I had a kick around Saturday morning, and thoroughly enjoyed it. After the game I discovered that two of the lads played for Atletico Marte, currently top of Group A, having beaten Santa Tecla last week, and drawing away at Arcense that afternoon. This excited me, because one of them I could take the ball off like sweets off a baby, and the other I skinned several times, at will. I saw El Salvadorian second division glory within my grasp. It turned out, of course, that these were the first choice and reserve goalkeepers. Oh well, it was a nice dream while it lasted. I did not score at all, by the way.

Panteras Wounded & Sunk - Seven Without A Win

There is very little to say about this game, except San Salvador offered nothing and Firpo’s problems were of their own making. This was not a regulation two nil away win, it should easily have been six nil at least. However a clearly dominate Firpo showed some very poor finishing, and seemed to find it hard to keep their shape.

Saul Rivera had few options, with Alas out injured and Alex Obregon suspended, his hand was forced to play 4-4-2 against Firpo’s 4-3-3. To say the Panthers midfield and strikers were ineffective is a gross understatement. Ricardo Orellano should be picked out for special mention as he was particularly poor. Not that the Firpo strike force of Patricio Barroche, Fernando Leguizamon (pictured) and Francisco Medrano was anything to write home about, missing chance after chance. Guillermo Moran, midfielder, also managed to head clear from practically on the line, in the centre of the goal.

I think San Salvador had one “chance” in the first half (free kick) and a couple in second half, and so complete was the Firpo dominance even a poor display in front of goal could not save the home side.

I am wondering, now, how sensible Wednesday night's friendly was for San Salvador. Even though it was a game I expect to see the big European teams emulate, they played their supporters club. Given the number of supporters the seem to have (about thirty), it was good to see they won 7-0.

The big game of the week was the “clasico” of El Salvadorian football – In front of a packed house at Juan Francisco Barraza Aguila beat the Tigers of FAS 3-2, in an entertaining game, during a heavy rainstorm. The ex-Tiger Nicolas Muñoz scored two nice goals, his first particularly worth seeing on that video. He is now top scorer in the league, and his family had come from Panama to see the game.

Also on Saturday Metapan and Alianza played out a nil all draw. Despite how that sounds I am told it was also an entertaining game.

Once Municipal’s season is suddenly falling apart, they finally scored, but still lost 2-1 at home to Vista Hermosa. Nejapa won at home well 4-2 against Chalate, that’s a good result for them, and that concludes the Apertura 2007, primera vuelta. Here there are two half seasons, but the teams play each other twice each half season, four times a year. It’s sort of a mix between Mexico and Scotland, if you can imagine such a thing.

One Sided "Derby" In Round Eight

A confident and assured Alianza saw off San Salvador in a local derby full of goals, and full of incident.

In the opening 5 minutes Alianza’s first four attacks resulted in: - goal, bar, post and a missed golden opportunity. Retana scored in the second minute, following a nice move on their first attack. And imagine my joy when San Salvador got an early free kick, and the ball was casually tossed to Dennis Alas. He spun the ball looking for the valve, searched out a good spot, and took a good run up. He aimed high and towards the post, and forced a good save. That’s the first free kick in the video, and he takes them all.He San Salvador were never really in this game, but you never really felt they were completely out of it either, and the equaliser by Gochez may have been out of nowhere, but they had been working well down the flanks.

It was a few moments after this goal, just after the half hour mark, we were treated to the best move of the day. A fast flowing move, showing individual skill and great team passing, movement and understanding, San Salvador ended up winning no more than a corner.

Early in the second half Retana scored his second, the goal of the jornada and Alianza took control of the game. Alianza had the ball in the net again, but it was adjudged off-side, and watch the keeper on the third goal for Alianza. Within 5 minutes of each other they got a penalty, and Alianza’s goalkeeper also takes theirs, and took it well, and Alas made no mistake for San Salvador, leaving the score line 4-2. So San Salvador looked good in flashes, but need to get more mobility at the back to stop being opened up so easily if they want to get off the foot of the table.

I was once again at the game alone, and went in the away end, which actually were mostly Alianza fans. I think it is the cheapest covered area, and the rain was threatening. In fact it was a very disappointing crowd overall, but not as disappointing as the “Mister Burger” I choked down from the top of the stand, just next to the open urinals.

The big game of the jornada ended level, but full of controversy, as Firpo got off the mark with a penalty, only see Shawn Martin equalise for Aguila with a goal which was awarded even though the ball appeared to not cross the line. We have talked of little else here: Jose who?

In Santa Ana FAS entertained Nejapa, and some FAS fans had some unpleasant placards about Nejapa. The police came to kick them out, and it seemed a fairly run of the mill minor incident. You will be delighted to learn, however, that the FAS manager, that man Nelson Ancheta, decided to get involved, trying to defend “his” fans, and it all got a bit nasty again – maybe this could be the man Peter n Roman are looking for? In the end the visitors had the last laugh, winning one nil.

On the Saturday I enjoyed, by TV, a convincing Vista Hermosa victory in a game of low quality on a waterlogged pitch. The “Roadrunners” were winning and in control, but dropped their concentration late on to allow Metapan to score an undeserved brace. Final score 4-2.

The final fixture saw Once Municipal continue a new run. Having just ended their 31 game home unbeaten run, they have now not scored for five consecutive games – 482 minutes to be exact. Chalatenango had a bread and butter home two nil victory against them to stay second.

The Table:-

1st Aguila 16pts
2nd Chalatenango 14pts
3rd Vista Hermosa 11pts
= Nejapa 11pts
= Firpo 11pts
= Metapan 11pts
7th Alianza 10pts
8th FAS 8pts
9th Once Municipal 7pts
= San Salvador 7pts

NB all teams have played 8, except Vista Hermosa and FAS, who have played 7

Top scorer in the league at the moment is that man Eduardo Retana, with 5, a few behind him on 4, including Dennis Alas.

Next week San Salvador are entertaining Firpo

Intrigue and Insults in Jornada 7

Video Alianza v Vista Hermosa

A few runs to talk about this week. In Mexico Pumas finally got a home win, the last being on St Valentines Day. It’s good to win, but Tecos were appallingly bad. Back here in Salvador the amazing home record of Once Municipal finally came to an end, losing 1-0 to FAS, after not losing en casa for 31 games, the last time being the semi final of the Apertura 2005. Exciting scenes as the man who won them a title, Nelson Ancheta, made his first visit as manager of FAS. He was not warmly received, and the abuse increased when he was sent off, and refused to go. His captain, Alfredo Pacheco had to lead him away, whereupon he was heard to shout at the Canary faithful: - “I gave you a f**cking title, you ***s”. Lovely stuff.

Aguila had an efficient and rather too straightforward 3-0 victory over San Salvador on Saturday, the difference between the teams was clear, and to be honest it should have been many more. Even a couple of Dennis Alas thunderbolt free-kicks somehow failed to find the target. San Salvador in deep trouble, rooted to the bottom of the table.

I made it to an intriguing fixture at the Cuscatlan, Alianza taking on Vista Hermosa. This is the sixth visit of the lads of Gotera since their promotion, and they have not been beaten (sorry, Blackcomyn – you know all this I am sure, just skip ahead), winning once, the other 4 games ending in draws. The area behind the goal was closed so I went into one of the two away sections. The main one had about 70 people, there were 16 other Vista Hermosa faithful with me.

I found this to be a fascinating and very odd game, very difficult to read. Vista Hermosa came out 3-5-2, and Alianza had a (fluid) 3-5-2 as well. To put it concisely Alianza are clearly a better team, but did not seem to be able to hold their shape, whereas Vista Hermosa had more mobility up front, and were much more disciplined, keeping their shape much better.

I think it was this discipline that ultimately won them a draw, which I think was probably just about fair. A scrappy opening had the home side slightly on top, so the early goal for the visitors seemed a little against the play. Romero and Coreas were lively up front, and Osael Romero got between the defenders out on the right, and finished nicely for the 0-1.

Despite their clear superiority Retana and Albarron (mex) could not really overwhelm the midfield for Alianza, and we saw some entertaining back-and.forth football, without anyone really controlling. The visitors really should have gone two up towards the end of the half Salvador Coreas missing a great chance from a nice Manifred Portillo cross.
Worse was to come for the blues, as a minute later as the elephants equalised. Retana slipped a lovely ball into the path of Francisco Alvarez who collected and finished coolly.

So one each at half time seemed about fair, but really only felt the home team would go on to win.

Indeed Alianza went ahead not long after kick off, with a remarkable goal, from that man Eduardo Retana again. I am sure he will tell you it was a wonderfully crafted chip, but I have an alternative view. Nice work between him and Lopez led the ball to the box, where Leonel Gustavo, who was not impressive all day, got a foot in to clear the ball. Unfortunately for him, Retana was rushing in, and the ball ricocheted off him, and over the despairing Memo Gonzalez. Maybe fortunate, but not unsurprising, and a home win seemed most likely now.

Following a free kick Vista Hermosa were gifted what seemed an extremely dodgy penalty. To my delight it seems the keeper, Gonzalez, takes the penalties for Vista Hermosa. He had made a few good saves, and obviously had little faith in his strikers. He made no mistake from the spot, and ran off to the empty stands to celebrate alone. 2 all.

He was at the other end of a penalty not long after, as a supposed hand ball saw another penalty, it seemed Alianza first ever home victory against Vista Hermosa was finally going to arrive. Fransisco “Caballito” Alvarez stepped up, confident of adding to his account. Sadly, not to be, and the game finished as yet another draw between these two.

In the other games Metapan beat Chalatengo 1-0, and Nejapa also got a home win 3-1 against FIRPO.
This all leaves Aguila 4 points clear at the top and San Salvador at the bottom. The top scorer is Nicolás Muñóz of Aguila.

The games for Jornada 8 are:-

Vista Hermosa v Metapan
Alianza v San Salvador – ooo mouthwatering derby
FIRPO v Aguila
FAS v Nejapa
Chalatenago v Once Municipal

In the second division, Santa Tecla are lying 3rd in Group “A”. If I can get more information on second and third divisions I will let you know.

Confusojornadas

With the mid-week Jornada 5 being cancelled for Hurricane Felix we entered a very confusing time of rearranged matches, with very little notice, so I failed to get to any, we are now in a situation where most, but not all, of Jornada 5 and Jornada 6 is complete, and this weekend starts jornada 7.

So that’s the lame excuse for the lack of posts, and here are the results so far:-

Jornada 5
Once Municipal 0 – San Salvador 0
Vista Hermos v FAS 4th October
Nejapa 0 – Aguila 4
Alianza 2 – Chalatenango 2
Metapan 1 – FIRPO 1

Jornada 6
Aguila 2 – Alianza 1
Chalatenango 1 – Vista Hermosa 1
FAS 4 – Metapan 2
San Salvador v Nejapa TBA
FIRPO – Once Municipal TBA

And the current table is:-

1st Aguila pld 6, 12pts
2nd Chalatenango pld 6, 11pts
3rd Metapan pld 6, 8pts
4th= FIRPO pld 5, 7pts
4th= Vista Hermosa pld 5,7pts
4th= Once Municipal pld 5, 7pts
7th= San Salvador pld 5, 6pts
8th= Alianza pld 6, 6pts
9th= FAS pld 5, 5pts
10th= Nejapa pld 5, 4pts

This weekend the choice game is Once Municipal at home to FAS, should be fascinating, but I will not see it, as I will be in the Cuscatlan for Alianza Vista Hermosa, I may go in with the away fans. The Canaries, incidentally, now 31 home games without defeat.

Jornada 7
Aguila v San Salvador
Once Municipal v FAS
Alianza v Vista Hermosa
Nejapa v FirpoMetapan v Chalatenango

I promise a better write up after the weekend, sorry.

Severe Hosts

I did not get to the game this weekend, I will not bore you with the reasons, suffice to say:- John, you would recognise the situation. So this week I will treat you to a brief overview of each of the five games in the Apertura 2007, Primera Vuelta, Jornada 4.

Eagle Eats Canary
Aguila 2 – Once Municipal 0
Saturday night in the Estadio Juan Francisco Barrera in San Miguel a competent Aguila saw off an 11 Municipal without any attacking gumption whatsoever.

They failed to trouble Rivera in goal, and showed little ambition until the second half, when the occasional attack fumbled with very wayward finishing. By this stage Nicolàs Muñoz had scored from the spot after the half hour, following a handball just inside the box (“The 16.50” as it is here). Muñoz bagged again early in the second half, and came close to a hat trick late on.

The San Miguel team will be happy with a solid home win, but the lads from Ahuachapán will need to show more ambition if they want to extend their 30 game unbeaten run at home, next week against San Salvador.

Another escape in the Custatlan
San Salvador 2 – Metapan 2
In contrary to Alianza who last week scored late last week to salvage a point, San Salvador threw 3 points out the window in a disastrous last five minutes, in what we used to call “a grandstand finish”.

San Salvador, “los panteras”, played the best football on the day, and were justly ahead after 20 minutes from a blistering Dennis Alas free kick. The same player scored a carbon copy on 33 minutes to make it 2-0. This Dennis Alas (pictured) is a talisman for the team from the capital, and the newspaper has just been recording his free kicks from outside the area: - an average of 95 km/h; the fastest was 155 km/h. “It’s just a natural gift” says the player. Not sure if that is arrogant or modest. Also I am not 100% convinced that the journalist knew how to use the speed gun.

Following changes at half time the current champions were slowly coming back into the game, but San Salvador were still looking comfortable. However on 86 minutes Paolo Suarez (Uruguay) scored to give a glimmer of hope. When Alex Escobar scored from a free kick deep into injury time, Metapán were in ecstasy. Once the dust settles, however, they will realise it was just a draw, and leaves them second, and Los Panteras will rue “doing a Pumas”.

Top to Bottom
CD FAS 0 – Chalatenango 1
FAS’s bad run continues, this time losing at home, to leave them clear bottom with 2 points with 6 goals received from the four games so far.

Whilst things in Santa Ana maybe getting too hot for Nelson Ancheta, over in Chalatenango they are in dream land – top of the table. The only goal of the game came from the winger who delights in the name of Gilberto Murgas, on the stroke of full time.

Alianza Forget How To Win
Nejapa 2 - Alianza 2 Video
Alianza draw again, this time losing the advantage. In the Polideportivo Vitoria Gasteiz Nejapa a large turnout saw an interesting and even game. In fact Nejapa made all the early running, and Dago Portillo, the Alianza keeper, was the first-half hero, pulling off a string of fine saves.

But it was the visitors who went two up, with goals either side of half time, That man Retana again, finding space in the box on 41 minutes, and Arturo Albarran scoring a fine free kick a minute into the second half.

However Nejapa were never out of this game, and controlled much of it especially in midfield. In a five minutes period Portillo went from hero to zero, he seemed rooted for the first goal (51 minutes, Wilber Martinez), and for the second he mishandled a fairly easy long shot, only to see Helman Monterrosa following up strongly to get the equaliser on 56 minutes.

Alianza regained their composure, and neither team could break through, and a draw was a fair result. To make me think of home, two Alianza players were sent off after the final whistle for complaining to the ref. Muy Mexicano.

Usulutecos Stop The Rot
Luis Angel FIRPO 2 – Vista Hermosa 0
An excellent display of football saw FIRPO end their bad run, as Vista Hermosa did not look at all comfortable in the Sergio Torres Rivera, this week living up to its nickname of “The Devil’s Cauldron”.

The goals came from Guillermo Moran on 11 minutes and a well taken Leonardo Pekarnic penalty following a foul by Patrico Barroche on 36 minutes.

HOME FORTRESSES
As is well known the Canaries of Once Municipal have not lost at home for 30 games, and so far this season there has only been one away victory (Chalate away at FAS), making all the teams here “Severe Hosts”. I think we will see that change tonight.

TABLE (4 played)
Chalatenango 9pts +3
Metapan 7pts 0
FIRPO 6pts +1
Aguila 6pts 0
11 Municipal 6pts 0
Vista Hermosa 6pts 0
Nejapa 5pts 0
San Salvador 5pts 0
Alianza 5pts -1
FAS 2pts -3

This week it is a double round, and they are playing again Wednesday night (Felix willing): here are the games, with my predictions:-

Alianza v Chalate draw
Once Municipal v San Salvador home win
Nejapa v Aguila away win
Vista Hermosa V FAS draw
Metapan v Firpo draw

We shall see how I do. There seems to be a strong second division here in El Salvador, and a team from my barrio “Santa Tecla”, so I will try and get there, and maybe do a report on the second division soon.

The last words today are from joint league top scorer, Dennis Alas. His 5 point plan for taking great free kicks:-

1) Always aim to kick the ball where the valve is. I seem to remember Gary McAllister learning that from Gordon Strachan. Do balls still have valves?
2) Get a good run up, to hit the ball hard. A strong shot is much more effective.
3) Always aim to hit the ball above the bar. In the majority of cases a goal will result. I want you all to think about that statement very carefully.
4) Find a good spot on the pitch to put the ball, preferably a slightly raised area.
5) Aim for one of the posts. It’s the hardest area for the keeper to reach.

Wise words. Remember to check back soon for the reports on the midweek games.
DT

Escape In The Cuscatlán

My first game in El Salvador ended much as my last match in Mexico: - a last minute equaliser leaving the home fans more content than the visiting crowd.

However FAS really only have themselves to blame, clearly on top they inexplicably decided to sit on a 1-0 with about half an hour to go, and they paid for that lack of ambition.

Video Alianza 1 - FAS 1
Audio postmatch interviews

Alianza v FAS is a big game here, and there was quite a good turn out in the Estadio Cuscatlán. A nice stadium painted throughout in yellow and red, but with blue seats in the seated area. Walking around the stadium (each area has its own taquilla) I noticed the door to the ref’s dressing room door was open, so I poked my head in to see the referring team, who gave me a bad look, so I shot out again. I also saw here an old fellow wearing the 2005/2006 Pumas home shirt. He wasn’t chatty, though.

I opted for the 5 dollar Preferente Sur behind the goal. The cheapest seats sit in the sun along one side, and this was clearly where the strongest “barra” were seated. It was a nice relaxed atmosphere over where I was, and beers at $1.75, a shade under the 20 pesos at CU. No jolly beer lady, however:- a dodgy looking bloke the order of the day.

With the travelling FAS support in good voice the game got under way with Alianza in their familiar all white playing 3-5-2, and the red and blue lads of FAS more 5-3-2: And it was FAS who made all the early running, passing much crisper than their opponents, more movement, and considerably better understanding. After about 15 minutes or so the home side came into it more, or (more accurately) FAS lost their way slightly.

The Alianza front two of Jovel and Vaquerano showed a truly remarkable lack of understanding, passes going astray, and actually running into each other more than once! The lad Vaquerano was very poor all afternoon and was subbed off to jeers and boos.

FAS seemed to have a great love of their wingers, who were quite nippy and found lots of space, and the goal came from down the right wing, on 28 minutes. Alejandro Bentos (Arg) put in a good low cross to the far post where Victor “Pega” Merino scored his first goal for the “Tigrillas”. This was his second goal of the week: - he scored for El Salvador in their victory over Honduras mid week.

By half time it seemed very hard to see a way in for Alianza, and this got harder as Navarro got a second yellow on 66 minutes. The ref (“Juez” here, rather than “Arbitro”:- there certainly seemed to be fewer “arbitrary” decisions…) I thought had a good game, but got 5 out of ten in the paper. A much more robust game than Mexico, players are allowed to tackle, and he did not seem so keen on his cards, but they all came in a couple of little flurries. All in all I would say a good showing from the ref, although there were a few dodgy offside decisions.

It was around now that FAS seemed to lose all ambition. Certainly Alianza were playing better, but FAS had no interest in using their goal and man advantage to kill the game. Their Manager, Nelson Ancheta, is openly saying today that he is looking for a player who can score, but that did not seem to be the problem to me. As so often happens in this sort of game Alianza got the equaliser. They nearly scored direct from a corner by Albarran, whose corners seemed testing all afternoon. In the end it was a long throw from Carballo which the centre back Joel Solanilla misjudged and made his only error all day, and was punished to the full by Eduardo Retana. This is the fifth time in his Alianza career that the skinny winger has saved points with a late goal. I can’t find a good picture of him unfortunately; he has a spiv’s tache.

Overall the standard is not very high, the close control is lacking, as is vision, but is played at a faster rate than Mexican football, and there were not nearly as many stops in the game:- the ref here content for the game to flow, which is anathema to Mexico officials.

So an enjoyable afternoon and here are the results in full; Kenny will be happy:-

Vista Hermosa 3 (Iglesias 6 mins, Gil 17 mins, Romero 27 mins) – San Salvador 2 (Zepeda 19 mins, Cerritos 66 mins)
This means that City, Pumas and San Salvador all lost on the same day. Typical

Metapan 2 (Avila 2 mins, Suarez 73 mins) – Agulia 0

Alianza 1 (Retana 87 mins) – FAS 1 (Merino 28 mins)

Chalatenango 2 (Martinez 32 mins, 55 mins (pen)) – FIRPO 0

Once Municipal 2 (Artero 37 mins, Guzman 59 mins (pen)) – Nejapa 1 (Pedrozo 90 mins)
This puts The Canaries top of the table after three played on goal difference. Live the passion of The Canary's winner

Top scorer so far is Mario Costas of FIRPO, with 3 goals, "El Toro" who I featured as last weeks picture.

Much is made here of Roy Keane’s new rule that Sunderland players cannot change shirts with opponents. This rule has been in place for several years across El Salvadorian football. “Who says that El Salvador is not an example for others?” asks the paper. Although it does go on to explain that the reasons are slightly different. Keane thinks it makes his players too soft. Here each team only has two sets of shirts for the season, and if they swapped them they “would have problems”.

Finally, here is a remarkable new forum, where all the top class footy chat is going on: - click here for forum link Enjoy.

Of Dipolmacy, War, Toros, Football and Meat

Once again I could not get to the game this weekend, the new boss’s barbeque and doings called, and all very pleasant it was too. Wonderful piece of beef, and great sausages all the food, in fact, being excellent and with nice company a genteel afternoon was enjoyed. I ended up most of the afternoon with the Honorary Consul who seemed to find me charming and amusing. He is an interesting chap, and I am sure will be able to help us in times to come.

On the football front most of the headlines were along the lines of “Super Firpo” following their excellent 3-1 win over FAS (“Futbolistas Asociados Santaneco”) at home in the Estadio Sergio Torres in Usulután. The headline that caught my eye, however, was “Volvió El Toro”. As you all know, I was better known on the football pitches of Mexico as “El Toro”, so I was excited to see a kindred spirit. As far as I can see this is the nickname of the Argentinean striker Mario Costas who scored two of the goals (picture).

Results in full:-

San Salvador 1 (Doni Valle 27 mins) – Chalatenango 0 Estadio Cuscatlán

In which Ramon Sánchez faced his old team, San Salvador, for the first time. Well played “Panteras”, top of the table after two played

FIRPO 3 (Patricio Barroche 17 mins, Mario Costas 29 mins, 90 mins) – CD FAS 1 (Juan Carlos Moscoso 21 mins) Estadio Sergio Torres

Águila 1 (Rudy Corrales 83 mins) – Vista Hermosa 0 Estadio Juan Francisco Barraza

11 Municipal 2 ( Adonay Martinez 14 mins, Pablo Troyan 45 mins) – Alianza 0 Estadio Simeón Magaña

This seems to be an upset – up the Canaries!! The have not lost at home now for 29 games.

Nejapa 4 (Lester Blanco 6 mins, Juan Carlos Reyes 35 mins, 50 mins, Luis Osorio pen 90 mins) – Isidro Metapán 1 (William Reyes 23 mins) Estadio Victoria Gastéiz

This is also quite a surprisingly result

On Wednesday night there are some International friendlies, many full of story and history. We have England v Germany for starters, Mexico v Columbia, and the “World Cup” (unofficial) is up for grabs as current holders Italy take on Hungary in Budapest, could be a good game.

For us here we are playing, at home, against neighbours Honduras. Hopefully I will make that game. It is just up the road. Those of you with long memories will remember in 1969 when tensions over border issues and immigration spilled over into war, the “100 Hour War”: The fact that the outbreak coincided with rioting at the World Cup qualifying match on 14th July 1969 in San Salvador (3-0) has led this war to be forever remembered as “The Football War”. El Salvador went on to qualify for the World Cup finals, where they lost 3-0 to Belgium, 4-0 to Mexico and 2-0 to USSR.

My friend, the Honorary Consul, assures me that relations between the countries are much happier nowadays, and we look forward to a fun but hard fought friendly Wednesday night.

First Impressions:- season starts

Welcome to my new blog, and my attempts to infiltrate one of the lesser Latin American leagues, El Salvador: I have now been in the country three days, and the season started this weekend, and sadly I failed to get to the game.

There are 10 teams in the top flight league here, two in the capital of San Salvador, where there are two big stadiums: Many of the other eight teams, spread around the country (about 300 kms by less than 100), have grounds which seem to be little more than fields. In the capital the stadiums are “Cuscatlan” which holds 39,000 and the 25,000 capacity Jorge “Magico” Gonzalez. As far as I can see FC Alianza and San Salvador FC both play at both these grounds.

I feel it is highly likely I will be following San Salvador – I should be at their game next week, and the other capital team, Alianza, seem to be the “big boys” whom I can rarely bring myself to follow.

Over the next few weeks I will post reports of matches I attend, and also some history and quirks of football in this country, which has the highest population density in the Americas. I will also endeavour to understand about each team, and the towns from where they hail.

I will also continue to comment on football around the world, especially relating to CONCACAF and their leader, Jack Warner “TSMCMiFIFA”.

The team that would be natural for me to follow would be “Once Municipal” from Ahuachapán, about 100 kms to the west: This travelling time will stop me from being a fan of the “Canaries”, who share with City the distinction of having a canary and a football on their badge. See the picture of their badge above and also their remarkable looking Estadio Simeón Magaña. Looks already like a great away trip!

For the record, here are the results of the first weekend’s matches:-

Vista Hermosa 2 Nejapa 1

Metapan 1 Once Municipal 0

Chalatenango 1 Agulia 0

FAS 1 San Salvador 1

Alianza 2 Firpo 1

One of the problems I have already encountered is that it seems while the dates of matches are published before the season, the kick off times do not seem available until match day! I am sure I will find out in time soon.

So join me, on a new footballing adventure for me, but a well trodden path for us Brits: - starting with the first footy game ever played here, between teams made up largely of British citizens, where Santa Ana beat San Salvador 2-0 on the 26th July 1899, in Santa Ana.

Cheers

DT