Monday 28th January - Friendlies & More

Belize – Friendly
The heavy rains of the past three days did not stop the friendly between Belize and El Salvador going ahead in San Ignacio, although it clearly affected the pitch. Carlos de Los Cobos played the expected 3-5-2, but with 2 creative midfielders, not 1, so Alas was dropped as the second defensive midfielder. The single “contención” (defensive midfielder) position was given to Óscar Jimenez, making his debut in the blue and white of the national team.

The whole starting line-up:-
Goalkeeper - Juan Jose “JuanJo” Gomez
Back 3 – Luís Hernández – Martín González – Rolando Torres
Outwide – right Shawn Martin – left Alfredo Pacheco
Contención – Óscar Jimenez
Creative Mid – William Torres – Osael Romero
Strikers – Rudis Corrales – Ronald Cerritos (capt)

William Torres and Rudis Corrales have opted to not play for the national team for some time, and were welcomed back. Torres, talking about his four years hiatus said “many things have changed; there were personal reasons why I couldn’t give 100% to the national team, but now I have reflected and am ready to put things right”

Palmiro Salas, in charge of Belize opted for a defensive 3-5-2:-

Woodrow West
Harrison Tacher
Albert Thurton
Ian Gaynal
Victor Morales
Tyronne Pandy
Denis Serrano
David Trapp
Ryan Simpson
Deon McCauley
Jerome James

The main role of this game from El Salvador’ point of view was to see how the new lads played, get some teamwork going and maybe most importantly get a win under their belts, having not won since August. All of these objectives were met. However the main downside for El Salvador was the inability once again to really make their superiority count in terms of goals scored. This essential area of the game needs to be addressed, especially when coming up against the likes of Panama.

For Belize it was a good opportunity to play a team a similar position above them in the rankings to up coming World Cup Qualifier opponents St Kitts & Nevis. There manager, Palmiro Salas, will not be wholly disappointed with the defensive work against a vigorous El Salvador, but must wonder where on earth an attacking bite will come from.

Using the flanks effectively, especially with good work down the left between Torres (W) and Pacheco, the visitors never made it comfortable for the hosts, and many chances came throughout the first half, on 7 minutes a good Pacheco free kick came close, Dennis Alas was on the bench must have been itching to have a go at it. With debutant Oscar Jimenez running things, mopping everything up, and dictating the pace of the game it seemed that El Salvador might win by some margin. On 17 mins Shawn Martin put in a great cross, which Corrales put wide. A few minutes later a well worked free kick by William Torres was met by a smart header from Alfredo Pacheco that sailed into the far corner. Pacheco’s goals are becoming more important whilst the national teams strikers continue to underachieve in front of goal. The scale of the celebration showed the relief for the Cuscatlecos.

This was a heavy time for the Belize defense, and in between those two incidents there was time for the referee Victor Williams to somehow turn a blind eye to Tyronne Pandy pushing Corrales in the box and handling the ball in the same incident.

The superiority continued but as the Mexican De Los Cobos said afterwards “[finishing] has been our eternal problem, lets see how we can resolve this from now on”. His opposite number, Salas, was pleading with his team to at least try some long shots, just to test JuanJo, but they didn’t. The half ended with William Torres missing a golden opportunity, summing up El Salvador’s “eternal problem”

Five changes at the half, Ramón Sánchez, Manual Salazar, Salvador Coreas, Miguel Montes & Dennis Alas coming on, and maintaining the same formation. The first five minutes were the best for Belize, culminating in their best chance by far 4 minutes in. A through ball was nicely won by Victor Morales who bore down on the visitor’s goal only to find JuanJo equal to the task. This was their only real showing.

The rest of the half petered out in much the same manner – The Blue & White dominating but not converting.

It seems likely that Anguilla will be passed but they really have to start scoring because there will not be many chances against Panama. De Los Cobos has to find a striker able to bag, never mind if he’s not so good at crossing.

Both William Torres Alegría and Rudis Corrales picked up injuries, and Torres will not travel to Haiti. So the squad going there numbers 19, and is split into two groups:-

With Visa – travel in one day via Miami
GK - JuanJo Gomez - Firpo
GK - Miguel Montes – Nejapa
Def – Manuel Salazar – Firpo
Def – Marvin Gonzalez – FAS
Def – Ramón Flores - FAS
Mid – Alfredo Pacheco – FAS
Mid – Dennis Alas – Real Maryland
Mid – Ramón Sánchez – Chalatenango
For – Rudis Corrales – Águila
For – Alex Campos* – Águila
For – Ronald Cerritos – Real Maryland

Without Visas – travel over two days via Costa Rica & Cuba
Def – Zelvin Zepeda* – San Salvador
Def – Luís Hernández – Águila
Def – Rolando Torres – Águila
Mid – Óscar Jiménez – FAS
Mid – Shawn Martin – Águila
Mid – Osael Romero – Vista Hermosa
For – Salvador Coreas – Vista Hermosa
For – Emerson Umaña* - FAS

Players marked * are those replacing the Alianza players withdrawn by the club, and then dropped by the manager.

Roberto Calvo, head of FESFUT is apparently trying to find out if Mike Canizales has played for Canada. He is Salvadorian but has grown up and played all his footy in Canada. It is thought that he has played for his adopted country but Calvo says there is some doubt about it. What is in doubt is Calvo’s own position since the high court ruled his election two years ago illegal.

Clubs Sale of Aguila
After the bungled announcement by the current directors of Águila it emerged that a US businessman, Mike Kazma has indeed “invested” US$300,000 in the San Miguel club. The directors claim it is a partnership, he claims it is a purchase. The directors have come out looking at best incompetent. The club is actually owned by an “asociación socio”, that is members, who were not consulted and are pretty furious. The club has debts of US$57,000 and there is no mention of what will happen to the rest of the US$300,000, and the contract is for 15 years with an automatic extension every 15 years, if Kazma wants it. The general feeling seems to be mixed, with most surveys coming out about 50/50 over the issue, amongst the quotes I saw was someone pointing out that Águila is a big club and its name can be exploited more, by a savvy business man. This “fan” obviously overlooked the fact that it is him who will be “exploited”.

However I feel an important issue has been overlooked. Although this is a personal investment Kazma is the Head of the parent company that owns and runs AMNET: - the major cable TV company here. It cannot possibly be long before we are having to pay to watch Águila on a cable channel, and I am sure he will try to push the whole league into a deal. Time will tell.

Águila wanted to have a look at two Columbian players, Lius Zuleta and Luis Valencia. However Valencia is on loan from his club, Once Caldas, to Quindio and they would not let him travel. Zuleta is 33 and a forward with Copa Libertadores experience.

Alianza – The national team players have mentioned how disappointed they to not be defending the colours of the country, but (clearly coaxed) have said that the FESFUT need to understand better the club’s problems.

Eduardo Retana, useful goal-scoring midfielder, has spent a long time in Canada searching for a club, and did not turn up on time for the pre-season, several weeks late in fact. Pablo Centrone, his manager, had indicated that he would be fired however they and the directors had a meeting upon his return and he has simply been fined. We all know that Alianza have financial problems and cannot contract new players, so this clearly suits them perfectly.

FAS - Nelson Ancheta, colourful manager, says they are ready but is looking to sign ex-Águila & ex-Chaletenango midfielder Camilo Mejia. He says the Columbian striker has a nose for goal, and knows the game here. Meanwhile he has decided not to contract Rodrigo Tello, the Panamanian who paid his own fare here for a trial, as he has similar players already “He is a fine creative midfielder” he added. San Salvador have now called him for a trial.

Firpo – The have contracted a Chilean striker, Ramón Patricio Ávila Castro. Born in Talca in 1982 he played with the Colo-Colo reserve team before returning to his home town in 2001 to play for second division Rangers de Talca where he met with some success, scoring 8 goals a (half) season on average. Twice finishing as runners up, they were Champions last season. There is some excitement as the last Chilean at Firpo was of course the legendary Raul Toro. Avila says he has had not trouble integrating with the group, “even the Argentineans”.

Once Municipal - During a friendly last week manager Hugo Coria spotted two young lads, José “Tacuba” Alvarado (19) and Jesús “El Chele” Estrada (18), and has taken them onto the clubs books. Both are tall slight strikers and both born in Ahuachapán the clubs home town. Let’s hope it is a successful step up for the local lads to canary colours. Full Details:-
José René Alvarado Blanco, DOB 09/09/1988, POB Tacuba Ahuachapán. 1.73 m, 130 lbs.
Jesús Alexander Estrada, DOB 20/05/1990, POB Atiquizaya Ahuachapán. 1.70 m, 135 lbs.

San Salvador – As well as trying out Tello, passed over by FAS, before also being passed over by SanSal, they are trialing a Ghanaian player, who lives in Maryland USA. Unfortunately club president Marcos Flores couldn’t remember his name. Also testing out for the final foreign player place is a couple of Columbians, 19 year old winger Cibor Nazareno and striker Bernardo Jaramillo Sarasty, who scored 80 goals whilst at Deportivo Cali, a club I have seen play in their home ground. Manager Oscar Benitez says he needs another midfielder and striker, and also has an eye on a couple of Salvadorians from the second division.

Cheyo In Costa Rica – Eliseo “Cheyo” Quintanilla became the first Salvadorian player ever to score for the important Costa Rican club La Liga Deportiva Alajuelense, or “La Liga”. Surprisingly his manager chose him to take a penalty, which he took well. However hr had a poor game and Municipal Liberia came out 3-1 winners.

Haiti – Friendly
On Saturday in Port au Prince El Salvador and Haiti played out a goalless draw. This is actually a decent result for the visitors, playing here for the first time since 1982. The stadium has happy memories for the Blue & White as they won convincingly here on the route to their first World Cup Finals in 1970.

The teams:-
Haiti:-
Gabart Fenelon
Bruny Pierre Richard
Windsor Noncen
Frantz Gillec
Pierre Mercier
James Marcelin
Alain Vulbert
Brunel Fucien
Jean Sony “Tiga” Alcena
Peter Germain
Jerrod Laventure

El Salvador:-
JuanJo Gomez
Luis Hernandez
Selvin Zepeda
Roland Torres
Alfredo Pacheco
Shawn Martin
Óscar Jiménez
Ramón Sánchez
William Osael Romero
Ronald Cerritos
Salvador Correas

Alexander Campos arrived to late to play. Carlos De Los Cobos will be happy with a clean sheet, even if he will be worried once again about finishing. The result looks better as the team were unable to train at all in Haiti, owing to the luggage getting lost in the airport.

Haiti’s new manager, Songe Pierre will be concerned about a home draw against a fairly unprepared El Salvador team. The will have another chance on Tuesday as they play again at the Levelt Park.

Second Division News.-
Santa Tecla won away in the second round of the second division. In the Estadio Custcatlan Josué Guardado the first, Pedro Reyes scored from the spot and Allan Wellman (pictured) sealed the 3-1 victory in the last minute, with a lovely goal, going round three defenders before slotting home. Full results:-

Group A
Estudiantes 1 – Santa Tecla 3
Marte Soyapango 1 – Arcense 0
Vendaval 1 – Curazao 1
Once Lobos 0 – Atlético Marte 1
Sonsonate 3 – A D Municipal 1
Fuertes Aguilares 0 – Juventud Independiente 1

Group B
A.F.I. 0 – A.D.I. 2
Liberal I.R. 0 – Atlético Balboa 0
Liberal 3 – Platense 2
Topitzín 2 – Aspirante 5
Fuerte San Francisco 0 – Tehuacan 0
Municipal Limeño 1 – Chaparratique 2

PODCAST NEWS
Please do not forget to download and subscribe to the podcast here is the link, look for the subscription icons on the right, or for further information check here.

Here are some links mentioned in the PODCAST:-

Titus Bramble

BBC Radio 4 Documentary
You can download the show as a podcast either here:-
BBC Radio 4 where it is called “Ball & Chains”, dated 18^th January 2008 OR

BBC World Service where it is called “African Footballers” and is dated 24^th January 2008.

Please post comments and thoughts on this blog and the podcast here on this blog, Remember once again I will reply to any questions posed here on next weeks podcast. Check this week for a special podcast extra, all about Anguilla, probably Wednesday or Thursday.