Wednesday 30 January 2008

Anguilla - Podcast Extra

To hear the podcast subscribe here or check full details here. Below are simply some notes on the podcast.

A DT Football In El Salvador Special looking at the Island of Anguilla, El Salvador's rivals in the CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying Round 1 on the 6th Feburuary and 26th March 2008

History - a very brief look at the history of this island. The Official Government site.

People in Football:-
Raymond Guishard - Head of the Anguillan Football Association, learn how he deals with problems.
Kerthney Carty - Reserve Team Manager at Maidenhead United and Anguillan National Team Head Coach.
Lawrence Richardson - Chalfont Assistant Manager and Anguillan National Team Assistant Coach
Vernon Hodge - Ex Anguilla National Team player and coach.
Some Players:-
Lester Connor - 34 - Midfield - Roaring Lions
Brian Connor - 38 - Defender - Slough Town
Romell Gumbs - Defender - Slough Town
Jermain Gumbs - Forward - Slough Town
Emerson Brooke-Made - Leighton Town
Roy Gumbs - 37 - Forward - Beaconsfield SYCOB
James Williams-Richardson - Maidenhead United
Rob Paris - 28 - Defender - Hampton & Richmond Borough FC - he has played over one hundred games for the club.

Football History:-
AFA Formed 1990
Affiliated to CONCACAF 1994
Affiliated to FIFA 1996

Men's Teams:-
Attackers
Jam Boyz
Kicks United
Roaring Lions
Spartan International
Manchester United
Dolphins
First Anguillan Trust
JT Stars
Women's Teams:-

Gazelles
Lil's Super Stars
Lil's Soldiers
Shining Stars
Youngsters

Full Match Records of Anguillan National Team

Photos of RFK Stadium Washington DC
Baseball
American Football
Overview

With many thanks to:-
The Maidenhead Advertiser & especially its
Maidenhead United Forum users
Fan Focus Slough Town Forum users

..and finally here is an interesting blog on football in popular culture, The Educated Left Foot

Sunday 27 January 2008

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 Visatravel 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 Visastravel 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 18th January 2008 OR

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

Monday 21 January 2008

Second Division and International News

Santa Tecla v Fuertes Aguijares
Finally unearthed the location of Las Delicias (pictured), the home ground of Santa Tecla FC, its about 30-40 min walk from my house, or about 10 mins by bus. It’s a nice walk right through the centre of Santa Tecla through the busy market area and out the other side.

And a nice little ground it is, with just one stand and trees all around the other three sides. The first game of the season brought a good crowd and a very pleasant atmosphere within. Quite a good ground with a real mix, many in Santa Tecla replica shirts and T-shirts – not sure where they have obtained these. The team wears the unusual combination of a shock-green shirt and navy blue shorts.

Two things became obvious almost immediately: - firstly the players were still rusty from the off-season and secondly Santa Tecla were clearly on top. The fact they simply couldn’t bag dawned more slowly.

The pitch is not in top condition, and so the intricate moves in the middle of the park rarely came off, but Santa Tecla showed determination, both in looking for the result and in looking to play football.

Unfortunately I cannot yet name most of the players, but the right back (No. 5) and the midfielder (No 15) are certainly players I will be watching, even if the full back seemed to push on too much. Fellow Group “A” team Curazo decided over the winter to have only El Salvadorian players so Santa Tecla picked up Columbian John Castillo off them. Big and strong his first touch was lacking and showed a marked lack of understanding with his team mates, this will need to improve if they are to realize their dream of promotion.

The National Team
The National Team has arranged three friendlies before the home leg of the World Cup Qualifier First Round v Anguilla, and they have a tight schedule:-

21st January - travel to Belize
22nd January - 11am friendly v Belize in San Ignacio (near Belmopan), and return to El Salvador the same day at 5pm
23th January - The squad splits into two groups, the 12 with US visa travel to Haiti via Miami and arrive the same day, the other 8 via Costa Rica and Cuba with an overnight stay in La Habana
24th January - The squad reunites
26th January - Friendly v Haiti
29th January - Friendly v Haiti
30th January - The return trip is as the outward one, with the two groups one arriving the same day and...
31st January - The second groups arrives back today
6th February - CONCACAF WCQ Rnd 1, 1st Leg v Anguilla, Estadio Cuscatlan.
10th February - Clausura 2008 starts.

Thats 8 planes and 3 games in 10 days, with a week off before the big game, not ideal at all I would say.

Once again Alianza have been difficult in releasing their players. They argue that it is because they have to protect them more, as they still cannot contract new players, owing to a FIFA sanction. They stated that the players could travel to Belize, but not Haiti. National team manager Carlos de Cobos said, correctly in my view, that all teams should be treated equally, and will not take the Alianza players (José Orlando Martinez, Jonathon Barrios and Francisco Álvarez) to Belize, and will further be excluded from the official match on the 6th of February. Thus this is the 17 travelling today to Belmopan:-

Firpo – Juan José Gómez & Manuel Salazar
FAS – Alfredo Pacheco, Marvin González, Óscar Jiménez & Ramón Flores
Águila – Luis Hernandez, Rolando Torres, Rudis Corrales, Shawn Martin & William Torres
Vista Hermosa – William Romero & Salvador Coreas
Nejapa – Miguel Montes
Chalatenango – Ramón Sánchez
Real Maryland (USA) – Ronald Cerritos & Dennis Alas

For the Haiti games the 3 Álianistas will be replaced by Alex Campos (Águila), Selvin Zapeda (San Salvador) and Emerson Umaña. Eliseo Quintanilla will not be traveling for the friendlies as the Costa Rican league has just kicked off. In his debut for Alajuelense he had a decent game, but looked a little off the pace of Costa Rican football and not quite in tune with his colleagues yet. The game vs Santos de Guápiles ended one each. He will be available for the WCQ game.

As Webster Park in Anguilla is unsuitable (still) for international football the federation are planning to play the away leg in Washington DC, where there is a small Anguillan community resides. They are keen to avoid what happened in the 2006 qualifiers, where they had to play both legs in Santa Domigo. They only World Cup Qualifier played there was in 2000 when they lost to The Bahamas 3-1. This fixture will be the first time ever that Anguilla have played against a non-Caribbean nation.

PODCAST NEWS
Check this link for details on how to download the podcast, which this week will have additional thoughts on football around the world. And please post here your questions for DT El Salvador, which will be exclusively answered on next week’s podcast.

Sunday 20 January 2008

PODCAST - New from DT El Salvador

Some exciting news as the blog now has a new string to its bow - a podcast. No more tiresome reading for you, my dear readers, from now on it's ear-work only all the way! We are very excited to have beaten our rather older cousin, the famous Pumas Blog, to this important expansion.

Enjoy DT El Salvador's fine thoughts on the way to work, in the park, maybe with some loved ones gathered around the open iFire with the trusty old iGramophone or iWireless.

How?, but how? I hear you clammer. Fear not it is as easy as falling off a stick, nada mas que tres pasos sencillismo, that are:-

Step One - Click here:- iTunes direct link

Step Two - Click "Subscribe"

Step Three - Remember - its FREE!

OR click on this link and choose the one click subscription of your choice from the menu on the right

Regularly check and download the lastest podcasts, either to put on your MP3 player of choice, or listen through the PC.

Enjoy!!

Sunday 13 January 2008

International Friendlies and Transfers

After a series of mishaps regarding national team friendlies (Estonia cancelled two fixtures – arranged over 3 months ago – because they got a better offer), three friendlies have been arranged hastily, much to Mexican coach Carlos de los Cobos (pictured) delight. These come as preparation for the 1st Round World Cup Qualifier First Leg at home vs Anguilla on Wednesday 6th February, the friendlies are all away fixtures:-

23rd January 2008 v Belize, Belize City

26th January 2008 v Haiti, Port-Au-Prince

29th January 2008 v Haiti, Port-Au-Prince

WCQ 6th February 2008 v Anguilla, Estadio Cuscatlan, San Salvador

WCQ 26th March 2008 v Anguilla, Webster Park, The Valley

We will probably see more friendlies arranged before the return leg. It does give a lot of games and travel, but the teams will be similar, and they should be able to travel direct from Belize to Haiti, and again direct to Anguilla. In the CONCACAF region Belize a one position above Anguilla, and Haiti are the highest ranked Caribbean team.

Because of all this the clubs have agreed to put the season off, and it will now start on the 10th February, this is a good concession, but the clubs are letting everyone know that, I will try and see some Santa Tecla (second division) games before the first division starts.

Here are some movements in the league, managers in italics are new.

Firpo

Gerardo Reinoso

4-4-2
In
Henry Hernandez
Yosimar Hernandez
Jonathon Mendez

Out
Fidel Mondragón
Mario Costas
Fernando Leguizmon

Looking at
2 foreigners

FAS
Nelson Ancheta
3-5-2
In
Dennis Salinas
Doni Valle
Rodrigo Tello

Out
Joel Solanilla
Walter Chávez
Sebastián Bini

Looking at

A foreign player to reinforce the attack
A national midfielder

Chalatenango
Vladan Vicevic
3-5-2
In
None as yet

Out
Carlos Cañada
Carlos Ayala
Cristian Esnal

Looking at
A Columbian player

Metapan
Edwin Portillo
4-4-2
In
Gabriel Garcete
Vicente Melgar
Oscar Ulloa

Out
Johnny Ávila

Looking at
A second division player

Vista Hermosa
Jorge Garcia
3-5-2
In
Herberth Márquez

Out
Leonel Guevara
Cristian Gil
Ze Eduardo

Looking at
Nelson Reyes
Elenilson Guardado
Pablo Suárez
Erwin Rodríguez
Pompilio Cacho

Águila

Agustin Castillo

4-4-2
In
Fidel Mondragón
Ernesto Góchez
Cristian Esnal

Out
Henry Hernández
Glaucio Lira Lima

Looking at
A Brazilian player

Alianza
Pablo Centrone
3-5-2
Owing to a FIFA sanction they are unable to contract players until the end of the season

Nejapa
Maurcio Cienfuegos
4-4-2
In
Max Herrera
Andrés Menéndez

Out
Lino Morales
César Ábrego
Danilo Martínez

Looking at
Luis Espíndola
Emiliano Pedrozo
Another foreign player

San Salvador

Óscar Benítez

3-4-3
In
Mauricio Perla
Flavio Rivas
Walter Soto
Cristian Gil
Héctor Salazar
Carlos Ayala

Out
Eliseo Quintanilla
Ronald Cerritos
Dennis Alas
Denis Salinas
Doni Valle
Andrés Medina
Alexander Obregón
Nito González

Looking at
Three foreign players (including an Argentine who has "played at Lanus and Boca")
Two national players

Once Municipal
Hugo Coria
3-5-2
In
Ladislao Nerio
Kevin Escobar
Carlos Escalante
Mario Blanco

Out
Elias Montes
Libardo Carvajal
Salvador Portillo
Jairo Hurtado
Pablo Troyano
Óscar Ulloa
Adonai Martínez
Roberto C Leiva
Francisco Portillo
Ovidio Guzmán

Looking at
Moisés Cuero (Ecuador)
Javier Angulo (Ecuador)
Marcos González
Carlos Cañadas
Erick D Prado
Javier Rojas (Panamá)

-------------------------------------------------------------------

NB, since writing this, San Salvador have contracted William Osorio, Rever Burgos and Carlos Ayala. Their main rivals for the automatic relegation spot Once Municipal have also contracted two Ecuadorians, Moisés Alberto Cuero Ortiz and Javier Angulo, the latter shares my birthday.

Monday 7 January 2008

Winter Break

Sorry about my extended winter break, but it's the new arrival.

To finish off the league, FAS met Firpo in the final following a dodgy semi and amid dark accusations of foul play, certianly the winning goal was very odd, yet Firpo prevailed in a packed Cuscatlan in the final. The game finished 1-1, but the penalty shoot out gave the trophy to the team that had the best of the game. Their manager promptly walked.

As for San Salvador the list of players who have left is far too long to go into here (but include Dennis Alas, Ronald Cerritos, Dennis Salinas, Eliseo Quintanilla, Dony Valle & Ernesto Góchez) and the manager also has gone. Oscar Benitez has for some reason agreed to take over as manager, and Eliseo Quintanilla finally ended up at Alajuela in Costa Rica. The good news is that Flavio Rivas, Héctor Salazar & Mauricio Perla have all joined.

So apologies for the tardy postings, but normal service will be resumed with the start of the Clausura 2008, which will be kicking off soon.