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.