- Basic introduction
El Salvador, a small country in North and Central America, has reached the World Cup finals twice in its history (1970 World Cup in Mexico and 1982 in Spain). In the 1982 FIFA World Cup qualifiers for North America and the Caribbean, El Salvador won a life-and-death battle against Mexico 1:0 to reach the World Cup with their sworn enemies Honduras. This is the greatest consolation for ordinary Salvadorans who have been brutalized by the reactionary rule of the junta and whose country has been mired in a full-scale civil war since 1979, who have suffered in the depths of the waters and are extremely fanatical about football.
El Salvador defeated Mexico in a life-and-death battle
- Personnel and tactics
This Salvadoran team is close to 4-3-3.
With the exception of Jaime Rodriguez, the main defender for Bayer Uerdingen in the Bundesliga at the time, the remaining 19 players all played in Salvador's domestic league at the time, including what would become a Legend of Spain's Cadiz team, Maradona's better player than himself, and almost joining Barcelona. Jorge Gonzalez, the greatest player in Salvador's history, was later known as Magico Gonzalez.
El Salvador in 1982
Jorge Gonzalez at the 1982 World Cup
- The FA does not do people
As the back garden of the United States, in order to prevent the Salvadoran people from successfully realizing the communist revolution and strictly preventing the emergence of a second Cuba in the Americas, the United States forcibly renewed the long-unpopular Salvadoran military government at a cost of $1.5 million per day. Unable to support the team, but "tight in the front, tight in the back" (a common feature of all reactionary regimes supported by the United States), the Salvadoran military government, the wise leadership, the Salvadoran Football Association under the upper and lower effects of the various management and riot operations of the team have opened the eyes of the world.
People protested U.S. support for the Salvadoran junta
In order to save money (for the sake of "fancy corruption" to be precise), the president of the Salvadoran Football Association replaced the players Gilberto Quinteros and Miguel Gonzalez with two officials, respectively, and thus only 20 players were sent in total (the president of the Football Association thought it was enough). In order to allow the two players who lost the selection to come to Spain, the 20 participating players launched a crowdfunding campaign, each taking out 600 colons (Salvadoran monetary units). The two players who lost the selection could not appear in the dressing room and the bench with the team, and could only experience the World Cup they should have personally participated in in the audience. The two accompanying officials began traveling in Europe immediately after arriving in Spain.
After a long journey of 72 hours, Salvador finally arrived in Spain three days before the official match against Hungary, becoming the last of the 24 participating teams to arrive in Spain. Due to a lack of funds (officially), the Salvadoran team had to stay in a dirty and tattered country hut for field shooting. The official blue and white competition uniforms provided by sponsor Adidas were deducted by the FA officials to only three white competition uniforms and one blue competition uniform for each athlete, and the Salvadoran team members collectively decided to wear white competition uniforms and blue competition uniforms as a souvenir. FiFA's bags and equipment were replaced with defective products used at the 1974 World Cup, and 25 training balls were missing (habitually embezzled by FA officials). So much so that the day before the match against the Hungarian team, Salvador had to send someone to borrow two footballs from the Hungarian team's training camp before barely training.
- Disasters always erupt
In the first match of the group stage, Salvador took on Hungary. The Salvadoran team, which had previously seriously lacked systematic training and preparation, took the initiative to choose to strengthen the attack, and then was beaten by the Hungarians in various fancy ways. Hungary, which was in a state of utter madness, completely destroyed Salvador after scoring the fourth goal in the 50th minute of the second half. Although Luis Ramirez Zapata, nicknamed "Pele", scored El Salvador's only goal in World Cup history and pulled the score to 1:5, he was asked by two teammates who rushed forward not to celebrate too much so as not to irritate the Hungarians.
A match between El Salvador and Hungary
Zapata's lonely celebration after scoring (teammates don't dare to step forward)
Hungarian player Laszlo Kiss, who came off the bench in the 56th minute, completed a hat-trick just 20 minutes after the debut, becoming the only substitute in world cup history.
Laszlo Chis in Hungary
In the end, the already collapsed Salvador team, in front of the well-behaved Hungarian team, was beaten into a sieve by 1:10, creating the biggest score in the history of the World Cup. The unbelievable, ashamed Salvador player refused to exchange shirts with the Hungarian players after the game.
The Salvador team was defeated 1:10
- Fight for dignity
After this disastrous match, Mauricio Rodriguez, the meritorious coach who led Salvador to the World Cup, was overtaken by the team for his defeated tactical deployment. Norbert Huezo, then captain of Salvador, called on all players to "strengthen the defence in the ensuing games, restore our reputation, and only we can save ourselves".
In order to save its image, the Salvadoran Football Association generously arranged for the team to stay in the hotel. In order to appease the Salvadoran players, the hotel staff offered to play a match with the team to ease the mood of the team.
In the second game of the group stage, Salvador showed their due strength and determination. The Belgian team, which was not bad, finally won only 1:0. Guy Thys, belgium coach who said after El Salvador's 1-10 defeat to Hungary that "this is the biggest shame in international football matches", retracted his previous remarks after the game, saying that "Salvador are not a terrible team, they just had a nightmarish start in the match against Hungary".
El Salvador's match against Belgium
In the third game of the group stage, Salvador faced Argentina led by Diego Maradona. Once again, team officials habitually do not behave as human beings, forgetting to carry the player's participation documents. FIFA officials, out of sympathy for the troubled team, eventually agreed to their appearance. The tenacious Salvadorans once again preserved their dignity and managed to lose only 0:2 to their opponents.
El Salvador played against Argentina
- Written at the end
El Salvador, who conceded 13 goals and scored only 1 goal in the group stage, was very reluctant to be eliminated in the group stage. At the age of 36, head coach Mauricio Rodriguez never worked as a football coach and became an engineer.
Competitive sports are so cruel that people only focus on the results but never the reasons. This powerful Salvadoran team has not been able to show its ability in front of the world, but has become a laughing stock, which is indeed a pity.
It is even more regrettable that the reactionary government supported by the United States has finally succeeded in winning a 12-year civil war in which more than 70,000 people have died, turning the country into an extremely dangerous country with many holes, gangs and violent crime. In the United States, Canada and Mexico, the top three in Central America and the Caribbean, El Salvador's next World Cup trip, the hope is very slim.