2018 edition Games played (Total 9): Friendly vs. Guatemala (Mar. 6) CONCACAF Nations League vs. Jamaica (Mar. 23) Friendly vs. Peru (Mar. 26) Friendly vs. Haiti (Jun. 2) Friendly vs Japan (Jun. 9) CONCACAF Gold Cup vs. Curacao, Jamaica & Honduras CONCACAF Nations League vs. St. Lucia (Sep. 7) CONCACAF Nations League vs. Dominican Republic (Oct. 11) CONCACAF Nations League vs. Montserrat (Oct. 13) CONCACAF Nations League vs. St. Lucia (Oct. 16) Friendly vs Bolivia (Nov. 23) Results: 8 Wins 3 Losses 1 Draw Goalscorers: Nelson Bonilla - 3 goals Oscar Ceren and Tony Rugamas & Rodolfo Zelaya - 2 goals Bryan Tamacas, Narciso Orellana, Darwin Ceren, Roberto Dominguez & Juan Carlos Portillo - 1 goal Total goals scored: 13 (2 own goals) Total goals conceded: 8
LAFC’s stadium design looks insane. It’s a shame MLS season hasn’t commenced yet, because I would have liked to have gone to an LAFC home game while I was in LA this week.
Yeah the Stadium is pretty beautiful and in a good location, my 1st time was during an open cup game and the supporters section impressed me a lot. The game was loud despite the fact that the upper decks and West stand were closed off.
So Fito and his time with the national team has come to a close. Fito Zelaya, no va más con la #selecta. Así lo dijo Carlos de los Cobos. @celvides @Gusflores21 @martinezchino @raulonlon10 @losprovocadores pic.twitter.com/wzHC7kgJub— Mauricio Castro (@maurycastro) February 25, 2019 Of course people are piling on wether it would be the fact that Benji was also suspended yet he’s received call ups. Also the Costa Rica thing. As for Fito retort. #FitoZelaya dice que #CarlosDeLosCobos está “vendiendo humo” en la selección de #ElSalvador. #Zelaya habló después de las declaraciones del entrenador #mexicano al excluirlo de la #Selecta. Video y nota en https://t.co/MaqArHOzVd pic.twitter.com/THzwVi5hP7— Jad El Reda (@jadelreda) February 28, 2019
I wouldn't be able to find it now but I remember reading an article where Zelaya pointed that out. I think it was on El Grafico if I'm not mistaken. It was this match
He admitted that he gave the order, this was years later El Gráfico and them have asked him that question the last few times.
That match was funny af. There was an article on el gráfico the other day with one of the players who played that game and he admits they did it
These next 3 games are going to pretty much be the boom or bust moment for that U20 team from Turkey in 2013. The last man/men standing are Puma, Coca and Granitto. Either they produce now or we can put that period down to rest for good as a fluke.
I think at this point we can write it off as a fluke. They were simply a slightly more talented generation with help from US born players and good coaching that managed to surprise. Look at where all those guys are at now: Rolando Morales - more focused on being a youtuber instead of professional player. I think he's on Atletico Marte but doesn't see any time with Coloca as the new starter Oliver Ayala - last time I saw him play was that season Marte got relegated. I'm pretty sure he's retired now Tomas Granitto - bounced around lower leagues in the US. He's now with Miami FC (NPSL) Giovanni Zavaleta - Sub at Santa Tecla for a few seasons and part-time starter at clubs that flirted with relegation in Sonsonate and now Firpo Romilio Hernandez - he signed with Rio Grande Valley last year and he'll continue for this season Marvin Baumgartner - ???? // Edit: I just looked him up and apparently his playing with a lower league Swiss club FC Embrach Jairo Henriquez - Always showed flashes but hasn't become a constant player. Few seasons in FAS and Limeno fluctuating between being a regular starter and first option off the bench. Now he's at the same role in Santa Tecla Jose Villavicencio - played with Firpo in segunda, UES in primera and now he's back in the second division (forgot which club) Jose Peña - a few good seasons at Metapan and Limeno. Now he's a bench player for Alianza. With Fito gone now he should have a bigger role. Despite that, he's still probably the best #9 in the league who isn't a foreign player. Diego Coca - one of the few who has found stability. Shaky first few seasons at Aguila, left to Limeno where he became a starter and now he's back at Aguila and has his spot locked down. There was a possibility of him going to Argentina's second division but nothing materialized Maikon Orellana - went to usl, didn't pan out, became a rapper and quit playing Kevin Barahona - no idea. I think he was also on that Marte team that went down and I guess he's retired too Miguel Lemus - Played well when given the chance at FAS and Aguila for some reason or other, got benched and fell out of favor with the managers. He seems to have found a home in Chalatenango and has been playing well under Misael Alfaro Oscar Rodriguez - spent time at bad Firpo and Chalatenango sides and has now also solidified his spot on Chalate under Alfaro. Decent player but nothing out of the ordinary Rene Gomez - had a few seasons with Aguila, was getting minutes and seemed to be emerging. Then got dropped, went to a crappy Sonsonate squad and now hardly plays with a Panamanian taking his starting spot Benjamin Diaz - no clue if he still plays or not. He's listed on Chalatenango's roster but I don't think he's seen a minute this season Kevin Ayala - slowly grew into his role in Santa Tecla. Very versatile but that has hindered him as well since he hasn't developed at one position. I considered one of the best players from this generation. He got injured last season (acl tear I think it was) and has been inserted into a makeshift defensive line, perhaps a little too early in his recovery process Adolfo Menendez - benched at FAS, then unfortunately got cancer and I'm fairly sure he's done now. Thankfully he has recovered Bernardo Majano - inactive after the WC, joined Santa Tecla last year, then seemingly disappeared midway through the season and idk where he's at now Roberto Gonzalez - bounced around numerous clubs in first division and has not been able to stick on one for than one year. Hes on his second go around with Sonsonate Carlos Cañas - retired and became a freaking cop [emoji58]
Thank you for taking the time to follow up on the 2013 U-20 WC squad. It really is a shame this squad weren’t the future of Selecta. I think Baumgartner has been retired from professional football for a while now, and plays just for fun. Canas and Maikon both moving on to other careers goes back to what I was saying about Salvadoran-American college students. Soccer is more just a co-curricular activity for them while they study. They have the privilege to be able to represent ES at youth level and then go on to pursue another career. I have no interest in listening to Maikon’s music, but I am happy to see that Canas is now a police officer and Marvin Iraheta a dental assistant.
Man I remember how everyone from the coaching staff would talk up Maikon as this next big thing. I guess the talent was there but his focus and sadly injuries were his downfall.
If Coca and one of the other two go on to give a solid World Cup cycle or 2 at the Senior level I don't consider it a complete bust. Success long term for Youth teams is picking up at least 2 starters or more long term for the Senior level. IMO. But that they are at the crossroads right now, absolutely. Maikon Orellana was just not good enough. You could only fake it so long at that reserve MLS level before it's time to move up qnd show it vs. grown men at the top level and when Orellana couldn't cut it with Alianza that was that. Hopefully with the advances in technology and analytics we won't waste so much time in the next decade with fool's gold type players.
This isn’t exclusive to El Salvador though. Every country has had promising youth who just didn’t live up to the hype. Need I mention Freddy Adu?
I think a good gauge would be like the U17 Mexican sides that won and most of them never made it after that, it's a rough world. Same can be said for the US youth sides who had promising players that had a lot of hype and never panned out. The bigger problem in our case is that since our player pool is so limited (when in fact it shouldn't) that their failures are ten times more noticeable as compared to said nations above.
It sucks when even the pool of Salvadoran-Americans don’t pan out aside from a handful of players, and even a number of those players would rather wait for a USMNT call-up than play for ES. I think Eriq Zavaleta should stop waiting around for USA, for instance. Heck, look at two of BigSoccer ES’s most polarising Salvadoran-Americans Junior Flores and Joshua Perez. Flores has been a free agent since July 2018 after a number of injuries and struggling to get games at BVB II. Pérez has recieved little to no game time since joining LAFC last year. Sad!
Joshua started off pretty good in Italy and then I guess little by little his playing time diminished I wonder if it was just a case that he couldn’t keep up. As for Flores who knows I guess he just couldn’t adapt but he should have looked elsewhere in Europe if he had an opening for it.
I think Flores was stubborn and wanted to stay at BVB at all costs. It’s crazy knowing he’s been at BVB longer than fellow American Christian Pulisic, yet Pulisic has moved up the ranks quickly to where he is now; while Flores has only remained stagnant. At least Oscar Sorto, Dustin Corea, Maikon Orellana and Gerson Mayen all had the initiative to move to ES to regenerate their careers and get game time, which has been beneficial for the most part. Joshua Perez and Junior Flores shouldn’t close that door if push comes to shove.
Well they would count more under the US pool of players so they probably have some more chances. I do know Flores had some issues with the coaching staff during his time with the NT, maybe something similar happened during his time in Dortmund.