"Q2" Hopes for International Return

http://www.mlsnet.com/content/03/dc0307quintanilla.html

After a four-year suspension leveled by the Salvadoran Federation last November, D.C. United forward Eliseo Quintanilla is still hoping that the organization can reconsider its decision and allow him to return to national team duty. The 20-year-old forward/midfielder with the quality left foot is the most promising youth player for a country which has seen its senior team qualify for the CONCACAF Gold Cup to be held in the U.S. and Mexico in July.

“I think there is a possibility of playing again although I haven’t had contact with the Federation [since the suspension],” Quintanilla said in Florida.

The controversy started last year after the Salvadoran Federation claimed that Quintanilla failed to report to Under-20 training camp ahead of the November CONCACAF qualifying tournament for the FIFA World Youth championship. Reports out of El Salvador presented conflicting reports for the Federation's unprecedented sanction, but at the time Quintanilla was adamant that he was a victim of disorganization and misunderstanding.

"All along I had said that I wanted to play for the national team and at no time did I say otherwise,” Quintanilla said in November. “Players who are playing in El Salvador are not informed of their call-up by letters or through their clubs. They have to listen to the radio to know."

Quintanilla says one feature of the senior national team is the impressive selection youth players which the side has resorted to and who will likely compete at the Gold Cup. The senior squad is led by his former head coach at Salvadoran club team FAS: Juan Ramon Paredes, a fact which further fuels Quintanilla’s hopes of rejoining his nation’s team.