Camila Sosa
El Salvador has little chance of getting a ticket to the Qatar 2022 World Cup, and knowing that it is preparing to be present at the 2026 edition, a tournament that will be organized by Mexico, the United States and Canada.
El Salvador is in sixth place in the Concacaf Qualifiers with 9 points as a result of two wins, three draws and six losses. Mathematically, despite those numbers, they still have opportunities to aspire at least to the repechage, but they have to win the matches against Jamaica, Costa Rica and Mexico.
However, it seems that the Central American delegation is aware of how difficult this last FIFA qualifier date will be in the area, and that is why the team begins to put together a plan already thinking about the World Cup 2026.
The official scout of the Salvadoran Football Federation, Hugo Alvarado, gave an interview to the Mexican digital media “Mediotiempo” where he revealed what he has been doing since he took office: “One of the important points is to recruit the best footballers of Salvadoran origin born outside el Salvador. Normally his parents had to leave the country because of the civil war; it is a tool, but it does not mean that it will take the place of a player born in El Salvador. The National Football Team wins and it is something that is done in the rest of the world and it is not a novelty.”
Alvarado refers to the Civil War that El Salvador experienced between 1980 and 1992, which caused many Salvadorans to leave the country. At that time Mexico, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, the United States, Australia, Canada, and Germany opened the doors to those who asked for asylum.
The scout says that they will look for players who have Salvadoran roots to be able to put together a competitive team, looking to return to a World Cup, since the last time the “Selecta” could attend a World Cup was in the edition of Spain 1982.
Alvarado sees a clear chance of being able to attend the World Cup based in North America: “The overall plan is to qualify for the 2026 World Cup. We are in the fight to go to Qatar, but if we see a project worked and serious to achieve a goal is the 2026 World Cup, because it is in North America, because there are already three countries classified and therefore there are three more places. If we get to work in a serious way I think we are candidates to reach that World Cup.”
Since 2010, Alvarado has been following Salvadoran players who play in the United States, but since 2020 El Salvador National Team gave them the opportunity to be a scout and already has 15 players discovered, one of them is Enrico Hernández, who was born in the Netherlands since his grandfather got asylum in that country during the civil war.
Hernández plays for Vitesse Arnhem of the Eredivisie. He participated with the Netherlands U16 National Team in 2017, but in 2021 he got his first call with El Salvador to the U23 category, and later he was cited with the absolute with whom he has played eight games and has scored a goal.
The plan is underway, now the “Selecta” must continue working to achieve the goal.
