On March 28^th I attended a World Cup Qualifying soccer game between El Salvador and the United States. It was quite possibly the most interesting and exciting experience I have had to date in country. The following post will give you a little background information to better understand the circumstances followed by the story of the game itself.

 

 

Passion

 The people of El Salvador live and breathe soccer. While other sports, such as basketball and baseball, are played in the country there is no sport that can rival the popularity, passion or love Salvadorans have for soccer. From a young age kids begin playing soccer and many men will continue to play for local community teams in to their 50s.

 

Soccer History

 Although El Salvador has never been known for producing strong national teams the current national selection is playing quite well. They have advanced to the final round of World Cup Qualifying, putting themselves only one step away from the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. They have only appeared in the World Cup twice, with the last appearance coming in 1982. Unfortunately that glory was short lived when they set a World Cup record by losing 10-1 in the tournament opener.

 

On the other side of it, The United States selection has appeared in the last 5 World Cups and in recent years has consistently appeared in the top 25 of the FIFA World Rankings. Needless to say the Gringos were heavy favorites coming into the match.

 

A Brief Bit On Country Relations

 El Salvador has a unique relationship with the United States. Many different factors have shaped and influenced our current relationship. However, the two largest would undoubtedly be the civil war and immigration. While much could be said about both matters, I will give you a very brief explanation of both.

 

From 1980 to 1992 El Salvador was engaged in a brutal civil war. Rebel groups clashed with the US backed Salvadoran government for 12 years. In the 92 Peace Accords the rebel renounced themselves as a fighting force and became a recognized political party, quickly become the second most popular party in the country. The US backed party went on to hold the presidency for the next 17 years, until finally falling out of favor in the most recent 2009 elections.

 

Many statistics show that roughly 20% of the Salvadoran population currently lives outside of its borders with the majority of those living in the United States, both legally and illegally. It has also been noted that roughly 15-20% of the country’s GDP can be accredited to the money pumped into the country by Salvadorans living abroad.

 

Due to these factors American influence, both good and bad, has found its way into many aspects of Salvadoran culture. Subsequently making this game a very big deal for Salvadoran futbol fans

 

 The Game

 I had been told by many people that for safety reasons I would need to wear and El Salvador Jersey, I wasn’t exactly thrilled about this. It’s not that I don’t wish this country well, if they were facing any other team I would have been proud to sport the blue and white jersey. But we are talking about my country, my homeland, the United States of America. It just didn’t feel right to support the opposition, even if it was just a jersey. When I shared these feelings with other people some told me I was too competitive, that I needed to calm down and it was just a game. I quickly dismissed those notions, because we all know that people only say that because they themselves were never good at anything, haha.

 

After much inter-turmoil and debate I eventually heeded the advice of others and put on the El Salvador jersey. After all, these were going to be the same fans that only a few weeks back had forced FIFA (international soccer’s ruling body) to impose a $25,000 fine on the country’s soccer federation. Besides, I had never have really been a fan of having a warm cup of pee being hurled at me from 10 rows back.

 

Upon entering the stadium I was very much overwhelmed. At a maximum capacity of roughly 35,000, Stadium Cuscatlan is a rather small venue when compared to a large college football stadium stateside. However, nothing about it felt small. That may have had something to do with the fact that 34,900+ fans were Salvadoran and a good percentage were drinking. Needless to say the energy in Cuscatlan was electric, and enough to get any sports fans heart racing.

 

After finding a seat, I quickly realized what a good decision I had made by sporting the El Salvador jersey. Upon entering the stadium, Salvadoran or not, if you weren’t wearing team colors you were immediately barraged with empty cups and any other sort of garbage fans could find laying around. As if that wasn’t enough, the fans would then begin to point and chant “Culeado” (a derogatory term for a homosexual) at them until the next victim walked into the stadium. There is something very shocking about the political incorrectness of thirty some thousand people chanting that word. Oh, and by the way… that word was not just reserved for non blue and white supporters. It was also chanted at the riot police that lined the field, International FIFA officials, and the three game officials who would oversee the game.

 

So there we were, our group of American gringos sporting Salvadoran jerseys, most likely assumed to be Europeans, we were for the most part…safe. However, my sense of security left as quickly as it came when our National Anthem began to play. As the entire stadium turned their back to the field, many of them raising their middle fingers (yes, it means the same thing in Spanish), our cover had been blown. Surprisingly we didn’t take too much flack, probably because we stood respectively forward-facing through the Salvadoran anthem that followed.

 

 

When the game started the energy level in the stadium tripled. The fans began chanting “Sí Se Puede” meaning “yes you can” as if to remind the players that they needed to at least try. This chant demonstrated how much of and underdog they believed themselves to be. While the US dominated possession they clearly weren’t playing with a lot of energy, especially on the offensive end of things. In the 17^th minute El Salvador found the back of the net with one of their few shots on goal. What happened next was a surreal experience. It was as if a bomb had gone off, like in an action movie. It was so loud that it was almost quiet and everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. Shirts came off, towels were waved and fences were climbed. There was not a full cup in the stadium, as everyone had tossed their drink up in celebration, causing it to rain down beer for a solid 15 seconds. Everyone was on cloud nine, except for me and few other gringo friends. My heart sank, the unlikely goal was more surprising than when I found out Ty Pennington and Ryan Seacrest were actually two different people (who knew?).

 

The game got back underway and the American team still seemed to lack the energy and drive to do what needed to be done. After 55 more minutes of lack luster play by the Americans, El Salvador struck again, this celebration rivaled that of the first, it now seemed that victory was imminent for the Salvadorans and the energy could be felt through out the celebration, which drug on much longer than the first.

 

After order had been restored play started again and with it came that typical behavior of faking injury in order to slow the pace of the game. While it is a tactic used worldwide it is notoriously common with Latin teams and its something you will never find written about the next day in the paper. Unfortunately for the Salvadoran team, these frustrating actions only seemed to light a fire under the Americans which absolutely dominated the final 20 minutes, scoring two goals to force a 2-2 tie.

 

With the second goal by the Americans the stadium reacted as if though someone had just dropped kicked a puppy into the back of a net instead of a ball. It was dead silent, no one muttered a word, hands covered mouths, seats were kicked, there was something very eerie about the silence. A few seconds later I pumped my fist in the air and grinned from ear to ear. It was a reaction that drew several middle fingers as well as some colorful language. However, fortunately for me everyone was still in extreme shock, and for the most part I was ignored.

 

With a great chance on goal in the final minutes, the US almost pulled off an impossible come from behind victory, unfortunately that shot never found the back of the net and the game ended in a 2-2 draw. While not the ideal outcome, all things considered I was content with the tie and happy to have made it through the game unharmed.

 

When the game ended we quickly left the stadium. Shouts and jeers in both Spanish and broken English were being hurled in our direction so we thought it best to choose that particular moment to exit the stadium.

 

Outside a sea of blue shirts, heavy with emotions, wandered off into the night unsure whether to be happy with the draw against a superior team or upset to have let a potentially historic victory slip through their fingers. The following morning the front page headline read “We Had It.”

 

-Ross

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