FIFA block El Salvador recruit
Source: -Trinidad Expressdelayed: Arturo AlvarezThe much-anticipated debut of San Jose Earthquakes midfielder Arturo Alvarez in the El Salvador national team will have to wait until FIFA, the governing body for world football, rules whether he is eligible to play for the country of birth of his parents.
Therefore, the highly-rated 23-year-old US-born Alvarez will not be in the squad on February 11 when El Salvador host Trinidad and Tobago in the opening match for both teams in the CONCACAF final round of 2010 World Cup qualifying.
Because El Salvador have very few overseas-based players, media in the Central American country have been abuzz with news of the recruitment of Alvarez and another American citizen, Edwin Miranda, to the national team.
Alvarez was born in Houston, Texas, and played for the Americans at every age group at youth level. But with native Salvadorean parents, he qualifies to play for the Central American nation.
However, just ahead of the opening match in the UNCAF Nations Cup last Thursday, Rodrigo Calvo, president of the El Salvador Football Association, told daily newspaper El Diario de Hoy that Alvarez cannot yet be incorporated into the national team until FIFA gives its position on the case.
Calvo had successfully secured an El Salvador passport for Alvarez after just four days.
"The player has already received his Salvadorean passport, but will not be registered until FIFA give us a response in the case...which will not be before February 11," Calvo said.
However, El Salvador's top football official said he expected a positive verdict "unless the United States say anything against it".
Meanwhile, information coming out of the USA is that Alvarez will be denied the opportunity to join Los Cuscatlecos.
Alvarez represented the United States at the Under-20 level in the qualification tournament for the 2005 FIFA Youth World Championship in a squad that included current senior American internationals Freddy Adu, Charlie Davies, Sasha Kljestan and Danny Szetela.
Alvarez played for the USA under Sigi Schmid on two occasions in the 2005 CONCACAF Under-20 qualifying tournament, a 69-minute start against Costa Rica and a 13-minute appearance off the bench against Panama.
He was also on the bench when the USA whipped Trinidad and Tobago 6-1 in their opening match of the tournament four years ago.
While the Americans don't really want Alvarez for their senior team, they are also not eager to allow El Salvador to strengthen their line-up with a skillful, left-footed attacking midfielder, having to meet the US later on in the CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers.
And because he is trying to play for El Salvador, Alvarez has come in for severe criticism in the United States.
Soccer By Ives, voted Best Soccer Blog of 2008 by US Soccer, reported a high-ranking source at US Soccer as confirming that Alvarez can only play for the United States.
The Americans argue that with Alvarez being 23 years old, he can no longer apply to switch national teams.
According to FIFA guidelines, a player can only make the change before his 21st birthday.
Alvarez's case is not unlike that of Notre Dame midfielder Aaron Maund, who played for Trinidad and Tobago at the 2007 FIFA Under-17 World Championship in South Korea, but is now a member of the USA Under-20 team which trained in T&T last week.
Unlike Alvarez, Maund was young enough to make the switch. And so El Salvador's only choice now is to hope for an exception from FIFA, or else go to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
But El Salvador's other USA-based recruit, Puerto Rico Islanders defensive midfielder Edwin Miranda, has already been incorporated in their national team and played in El Salvador's 4-1 victory over Belize last Saturday and a 2-0 defeat to Honduras on Monday night in the UNCAF Nations Cup.
Miranda's case was more clear-cut as he was born in El Salvador. Miranda left El Salvador 16 years ago when an 11 -year-old and grew up in Los Angeles, USA.
The 27-year-old is delighted to have finally played for El Salvador.
"The truth is that I feel good. I'm trying to connect to the group because they have been working a long time. That is what is hard for me. Each day the work was different and strong. The coaches are good people, I have tried very well. To come from the United States to El Salvador after 16 years, that's the hardest part for me because most players have enough time playing together," Miranda said.
"I am trying to fit in as quickly as possible. Being in the selection is a great motivation to represent my country, this is something different. Any player would like to be here wearing the shirt of the country."
Kingman