www.trinidadexpress.comA mere few days before hosting Trinidad and Tobago's "Soca Warriors" in a World Cup qualifier in San Salvador, El Salvador's national footballers have been placed under investigation by UNCAF, the governing body for football in the Central American region.
Three of the Cuscatlecos' players are under suspicion for faking injury following a stormy Digicel UNCAF Nations Cup semi-final match against Costa Rica. With Costa Rica leading 1-0, the game was abandoned in the 60th minute by Panamanian referee Roberto Moreno when El Salvador were reduced to six players. The match was then awarded to Costa Rica by a 3-0 margin, according to FIFA rules.
Moreno had red carded Alexander Escobar and playmaker Eliseo Quintanilla in the first half, and after El Salvador had already made three substitutions, Deris Umanzor, Rodolfo Zelaya and goalkeeper Juan José Gómez were injured and had to leave the game. However, UNCAF suspect that with two players short, a goal down and under pressure, El Salvador were anticipating a huge defeat and conspired to save face by faking injury and so having the match suspended. El Salvador had a poor run of just one victory at the tournament beating the region's whipping boys Belize by a 4-1 margin. However, it was still enough to give them a semi-final spot and so qualified them for the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
The UNCAF investigation made both front and back page news in the Sunday edition of El Diario de Hoy, the country's biggest daily newspaper. It is the just the latest in a series of setbacks and scandals facing El Salvador football. Just recently, El Salvador had an attempt to recruit American midfielder Arturo Alvarez stopped by FIFA, and last week the vice-president of the El Salvador Soccer Federation, Jose Torres resigned, while accusing president Rodrigo Calvo of mismanagement and branding him a tyrant. It got worse at the National Cup when in their first match, Los Cuscatlecos were held 1-1 by Nicaragua, a result described in El Salvador as a "national shame". After all, in 2008, Nicaragua lost 2-0 and 1-0 over a two-leg series and were knocked out of World Cup qualifying 3-0 on aggregate by Caribbean minnows, Netherlands Antilles. El Salvador's latest problems saw team doctor José MarÃa Rivas Mandingo, coach Carlos De Los Cobos and the three suspected players all appearing on Saturday night in Honduras before an UNCAF panel.
According to El Diario de Hoy: "The unexpected and shocking semi-final match against Costa Rica sparked the controversy and may have consequences for our team. The UNCAF yesterday opened a case against the national team on suspicion of simulation of the three players injured in the second half that left El Salvador with six men and forced the suspension of the semi-final. The UNCAF interviewed Rodrigo Calvo last night, the doctor José MarÃa Rivas and players Juan José Gómez, Rodolfo Zelaya, and Deriso Umanzor to give their version of events in opening the investigation."
Diario Co Latino, another El Salvador publication, described the match as "the show starring the footballers of El Salvador". The publication also sided with Panama referee Moreno and said he was correct to send off two players. Diario Co Latino reported that star midfielder "Cheyo" Quintanilla tried to fool the referee into awarding a penalty by diving and was correctly given a second yellow card. They described the team's behaviour as the worst in El Salvador's history.
"The expulsions were valid despite coach Carlos de los Cobos and Rodrigo Calvo, president of the FESFUT, saying otherwise," the publication reported. "Thereafter it was easy to be suspicious of injuries from the Cuscatlecos which left only six players on the field.
At a hastily convened press conference, El Salvador's Mexican coach De Los Cobos said he was not going to let controversy affect his preparation and was solely concentrating on the match against Trinidad and Tobago. And the team doctor insists the injuries were real. He said Denis Umanzor suffered a collarbone injury and Rodolfo Zelaya perhaps did not warm-up well, while the goalkeeper Juan Jose Gomez got hit in the knee.
"I've never been a liar, this was a bad night, combined with poor conditions, unfortunately (we) could not make a good show because the referee hurt the game," De Los Cobos said.
