On the 4th of September 2025, El Salvador’s streets were filled with excitement. For months, many had lost their faith in their national soccer team after many disappointing performances, but this game felt different. The National Team “La Selecta” played the CONCACAF 2026 world cup qualifiers first game against Guatemala. In this tournament, the teams are divided into 3 groups, each one with four teams. This year El Salvador is part of group A which consists of: Suriname, El Salvador, Guatemala and Panama. Up to this point La selecta had a terrible streak, losing 3 consecutive games against Honduras (2-0), Canada (2-0) and ending tied with curaçao (0-0). Looking at the teams’ results, the whole nation had lost their hope once again of qualifying for the World Cup.
La selecta has participated in the World Cup twice, the first time in 1970 and second time in 1982 with Jorge “El Mágico” Gonzalez, after this, El Salvador has yet to go to another World Cup. Reviewing La selecta’s past results, no one expected this World Cup to be any different. Starting off the CONCACAF qualifiers with three losses wasn’t the start El Salvador hoped for. In this tournament every game counts: a win gives 3 points, a draw gives 1, and a loss 0. Each team will play 6 games divided into 2 rounds, 3 at home and 3 away. The team with the greatest number of points is officially going to the world cup.
The game against Guatemala marked the beginning of the 6 games needed for El Salvador. There was little to no hope for La Selecta in this tournament from fans. In the days leading up to the match, the Guatemalan commentator Javier del Sid Meyer created feud after a few comments about the game, he assured Guatemala would teach El Salvador how to play soccer, stating: “La Selecta, you know, still plays football like it’s with a square ball—a style that never impresses at the club level.” “At national level, they scored a couple of lucky goals ages ago” “Tomorrow, we’ll show the Salvadorans how to really play football." His words created feud with the Salvadoran fans and increased tension in the central American classic.
Predictions on this game were mostly in favor for Guatemala, 66% for Guatemala 4% for a draw and 29% for El Salvador, but La Selecta was about to prove them wrong. The game took place in Guatemala City, in the Estadio Cementos Progreso. It started off strong with pressure from both teams, Guatemala tried to increase their intensity , but this wasn’t effective. Throughout the game the tension started getting higher, with half an hour played the game remained balanced. The intensity of this match made the referee give out cards, just in the first half he had given 5 cards 3 to Salvadorean and 2 to Guatemalan players. The first half ended, with no goals but the tension increasing. During the second half of the game, it had stayed the same up to the minute ‘62 when El Salvador made their first substitution as Harold Osorio replaced Bryan Landaverde, a change that marked the beginning of the turning point. The ball possession throughout the game was incredibly different with Guatemala at a 71% and El Salvador at 29%. However the lack of precision prevented them from scoring any goals. In the minute ‘79 Harold Osorio scored the winning goal, with a corner kick taken by Narayan Ordaz. Harold Osorio was able to head the ball into the net scoring the decisive 1-0. Mario Gonzales, El Salvador’s goalkeeper, had an outstanding performance in this game as he successfully performed 5 saves, helping the team to have a clean sheet.
This victory gave El Salvador 3 more points to move up in group A’s table. Beyond the points it also restored the faith many had lost not just on La Selecta but also in the dream of going to the World Cup again soon. This game was a turning point for Salvadoreans, giving hope to all. Even though most fans had even stopped watching La Selecta’s games; when they knew about the result of this game, fans even started counting points and reviewing the games they needed to pass. Winning in Guatemala was a surprise for all Salvadoreans, no one expected this win especially because it was a game away. People thought that La selecta would win points in games at home rather than the ones played away. This goal was incredibly celebrated by Salvadoreans, you could even hear all the celebrations and people screaming from the streets. This game helped La Selecta a lot, especially after losing their next game against Surinam. El Salvador is also excited for newcomers in La Selecta who look promising like Nathan Ordaz, number 11. Thanks to this, El Salvador now has hope for their team and excited for the games to come.
