El Salvador

Important history: In the preliminary round of the 1970 World Cup finals in Mexico, El Salvador lost to Belgium 0-3 in their first game in Mexico City on June 3. On June 7, when facing the host country Mexico, the two sides were tied 0-0. Egyptian referee Hussain Kandil awarded Salvador a penalty kick in the second half. However, the treacherous Mexican player immediately took the penalty kick, which led to the first score. The Salvadoran players protested fiercely and argued with the Bermudian assistant referee Keith. Dunstan had a physical collision, but the goal was valid. El Salvador was discouraged and lost 0-4. In the last group match against the Soviet Union on June 10, they lost 0-2. They lost all three games without scoring a goal and were eliminated at the bottom of Group A. During the final week of the 1982 World Cup in Spain, El Salvador was led by coach Mauricio "Pipo" Rodríguez and only brought a 20-person army to attend, two people less than the upper limit of 22 people set by FIFA. The reason is unknown, but the trip to Spain was by no means a pleasant experience. In the first game against Hungary in Elche on June 15, they were completely defeated by their opponents 1-10. The result became a record in the World Cup finals week. The only consolation was that Luis Ramírez Zapata scored the first goal of the national team in the World Cup finals week when trailing 0-5. In the next two games, El Salvador slightly saved face. After improving their performance, they only lost 0-1 to Belgium on June 19 and lost to defending champion Argentina 0-2 in Alicante on June 23.