On Monday, several of the Salvadoran players involved in last October's "work action" apologized publicly for leaving the national team in a protest over pay and training conditions. The temporary strike resulted in El Salvador fielding a considerably weaker team against Canada in the November World Cup qualifier played at Estadio Cuscatlán.
Canada was unfortunately not able to fully capitalize on their seeming advantage and had to settle for a 0-0 draw and a solitary point. But yesterday's apology from the El Salvador players looks to have settled the dispute with the governing body. That means the Central American nation's finest should be available to take on Honduras in two crucial March qualifiers. Games in which nothing would suit Canada better than those two teams nicking points off each other.
According to La Prensa Grafica, the players who took part in the walkout have been fined "10% of their salaries" although the report is unclear whether the financial penalties will ever actually be enforced. It seems more like a stayed sentence from my reading.
The post below originally appeared on October 28, 2015.
Concacaf, the happy-fun-scandal ball that never stops bouncing. We're still over two weeks away from the next round of World Cup qualifying, and already a minor controversy around comments made in the media has resulted in a refereeing switch for Canada's opening round match against Honduras. Now, another one of Canada's group rivals have pitched into chaos. There are many moving parts involved, but the gist is that the El Salvador squad has basically refused to train because of a dispute over money.
This week, El Salvador had planned what is referred to in Central America as a 'micro-cycle,' or a sort of mini, mid-week national team camp featuring domestically based players between league matches. But on Monday, the players called in to the training camp simply refused to go out onto the pitch. All of them. And as of Wednesday they are holding firm.
Local paper La Prensa has outlined the basics of the players' demands: bonuses for being called to the national team; prize money for World Cup qualifiers won, per diems for travel with the national team, better travel arrangements generally, and better training facilities. Foreign-based squad members not at this specific camp have also voiced their support for the quasi-strike via social media
It's important to remember we're not talking about pampered multi-millionaires. Most of the El Salvador regulars play in the domestic league, with a few others in the NASL or lower level European leagues like Iceland or Azerbaijan. The 'prize money' demands quoted in media reports amount to between $1,000 and $4,500 per player.
This feud has been simmering for over a month. The players voiced similar complaints about their situation after a friendly against Guatemala in Los Angeles on Oct. 13 via a sort of manifesto that was signed by all players. In the absence of any concrete actions around those demands, the situation escalated.
The situation reached a nadir on Tuesday evening when El Salvador captain and Orlando City midfielder Darwin Cerén went on one of the most popular drive-home shows on U.S. Spanish sports radio and called his federation's vice-president a 'ridiculous man' who wouldn't even know how to put on a football shirt.
The past few days have seen players and officials trading accusations in the media. The national federation (FESFUT) has described the job action as 'manipulation' led by certain players. The organization previously assured the players they would be put up in a four-star hotel during their national team stints next month, but that the cash amounts being asked for aren't realistic.
So what does this all mean for Canada?
For starters, FESFUT apparently has a Plan B that involves calling in new players to replace those who refuse to train. While that could theoretically mean Canada faces a bunch of second-stringers in San Salvador next month, many of the players involved in this dispute have said they still plan to suit up for the qualifiers. There's a lot of rhetoric around how the beef is with the federation, not the national team shirt. FESFUT has also talked about sanctions and other penalties for players refusing to train, but given the sport's popularity it seems implausible they'd kneecap the national team ahead of such important games.
What's not in question is that El Salvadoran soccer has had a rough time of it. Honduran Ramón Maradiaga was recently brought in to replace ex-manager Alberto Roca following the team's dismal showing at the Gold Cup. And the program has never really recovered from a massive match-fixing scandal in 2013 that saw several players banned for life from participating with the national team.
Whether all this off-pitch controversy spurs El Salvador forward depends on whether you subscribe to the 'adversity as motivation' school of thought. Or it could of course have the exact opposite effect. That's the stuff for armchair sports psychologists. Either way, having the entirety of your squad at war with the national federation is not how most fans would prefer to see their team preparing for World Cup qualification.