El Salvador do their Country proud at this years FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

30/09/2011

This year, the 2011 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup was set alight by a courageous team of fishermen, arising from the Central American shores of El Salvador.

With some corners the world of football currently taking a moral beating and metaphorically looking at itself in the mirror, it is comforting to realise there are cheerful lights beaming from other corners. Not many stories better epitomise this reality than the El Salvador Beach Soccer team.

The entire squad derive from villages of fishermen, earning a humble wage and have always dreamt of patriotic glory. The team’s first attempt at World Cup qualification came in 2007 at the CONCACAF Beach Soccer Championship. Unfortunately the team failed to win a game and finished rock bottom.

In 2008, the team developed impressively and exceeded expectation by defeating the then CONCACAF Beach Soccer Champions USA, 6-5, as well as Costa Rica, 4-3. These landmark wins helped El Salvador to finish second in the group, meaning they qualified for the 2008 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup. In their first world cup, Jose Portillo was named Goalkeeper of the tournament, and Jose Ruiz won the Golden Boot with eight goals in four matches.

El Salvador’s historic moment came this year at the 2011 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup. With the core make-up of industrious fishermen, El Salvador battled heroically seeing off powerhouses Argentina and Italy to bombard their way through to semi-finals. This was unfortunately one game too far for the El Salvadorian combatants as they were knocked out by eventual champions, Russia.

The team were welcomed home as heroes, acting magnificently as ambassadors to their country and reigniting El Salvador back on the world stage.

They will return to the 2013 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup not as village fishermen, but as world class athletes.

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