El Salvador national under-20 football team

El Salvador Under 20
Nickname(s)	La Azulita
Association	Federación Salvadoreña de Fútbol;
Confederation	CONCACAF (North America)
Head coach	Juan Cortés
Captain	Walter Menjívar
FIFA code	SLV
First colours	Second colours
First international
	Curaçao 1–19 El Salvador ; (Panama City, Panama; March 6, 1962)
Biggest win
	El Salvador 16–0 Nicaragua ; (Guatemala City, Guatemala; August 17, 1982)
Biggest defeat
	Mexico 12–0 El Salvador ; (Havana, Cuba; September 29, 1970); Records for competitive; matches only.

The El Salvador Under 20s football team, is commonly known as La Azulita. La Azulita is controlled by Federación Salvadoreña de Fútbol(FESFUT) and represents El Salvador in all international Under 20 competitions.

Their first U-20 World Cup was at the 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup, where they saw their first victory at a major FIFA tournament (outside of beach soccer) to Australia by 2–1, scored respectively by Diego Coca and José Peña.

CONCACAF Championship

2024 CONCACAF Championship

On April 11, 2024, CONCACAF had their official draw. El Salvador was placed in Group B alongside, Honduras, Dominican Republic, and Canada. All games will be played in Estadio Sergio León Chávez in Irapuato, Mexico starting July 20, 2024.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Honduras	3	2	1	0	11	5	+6	7	Advance to knockout stage
2	Canada	3	2	1	0	5	3	+2	7	Advance to knockout stage
3	El Salvador	3	1	0	2	3	6	−3	3
4	Dominican Republic	3	0	0	3	2	7	−5	0

Source: CONCACAF
Rules for classification: tiebreakers

El Salvador's U-20 national team participated in the 2024 Concacaf U-20 Championship, held in Irapuato, Mexico. They were drawn into Group B alongside Honduras, Canada, and the Dominican Republic. The team began their campaign with a 1-0 victory over the Dominican Republic, with Christopher Argueta scoring the lone goal in the 62nd minute. Goalkeeper Daniel Franco played a crucial role, making several important saves including a penalty stop.

However, El Salvador's fortunes turned in their subsequent matches. They suffered a heavy 4-1 defeat against Honduras, despite initially taking the lead through Nelson Díaz. In their final group match, they lost 2-1 to Canada in a closely contested game. Francis Castillo scored El Salvador's goal, but a late bicycle kick by Bunbury secured Canada's win. El Salvador thought they had equalized in the final moments through Walter Menjívar, but the goal was disallowed after a VAR review. With one win and two losses, El Salvador finished third in Group B with three points and a goal difference, which was insufficient to advance to the knockout stages as one of the best third-placed teams.

July 20, 2024

Dominican Republic	0-1	El Salvador
	Report	Christopher Argueta 62'

Estadio Sergio León Chávez, Irapuato

July 23, 2024

El Salvador	1-4	Honduras
Nelson Díaz 40'	Report	Diego Guardado 45'+1 (OG) Dereck Moncada 53' Anfronit Tatúm 66', 84'

Estadio Sergio León Chávez, Irapuato

July 26, 2024

El Salvador	1-2	Canada
Francis Castillo 77'	Report	Santiago López 21' Mataeo Bunbury 90'+3

Estadio Sergio León Chávez, Irapuato

2024 Qualifiers

La Azulita qualified for the CONCACAF Under-20 Championship which is slated for the Summer of 2024. El Salvador U20 started the CONCACAF Qualifying on Friday, February 23, 2024, till Saturday, March 2, 2024, at ABFA Technical Center in Antigua and Barbuda. The Azulita finished first with 10 points. Suriname came in second with 9, Antigua and Barbuda with 6, Guyana with 4 and Turks and Caicos 0.

El Salvador belongs to Group B. Group B consist of the following Nations:

After round-robin play between February 23 and March 2, 2024, the first-place team from each group will advance to the 2024 CONCACAF Men's U-20 Championship, joining the six pre-seeded top-ranked nations.^[1] Which include in order, United States, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic.

February 23, 2024 (2024-February-23)	El Salvador	7-0	Turks and Caicos Islands	Stadium in Piggotts, Antigua and Barbuda
09:30	Christopher Argueta 26' Daniel Espana 37' Walter Menjívar 41' Wilber Diaz 67' Wilber Diaz 80' Darwin Lopez 90+1' Nelson Díaz 90+3'	Report		Stadium: ABFA Technical Center, Antigua and Barbuda

February 25, 2024 (2024-February-25)	Guyana	2-2	El Salvador	Stadium in Piggotts, Antigua and Barbuda
09:30	Nathaniel Pydana 10' Nathaniel Pydana 83'	Report	22' Kiano Falcao 62' Wilber Diaz	Stadium: ABFA Technical Center, Antigua and Barbuda

February 29, 2024 (2024-February-29)	El Salvador	3-0	Suriname	Stadium in Piggotts, Antigua and Barbuda
14:00	Christopher Argueta 10' Nestor Delgado 24' Kiano Falcao 66'	Report		Stadium: ABFA Technical Center, Antigua and Barbuda

March 2, 2024 (2024-March-02)	Antigua and Barbuda	0-1	El Salvador	Stadium in Piggotts, Antigua and Barbuda
14:00		Report	Christopher Guardado 57'	Stadium: ABFA Technical Center, Antigua and Barbuda

UNCAF 2024

La Azulita, along with seven other selections, gathered in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, to participate in an international competition through the tournament UNCAF FIFA FORWARD.^[2] La Azulita was grouped in Group A with Honduras, Panamá, and Nicaragua.

January 19, 2024 (2024-January-19)	Panama	3-0	El Salvador	Tegucigalpa, Honduras
11:10				Stadium: Sede C.D. Olimpia, Honduras

January 21, 2024 (2024-January-21)	Honduras	4-2	El Salvador	Tegucigalpa, Honduras
15:10				Stadium: Sede C.D. Olimpia, Honduras

January 23, 2024 (2024-January-23)	El Salvador	0-5	Nicaragua	Tegucigalpa, Honduras
15:10				Stadium: Sede C.D. Olimpia, Honduras

January 25, 2024 (2024-January-25)	Cuba	3-3	El Salvador	Tegucigalpa, Honduras
10:30				Stadium: Sede C.D. Olimpia, Honduras
	Penalties
	3		4

2024 current squad

On February 19, 2024, the Head Coach Juan Cortes named the following players to the CONCACAF Under-20 Qualifiers. The Qualifiers run from February 23, 2024, to March 2, 2024, in Antigua and Barbuda.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	1GK	Daniel Franco		0	0	Alianza F.C.
	1GK	Cristian Portillo		0	0	C.D. Águila
21	1GK	Hamilton Lemus	(2006-11-16) November 16, 2006 (age 18)	0	0	C.D. ATL. COMALAPA

6	2DF	Nestor Samoza	(2006-01-31) January 31, 2006 (age 18)	0	0	11 DEPORTIVO F.C.
2	2DF	William Molina		0	0	C.S.D. ATL. BALBOA
	2DF	Bryan Amaya		0	0	C.D. Cacahuatique
11	2DF	Víctor Mejía		0	0	C.D. Once Lobos
4	2DF	Darwin López	(2006-06-03) June 3, 2006 (age 18)	0	0	LA. SURF SOCCER CLUB
20	2DF	Daniel España		0	0	AD Unión Adarve
3	2DF	Kiano Falcao	(2006-04-11) April 11, 2006 (age 18)	4	2	FC Cincinnati

12	3MF	Inner Guevara		0	0	Alianza F.C.
15	3MF	David Funes		0	0	C.D. FAS
14	3MF	Christopher Ortiz		0	0	C.D. FAS
	3MF	Christopher Guardado	(2005-10-30) October 30, 2005 (age 19)	0	0	A.D. Isidro Metapán
8	3MF	Walter Menjívar	(2006-01-06) January 6, 2006 (age 18)	0	0	C.D. ATL. COMALAPA
7	3MF	Nelson Díaz	(2006-04-07) April 7, 2006 (age 18)	0	0	A.D. BRASILIA SUCHITOTO
19	3MF	Melvin Urbina		0	0	C.D. INCA

9	4FW	Wilber Díaz	(2007-05-16) May 16, 2007 (age 17)	0	0	Santa Tecla F.C.
16	4FW	Anderson Ochoa		0	0	C.D. Cruzeiro
10	4FW	Steven Guerra	(2007-03-12) March 12, 2007 (age 17)	0	0	C.D. Dragón
13	4FW	Cristopher Argueta	(2007-01-14) January 14, 2007 (age 17)	4	2	D.C. United

History of La Azulita

FIFA U-20 World Cup record

Year	Round	GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA
1977	Did not qualify
1979
1981
1983
1985
1987
1989
1991
1993
1995
1997
1999
2001
2003
2005
2007
2009
2011
2013	Group stage	3	1	0	2	2	7
2015	Did not qualify
2017
2019
2021	Cancelled
2023	Did not qualify
2025	To be determined
Total	1/24	3	1	0	2	2	7

UNCAF preliminary round

Year	Position	GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA
1995	1/2	2	2	0	0	8	1	qualified
1998	2/2	2	1	0	1	4	5	did not qualify
2001	3/3	2	0	1	1	1	2	did not qualify
2003	2/5	4	2	1	1	7	4	qualified
2005	3/5	4	2	0	2	9	6	did not qualify
2007	2/3	2	1	0	1	6	7	did not qualify
/ 2009	1/4	3	2	0	1	6	3	qualified
/ 2011	2/3 Play-off	4	2	1	1	8	6	Disqualified¹
/ 2013	1/3	2	1	0	1	4	4	qualified
2015	2/6	6	3	2	1	18	6	qualified
2017	2/6	4	2	1	1	9	4	qualified
	9/9	25	13	3	9	53	38

¹The games were forbidden by Concacaf due to El Salvador using an ineligible player

CONCACAF Under-20 Championship

Year	Round	GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA
1962	Round 1	3	0	2	1	2	3
1964	Champions	7	5	1	1	12	6
1970	Fourth place	4	1	1	2	3	8
1973	did not participate
1974	did not participate
1976	Round 1	3	0	1	2	2	9
1978	Second round	6	3	1	2	11	7
1980	Round 1	4	2	0	2	9	4
1982	Second round	5	2	0	3	13	7
1984	Third place	8	4	3	1	10	3
1986	did not participate
1988	did not participate
1990	Round 1	2	0	0	2	1	4
1992	did not participate
1994	Fourth place	8	5	1	2	22	10
1996	Round 1	3	0	1	2	3	6
1998	did not qualify
2001	did not qualify
2003	Round 1	3	0	0	3	1	5
2005	did not qualify
2007	did not qualify
2009	Round 1	3	0	1	2	3	6
2011	Disqualified
2013	Third place	5	3	0	2	6	6
2015	Playoff Stage	6	2	2	2	9	10
2017	Classification stage	5	2	0	3	7	11
2018	Qualification stage	6	3	0	3	7	7
2022	Round 16	4	2	1	1	13	7
Total	1 Champions	79	30	13	33	110	103

Previous fixtures and results

Date:	Location:	Opponent:	Score*	Competition:	El Salvador scorers:
February 19	San Salvador, El Salvador	Luis Angel Firpo	2–3	F	José Villavicencio 9' Bryan Pérez 21'
March 12, 2014	Santa Ana, El Salvador	FAS	1–2	F	Amilcar Gonzalez 70'
November 2, 2018	IMG Soccer Complex Field #2, Florida, United States	Curaçao	2–1	CC	Gerson Sánchez 59' Christian Rosales 88'
November 4, 2018	IMG Soccer Stadium, Florida, United States	Cayman Islands	3−1	CC	Jose Portillo 39' Jorge Cruz 41' Fernando Clavel 51'
November 6, 2018	IMG Soccer Stadium, Florida, United States	Guatemala	2−1	CC	Siliazar Henríquez 32' 58'
November 10, 2018	IMG Soccer Stadium, Florida, United States	Guyana	TBD –TBD	CC	TBD 83'

Key

F = Friendly
UF = Unofficial Friendly
U-20 CCQ = 2017 CONCACAF U-20 Championship qualifying
U-20 CC = U-20 Championship
U-20 WC = U-20 World Cup
GS = Group stage
QF = Quarter-finals
SF = Semi-finals
Fi = Final
PSO = Penalty shootout
a.e.t. = After extra time
El Salvador's scores listed first

Formers players

2022 squad

The following players were called up for the 2022 CONCACAF U-20 Championship.^[3]
Match dates: June 18 – July 3, 2022
Caps and goals correct as of: June 19, 2022
Names in italics denote players who have been capped for the senior team.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1GK	Damián Alguera	(2004-02-11) February 11, 2004 (age 20)	4	0	Philadelphia Union
1GK	Sergio Sibrián	(2004-07-08) July 8, 2004 (age 20)	0	0	Alianza

2DF	Alejandro Cano	(2004-05-21) May 21, 2004 (age 20)	6	0	San Jose Earthquakes
2DF	Mauricio Cerritos	(2003-10-17) October 17, 2003 (age 21)	0	0	Atlético Marte
2DF	René Dueñas	(2004-05-02) May 2, 2004 (age 20)	0	0	FAS
2DF	Cesar Orellana		0	0	Unknown
2DF	Walter Pineda	(2003-05-04) May 4, 2003 (age 21)	0	0	Águila
2DF	Alexander Romero	(2004-09-24) September 24, 2004 (age 20)	4	0	Los Angeles FC
2DF	Alejandro Serrano	(2003-12-04) December 4, 2003 (age 21)	0	0	Santa Tecla

3MF	Robinson Aguirre	(2004-11-23) November 23, 2004 (age 20)	7	0	Colorado Rapids
3MF	Hamilton Benítez	(2003-08-28) August 28, 2003 (age 21)	0	0	Alianza
3MF	Danny Ríos	(2003-03-29) March 29, 2003 (age 21)	0	0	Houston Dynamo
3MF	Jeremy Garay	(2003-04-01) April 1, 2003 (age 21)	5	1	D.C. United
3MF	Mayer Gil	(2003-09-07) September 7, 2003 (age 21)	0	0	Alianza Petrolera
3MF	Harold Osorio	(2003-08-20) August 20, 2003 (age 21)	0	0	Chicago Fire FC

4FW	Ronald Arévalo	(2003-05-18) May 18, 2003 (age 21)	0	0	OTP
4FW	Isaac Esquivel	(2003-12-30) December 30, 2003 (age 20)	0	0	Marte Soyapango
4FW	Javier Mariona	(2004-10-17) October 17, 2004 (age 20)	2	2	Oakland Roots SC
4FW	Alexander Umaña	(2003-10-12) October 12, 2003 (age 21)	5	3	Sporting Kansas City

2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup squad

Head coach: Mauricio Alfaro ^[4]

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Club
1	1GK	Rolando Morales	(1994-03-01)March 1, 1994 (aged 19)	Turín-FESA
2	2DF	Oliver Ayala	(1994-01-04)January 4, 1994 (aged 19)	León
3	3MF	Tomás Granitto	(1993-06-12)June 12, 1993 (aged 20)	Florida Gulf Coast University
4	2DF	Giovanni Zavaleta	(1994-09-27)September 27, 1994 (aged 18)	Turín-FESA
5	3MF	Romilio Hernández	(1995-06-06)June 6, 1995 (aged 18)	Baltimore Bays
6	2DF	Marvin Baumgartner	(1993-01-13)January 13, 1993 (aged 20)	Zürich
7	3MF	Jairo Henríquez	(1993-08-31)August 31, 1993 (aged 19)	Turín-FESA
8	3MF	José Villavicencio	(1995-01-24)January 24, 1995 (aged 18)	Turín-FESA
9	4FW	José Peña	(1994-12-10)December 10, 1994 (aged 18)	Turín-FESA
10	3MF	Diego Coca	(1994-08-26)August 26, 1994 (aged 18)	Turín-FESA
11	4FW	Maikon Orellana	(1993-11-12)November 12, 1993 (aged 19)	Brøndby
12	2DF	Kevin Barahona	(1994-10-01)October 1, 1994 (aged 18)	Turín-FESA
13	2DF	Miguel Lemus	(1993-10-26)October 26, 1993 (aged 19)	Turín-FESA
14	3MF	Óscar Rodríguez	(1995-04-16)April 16, 1995 (aged 18)	Atlético San José
15	3MF	René Gómez	(1993-01-08)January 8, 1993 (aged 20)	Turín-FESA
16	3MF	Benjamín Díaz	(1993-05-08)May 8, 1993 (aged 20)	University of the District of Columbia
17	2DF	Kevin Ayala	(1994-07-15)July 15, 1994 (aged 18)	Turín-FESA
18	1GK	Adolfo Menéndez, Jr.	(1993-07-03)July 3, 1993 (aged 19)	FAS
19	3MF	Bernardo Majano	(1995-12-09)December 9, 1995 (aged 17)	D.C. United
20	4FW	Roberto González	(1993-03-25)March 25, 1993 (aged 20)	Santa Tecla
21	1GK	Carlos Cañas	(1994-09-09)September 9, 1994 (aged 18)	Longwood University

Personnel

Current staff

As of January 2024 [1]

Head coach	Juan Cortez
Assistant coach	Francisco Hernández
Assistant coach	Ernesto de la Ocomo
Goalkeeper Coach	Misael Alfaro
Physical Trainer	Emerson Leal
Medical Trainer
Kinesiologist
Equipment Manager	Abraham Beltrán

Manager history

Conrado Miranda (1964, 1979)
Raul Magana (1985,1994)
Carlos Recinos (2000–2001)
Ricardo Herrera (2002–2003)
Cesar Acevedo (2004–2005)
José Luis Rugamas (2006–2007)
Norberto Huezo (2008–2009)
Mauricio Alfaro (2009–2015)
Eduardo Lara (2016–2017)
Alexsander Rodriguez (2017–2018)
Ernesto Gochez (2018–2020)
Gerson Perez (2021–2022)
Manuel Torres Núñez (2023)
Juan Cortez (2024)
TBD (2024-Present)

Honours

CONCACAF U-20 Championship
- Winners (1): 1964
- Third place (2): 1984, 2013

References

^ "Draw reveals groups for 2024 Concacaf U-20 Qualifiers". October 11, 2023.
^ "Torneo Sub-19 UNCAF FIFA FORWARD". January 16, 2024.
^ "Listas finales anunciadas para el Campeonato Sub-20 de Concacaf 2022" (in Spanish). Federación Salvadoreña de Fútbol. June 10, 2022. Retrieved June 19, 2022.
^ "Completa la nómina de la Selección Sub-20 para Copa del Mundo Turquía 2013" (in Spanish). www.culebritamacheteada.sv. May 23, 2013. Archived from the original on June 15, 2013.

External links

Federación Salvadoreña de Fútbol Official Site (Spanish)
El Salvador national football team (Non-Official Site) (Spanish)

[1] "Draw reveals groups for 2024 Concacaf U-20 Qualifiers". October 11, 2023.

[2] "Torneo Sub-19 UNCAF FIFA FORWARD". January 16, 2024.

[3] "Listas finales anunciadas para el Campeonato Sub-20 de Concacaf 2022" (in Spanish). Federación Salvadoreña de Fútbol. June 10, 2022. Retrieved June 19, 2022.

[4] "Completa la nómina de la Selección Sub-20 para Copa del Mundo Turquía 2013" (in Spanish). www.culebritamacheteada.sv. May 23, 2013. Archived from the original on June 15, 2013.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

v t e National under-20 association football teams of North America, Central America, and the Caribbean (CONCACAF)
North America	Canada Mexico United States
Central America	Belize Costa Rica El Salvador Guatemala Honduras Nicaragua Panama
Caribbean	Anguilla Antigua and Barbuda Aruba Bahamas Barbados Bermuda¹ Bonaire³ British Virgin Islands Cayman Islands Cuba Curaçao Dominica Dominican Republic French Guiana^{2 3} Grenada Guadeloupe³ Guyana² Haiti Jamaica Martinique³ Montserrat Puerto Rico Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint-Martin³ Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Sint Maarten³ Suriname² Trinidad and Tobago Turks and Caicos Islands U.S. Virgin Islands
Defunct	Netherlands Antilles
1: Inside the North American zone, but CFU member. 2: South American country, but affiliated to CONCACAF and CFU. 3: Full CONCACAF member, but non-FIFA member.

CONCACAF Championship

2024 CONCACAF Championship

2024 Qualifiers

UNCAF 2024

2024 current squad

History of La Azulita

FIFA U-20 World Cup record

UNCAF preliminary round

CONCACAF Under-20 Championship

Previous fixtures and results

Formers players

2022 squad

2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup squad

Personnel

Current staff

Manager history

Honours

See also

References

External links