Reports indicate that the club’s travel arrangements will see then touchdown in Toronto at 2 am on the morning of the match (Wednesday). The club will leave their home stadium – Juan Francisco Barraza – at 9 am, fly to Miami at 2 pm, before boarding a second flight to Toronto. Regardless of actual times, that is a long day to undergo prior to a match.
On Thursday the club will board a bus from Toronto to New York for a Saturday Friendly date against Honduran side, Marathon; possibly two matches – with the second to be held in Virginia – but few additional details were available.
They currently sit in fourth place in the Primera Division de Futbol Profesional de El Salvador after three matches in the 2012 Apertura. They won their last match 3-0 at home against lowly Once Municipal on goals from Walter Soto, Yaikel Perez and Henry Romero. They lost their opening match – also at home - 3-0 to rivals Alianza FC, in between picking up a 0-1 win on the road to CD Luis Angel Firpo.
They have a scheduled league match at UES (CD Universidad de El Salvador) on Saturday, though that appears to be off in order to play the Friendlies in the States. They also face league action on Wednesday, August 8th, in a midweek round at home against Juventud Independiete - a fairly heavy schedule indeed.
Several players are carrying knocks into the match: Osael Romero, who had brief stint with Chivas USA in 2010, has a pain in his right foot; Ronald Torres a pain in his left. Cuban Yaikel Perez has an unspecified knock, though one that did not prevent him from playing, scoring and being sent off – for a “slap on the head” of Once Municipal defender Mauricio Artero - on Saturday.
Romero has been nursing injury since scoring for the national team in Costa Rica (2-2 final) in recent qualifiers; keeper Benji Villalobos also took part in both matches, including a loss to Mexico (1-2 in El Salvador).
Three players made the trip to New York for a Friendly against AS Roma on Friday, July 27th: keeper Villalobos – who did not play, defender Mordecai Henrique and midfielder Isidro Gutierrez – both went the full ninety; while Romero was not able to travel due to injury. They lost 2-1 to Roma, Gutierrez picking up the lone El Salvadorian goal with a strike from distance that bounced awkwardly past the keeper.
Along with Romero, two other players have experience in North America. Cuban Perez had a series of brief spells in the lower divisions, including time with Miami FC, Laredo Heat, Crystal Palace Baltimore and the Puerto Rico Islanders. Defender Deris Umanzor spent 2010 with the Chicago Fire.
Club captain Luis Anaya played in all four of El Salvador’s matches in the 2011 Gold Cup.
Their fans forum has a section labeled “Battle Ground” for hurling insults and getting grievances off one’s chest.
Their local rivals, now mired in the second division are CD Dragon, known as ‘Los Mitologicos’ - the Mythological; nice. They have a dragon on their badge.
Travelling Roster – courtesy of El Graphico
THE TRAVELING
|
Position
|
Number
|
Name (First-Last)
|
Notes
|
|
Goalkeeper
|
22
|
Benji Villalobos
|
|
|
Goalkeeper
|
1
|
Manuel Gonzalez
|
|
|
Defense
|
23
|
Luis Anaya
|
Captain
|
|
Defense
|
6
|
Mordecai Henriquez
|
(aka Mardoqueo Henriquez)
|
|
Defense
|
13
|
Deris Umanzor
|
|
|
Defense
|
3
|
Reynaldo Hernandez
|
|
|
Defense
|
18
|
Henry Romero
|
|
|
Volante
|
5
|
Isaac Zelaya
|
|
|
Volante
|
16
|
Heriberto Velazquez
|
|
|
Volante
|
11
|
Isidro Gutierrez
|
|
|
Volante
|
15
|
Ronald Torres
|
|
|
Volante
|
24
|
Darwin Bonilla
|
|
|
Volante
|
10
|
Javier Hernandez
|
|
|
Volante
|
7
|
Irving Flores
|
|
|
Volante
|
8
|
Osael Romero
|
|
|
Forward
|
19
|
Irza Santos
|
|
|
Forward
|
21
|
Walter Soto
|
|
|
Forward
|
9
|
Yaikel Perez
|
|
Volante, presumably means midfielder. The numbers were added manually, may not be entirely accurate as different sources had contradictory information in a few cases
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