The selection of Guatemala defeated at home El Salvador 0-1 this Tuesday and regained mathematical options to fight from Group A of the Concacaf qualifiers for a place in the 2026 World Cup. Guatemala has 5 points at the end of the fourth day of Group A, led by Suriname and Panama with 6. El Salvador lies in the basement with 3 and has mortgaged its qualification options.
With this victory, Mexican Luis Tena’s team added three consecutive away games without knowing defeat, with two draws and one win, while the Salvadorans, led by Colombian Hernán Darío Gómez, lost all three home games. Óscar Santis signaled the visitors’ victory with a shot from the edge of the area when less than 40 seconds had passed in the second half. From this blow the Salvadorans were unable to recover in the rest of the game.
The Colombian coach opted for the youth of Noel Rivera to try to equalize, but the visiting defenders prevailed through physical pressure. Gómez also sent midfielders Rafael Tejada and Enrico Dueñas to the field, but they failed to open cracks in the Guatemalan defense. Tena ordered the lines to be delayed and the match was closer and without connections for the locals.
TECHNICAL SHEET
0 – El Salvador: Mario González; Julio Sibrán, Ronald Gómez, Adan Climaco, Jeferson Valladares; Mauricio Cerritos (Styven Vasquez, m.83), Joshua Pérez (Enrico Dueñas, m.70), Herberth Diáz, Jairo Henriquez (Noel Rivera, m.59); Nathan Ordaz (Rafael Tejada, m.70) and Brayan Gil.
1 – Guatemala: Nicholas Hagen; Nicolás Samayoa, Jose Pinto, Aaron Herrera, Rudy Muñoz; Stheven Robles (José Rosales, m.69), Darwin Lom (Rubio Méndez, m.58), Antonio López (Pedro Altan, m.58), José Morales; Óscar Santis (Óscar Castellanos, m.58) and Jonathan Franco.
Goal: 0-1, Santis (m. 46)
Referee: Pierre Luc Lauzière, from Canada. He admonished Ordaz of El Salvador and the Guatemalans Morales and Samayoa.
Incidents: match of the fourth date of Group A of the Concacaf qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup played at the Cuscatlán stadium, in San Salvador.
Guatemala, which has never attended a World Cup, will play the last two rounds of the tie at home against Panama and Suriname, while the Salvadorans must play their two games away from home.
