Baler Hernandez competes for chance at soccer history

El Salvador’s U-17 women’s soccer team is competing in a few weeks for a chance at history, the country’s first-ever World Cup bid on the women’s side. With Hollister High junior Elyssa Hernandez starting at center back, the team roared through Concacaf Round One recently with three dominant victories. 

Competition in the Final Round begins March 31 and continues through April 5. Four Concacaf countries will advance from it into the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup this fall in Morocco. 

The Round One tourney was the second in which Hernandez competed for El Salvador and the country is rooting enthusiastically for more success.

Twelve countries, split into three four-team groups, are participating. The three group winners and the one best second-place finisher will qualify for the World Cup, held from Oct. 17-Nov. 8. 

“In the finals, we have four spots,” Coach Eric Acuna said. “We have to get one and go to the World Cup, for the first time in history of the female national team. We have the chance to represent our country in the first World Cup. 

“I think the team understands what we want. Everybody thinking the same way, everybody pushing the same way. And Elyssa is a really important player for us.”

In Round One, held in Managua, Nicaragua from Jan. 27-Feb. 1, El Salvador beat Anguilla 9-0 and Curacao 6-0 and then faced similarly unbeaten Guatemala in a showdown. 

But it was not much of a showdown, as El Salvador won convincingly by a 7-0 count. That improved El Salvador’s Concacaf ranking up from seventh to fifth, illustrating how close they are to the top four.

“I’m happy we came out with all wins,” Hernandez said. “(Coach Acuna) knew we’d do well but maybe not that well. We scored a lot and we had the majority of possession. After each game, we counted down how many more wins were needed. Now it’s three to the World Cup. It’s really close. We can make history for El Salvador.”

For the Final Round, El Salvador’s group consists of the U.S., Honduras and host Trinidad and Tobago. Matches will be held in Balmain, Couva, Trinidad and Tobago, at Ato Boldon Stadium, named after the eight-time Olympic and World Championship medal winner and 1997 200 meters world champion.

Current Concacaf rankings have the USA No. 1, El Salvador No. 5, Honduras No. 11 and Trinidad and Tobago No. 13. El Salvador’s schedule begins March 31 with Honduras, follows two days later with the host country and concludes April 5 with the U.S.

Although it may be very hard to tie or beat the U.S. team, El Salvador can also advance as the best second-place team if they total more points than other runners-up. That likely means winning the first two matches. If tied with other second-place teams, they could advance based on goal differential.

Group A consists of No. 2 Mexico (host), No. 6 Costa Rica, No. 7 Haiti and No. 14 Bermuda. Group B has No. 3 Canada, No. 4 Puerto Rico, No. 9 Panama and No. 12 Nicaragua (host).

The top four ranked teams received byes to this Final Round. In the First Round, El Salvador, Puerto Rico, Panama and Honduras advanced. All were 3-0, with El Salvador outscoring its opponents 22-0. Puerto Rico tallied six against one, Panama went 20-4 and Honduras was 7-0.

“We definitely did very well in Round One,” Hernandez said. “We knew we’d do well. Our forwards and wings did well. And we won with no goals allowed.”

El Salvador is thrilled countrywide with soccer success these days. The men’s U-17 team recently qualified for the FIFA World Cup for the first time. Now it is the women’s U-17’s chance.

“The country is going crazy,” Hernandez said. “After they announced we had qualified for the Final Round, there were news articles, pictures, YouTube, Instagram, TV. I don’t think the country expected us to do this well.”

El Salvador’s success is part of Coach Acuna’s master plan. He searched the U.S. to find players with Salvadoran lineage and combined them with the best in the country. All were proud to represent El Salvador. The majority of the current team competed last year in the UNCAF tournament and then in Round One, building chemistry on and off the pitch.

The team competes with a creative flair, coupled with technical skills and speed. That has won them the hearts of their country, along with their player-initiated goal celebrations. In the Round One telecasts on Fox Sports, the announcers reveled in the “cellys” (goal celebrations) and the joy shared by the players.

“Coach encourages the celly,” Hernandez said. “We just do it, but he encourages it, as he has passion for the sport.”

During the games, and in the pre-game film sessions and training, the girls are all business. It’s all about soccer. Most of that is familiar to Hernandez and there has also been national team strategies to work on.

“We watch a lot of film,” Hernandez said. “With this team, there are a lot of aerial balls and headers. I have to be more and more aggressive. We look to skip passes up to the forwards, not just do short passes. You have to time it and get it to the girl so she can run onto it.”

Hernandez departed March 17 for final training in El Salvador. Three-a-day sessions began the next day. There is conditioning, position-specific training, small games, cardio work, weights and more.

Concurrently, Hernandez and the other team members must keep up on their schoolwork. She credits her Hollister High teachers and administrators for helping make her remote study valuable and efficient. Her class load is heavy, with AP Physics, AP English and AP Pre-Calculus leading the way.

On March 26, the team will depart for Trinidad and Tobago, a small country in the Caribbean.

“I definitely think our first two will not be the hardest,” Hernandez said. “We’ve played Honduras before and we know them. It’s kind of surreal to play the USA. They are very technical and very fast. We know many of their players from club soccer and we hope to get a good score against them. It’s exciting to know we are just three games away from the World Cup.”

Excitement reigns from the supportive Hollister community to the country of slightly more than 6 million. Daily sports newspaper El Grafico has given regular coverage to the team. Many view the accomplishments of the men’s U-17 team and the women’s U-17 team as raising the international view of the country.

“Oh my god, we are ranked so high,” Hernandez said. “It shows how good we are. And we are such a small country. Soccer is really turning history around in El Salvador.”