Hollister’s Hernandez competes in CONCACAF soccer tournament

Hollister High junior Elyssa Hernandez is competing for El Salvador this week in the prestigious 2025 Concacaf U-17 Women’s Qualifiers. The tournament is part of a two-round qualification for the 2025 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup. 

El Salvador’s four-team group in this first round, in Managua, Nicaragua, includes Anguilla, Curacao and Guatemala. Matches are scheduled for Jan. 27, Jan. 29 and Jan. 31. In Monday’s opener, Hernandez started at center back and played the entire way in a 9-0 rout for her country.

Upcoming matches are against Curacao on Wednesday and versus Guatemala on Friday. The other Monday result in this group had Guatemala edging Curacao 3-1.

“We have a simple objective; winning our group,” El Salvador Women’s National Team Coach Eric Acuna said. “We have to be first of that group to go to the next stage, the Final Round. In the Final Round, there are four spots to go to the World Cup, for the first time in the history of our female national team.”

Hernandez previously participated in international tournaments for El Salvador in February and November of last year. For this tournament, she travelled to the capital city of San Salvador on Jan. 10 for a two-week training camp, which began the next day. 

“The training went well, but it was definitely intense,” Hernandez said. “Coach Acuña focused a lot on the formation and building out of the back, which is critical for how we want to play. 

“We spent significant time improving our first touch and endurance with the ball, ensuring we’re sharp and can maintain a high level of play throughout matches. Set pieces were another key focus, as they are crucial parts of the game.”

There were two training sessions per day, each of two hours or longer. The heat and humidity of San Salvador, just north of the equator at an elevation of 2,162 feet, required strong mental and physical stamina. Recovery included recovery boots, ice baths and stem therapy. 

“As a center back, we worked on long balls, air balls, heading, intercepting passes and communicating with our mids and fullbacks,” Hernandez said. “Communication is essential, especially when organizing the backline and staying in sync with the team.”

Scrimmages were valuable, including competing against the El Salvador U-20 team, which was preparing for a tournament of its own. That provided game-like situations and the competition against older girls stretched the squad and helped them see areas of improvement.

“I can describe Elyssa in simple words; she is a hard worker and a coachable girl,” coach Acuna said. “I saw her play in one of our tryouts (in December 2023). I immediately paid attention to her skills. She was a really important player in her position. Her runs and all the decisions she made were enough to understand that she was a good player.”

The team departed El Salvador for this week’s tournament on Jan. 26. In Group D, matches are taking place at Estadio Nacional in Managua. The stadium has a turf field and conditions are hot and humid. Managua is near sea level at a latitude of 12 degrees north of the equator.

“He (coach Acuna) made it clear to us how important this tournament is for us,” Hernandez said. “A moment for us to make history for El Salvador to go to the World Cup for the first time. He wanted us to take things one game at a time, focusing on the match in front of us. He wanted us to go into each giving it our all and fighting for each ball, no matter the opponent.”

Hernandez began playing extensively for El Salvador in her second competition with the national team, at November’s UNCAF tournament. The squad won three of four matches in that tourney, also in Managua.

“Her performance in the tournament in the UNCAF matches was very good,” Acuna said. “It’s easy to understand how good she was because she plays 100% of the minutes.”

Hard work is paying off. Hernandez is doing something special.

“Every match is very important, and we all know what we need to do to advance,” Hernandez said. “We have to place first in our group. We know already that our toughest matches would be either Guatemala or Curacao, since we have already played them in the past.”

Coach Acuna has faith in Hernandez in the crucial defensive role at center back. In an interview in late December, he looked forward to coaching her again.

“I think she is going to be one of the most important players in February (technically Jan. 27-31) because she is already one of the more important players of the national team,” Acuna said. “She just has to keep the good work. She has to sleep, live, eat and do everything like a national team player. I’m really happy to have her. I’m really happy because I’m going to see her again. And we’re going to share a field. That’s what we love to do. Because we love this sport the same way.”

A top-eight spot in this round would advance El Salvador to the Final Round. In that competition, taking place March 31 through April 6, those finishing in the top four will advance a team to the U-17 Women’s World Cup.

“We have the chance to represent our country in the first World Cup for our country,” coach Acuna said. “It is really important. We’re going to face that stage with a lot of responsibility. Because we play for the whole country and we represent our country.”