Having a Field Day : Salvadoran Soccer Team Brings Out Passion in Local Countrymen

Some left work early, others took the entire day off.

Some spent up to three hours battling freeway traffic as they drove from their Los Angeles-area homes. While for the members of Thousand Oaks’ Salvadoran community, estimated at 3,000 strong, the trip simply involved a quick jaunt over the Conejo Grade.

But by 4 p.m. Wednesday, several hundred fans of El Salvador’s national soccer team braved a chilly wind to line the touchlines of an Oxnard College field to watch their heroes play a rare pre-World Cup qualifying practice game in Ventura County. About 1,000 spectators showed up for a similar match last week.

“They have jobs, but they love soccer,” said Oxnard College soccer coach Jorge Brescia, a former professional player in his native Argentina, as he surveyed the large crowd. “Soccer is not sport, it’s passion.”

Passion prompted 27-year-old Ernesto Castillo of Santa Ana to don a tall hat in El Salvador’s national colors of blue and white in what he described as an attempt to inspire his countrymen to win even an essentially meaningless scrimmage.

Passion motivated 29-year-old Maria Munoz of Northridge to take the day off from her job managing the jewelry department of a San Fernando Valley store to watch some of her favorite players score goals--not too many, she hoped--against her boyfriend, the goalkeeper on the opposing team from Inglewood.

And passion has brought spectator William Recinos of Oxnard out to the college every couple of days since the Salvadoran team started practicing there Feb. 10.

“It’s a blessing to see my national team play here,” said the 26-year-old Moorpark College student in an almost reverential tone. “I can talk to them, take pictures with them.”

The training camp, which ends next week, has provided expatriates of the tiny Central American nation with an unprecedented opportunity to get up close and personal with stars many had seen only on television.

Players attending the training session include the diminutive Mauricio Cienfuegos, who was a star in the Los Angeles Galaxy’s midfield during the inaugural 1996 Major League Soccer season. Striker Raul Diaz Arce, whose attacking play helped him score four goals in a game last season for league champion D.C. United, also attended the camp before leaving on a preseason tour of Japan last weekend with his Washington-based team.

“I’ll go anywhere to see these guys,” said Rolando Cadenas, 38, of Glendora, who wore a black baseball cap emblazoned with the words “El Salvador” and toted a video camera. “I will take [the video] to my kids and show them that I was here.”

After the 18-member El Salvador squad concludes its Oxnard training camp, it will embark upon a second round of World Cup qualifying games April 6 in Vancouver, British Columbia, against Canada.

*

Three of six teams representing countries from the Caribbean, North America and Central America--which emerged successfully from last year’s initial round--will qualify for the 32-team finals in France in 1998 after this year’s nine-month, round-robin competition.

By training at Oxnard College, El Salvador follows in the footsteps of the soccer team from the West African nation of Cameroon, which made the city its home site during the 1994 World Cup championship that was held in several locations in the United States, including Los Angeles.

Team officials said they are enjoying the support of Salvadoran natives living in the region as well as Oxnard residents. Next week, the team is scheduled to receive the keys to the city at a City Hall ceremony with Mayor Manuel Lopez, Brescia said.

“Always it’s better playing in front of people,” said El Salvador coach Milovan Djoric, a Serbian native, through an interpreter. “Because players, when people are watching, they play better, with more desire.”

The Oxnard training site is relatively isolated, cool, offers access to weight rooms at the college and is near the beach, said Brescia, who has spent the past few weeks as the team’s local coordinator--doing everything from players’ laundry to accompanying members on trips to nearby discount electronics stores.

*

And the $150 per day that El Salvador is paying to use the college’s lush soccer fields comes in handy to support the institution’s sports programs as well, he said.

Some of the college’s student players also benefit, having played an informal game against top-quality opposition and making memories that will last a lifetime.

“I was nervous,” recalled Oxnard College student Clemente Medrano, 21, of a practice game last week against El Salvador that his team lost, 15-0. “Even before I touched the ball, I didn’t know what to do.”

Other local amateur players will have a chance to experience that feeling, too. On Friday, El Salvador plays a 7 p.m. game at Moorpark High School against an all-star team from a Thousand Oaks adult league.

That game will offer an outlet for fanatical spectators like the six Oxnard teenagers who could not afford Wednesday’s $2 admission charge and instead spent 90 minutes craning their necks over a fence for a peek of the players.

“Those are our idols, man,” said 17-year-old Channel Islands High senior George Guizar, by way of explanation.