Cienfuegos Is Expected to Play for El Salvador

Galaxy midfielder Mauricio Cienfuegos, who walked out of practice Wednesday and failed to show for El Salvador’s Gold Cup qualifying game against Haiti, is expected to be in uniform tonight when El Salvador faces Canada at the Coliseum at 8 p.m.

In a Thursday afternoon meeting brokered by Galaxy officials, Cienfuegos met with El Salvador soccer federation officials and reached at least a temporary truce in their long-standing dispute over compensation and the treatment of players on the national team.

“He’s coming back to the [national] squad,” Galaxy General Manager Sergio Del Prado said of Cienfuegos, who won’t be sanctioned. “He wants to help El Salvador qualify for the Gold Cup. He hasn’t agreed with how certain things have been handled [by the federation], but he feels that trying to qualify for the Gold Cup is more important.”

Without Cienfuegos’ play-making abilities, El Salvador, the tournament favorite, struggled to a 1-1 tie with Haiti in its opener Wednesday. In Wednesday night’s other game, Canada and Cuba played to a 0-0 draw.

Tonight, the teams switch opponents, with Haiti facing Cuba at 6 p.m., followed by El Salvador and Canada. The tournament concludes Sunday with Haiti facing Canada and El Salvador playing Cuba.

The top two finishers qualify for the 12-nation Gold Cup tournament, to be held next February in Los Angeles, San Diego and Miami.