 In 1982 El Salvador took a 20 – man squad ( two players short of the normal 22 , as a controversial cost – saving measure ) , coached by the aforementioned Mauricio " Pipo " Rodríguez , to Spain . The team 's experience was an unhappy one . In their first match on June 15 in Elche , they were defeated 10 – 1 by Hungary , a scoreline that stands as a World Cup record to this day . A silver lining was that Luis Baltazar Ramírez Zapata scored the country 's first World Cup goal during the game , albeit at a point when the Salvadorans were already down 5 – 0 . It was cold comfort however . When Zapata scored against Hungary , some Salvadorans cried out to Zapata not to celebrate the goal effusively because it might make the Hungarians mad and encourage them to score more . El Salvador managed to regain some pride in their subsequent games . Displaying much @-@ improved levels of organisation and commitment , they lost 1 – 0 to Belgium on June 19 in Elche and 2 – 0 to the then @-@ reigning world champions , Argentina , in Alicante on June 23 . 
