 In 1988 FIFA World Cup qualification El Salvador received a by to the third round , where they were drawn into a group with Canada , Cuba , and Panama . They finished second behind Canada and advanced to the final round . The final round , commonly referred to as " The Hexagonal " , was a six – team group stage with the top 3 teams advancing to the 1998 FIFA World Cup . El Salvador finished in fifth place with 2 wins , 4 draws , and 4 losses . This was the closest to qualifying for a World Cup the team got since the 1982 FIFA World Cup , which created great excitement among the fans in El Salvador . At the 1999 UNCAF Nations Cup , hosted in Costa Rica with the same format as the previous tournament , El Salvador was drawn into a group with Guatemala and Nicaragua . El Salvador tied Guatemala 1 – 1 and defeated Nicaragua 1 – 0 , with goals from Magdonio Corrales . In the second group stage , they lost to Honduras 1 – 3 , Guatemala 0 – 1 , and Costa Rica 0 – 4 to finish in fourth place with 0 points , and failed to advance to the 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup . They were coached by Mario Peres Ulibarri . Costa Rica won the tournament . 
