Imposters from El Salvador hold Zimbabwe AFP Date posted:Thu 8-Jan-2004 Date published:Wed 7-Jan-2004
Back to previous page		Fans were made to pay the equivalent of S$155 for the VIP seats to watch a fake team while the Minister of Education, Sports and Culture, Aeneas Chigwedere, was invited as the guest of honour for the occasion San Salvador - It has been called 'one of the great frauds in the history of football' by Zimbabwean newspaper The Herald. A group of imposters pretended to be the national El Salvadorean team in the 0-0 draw with Zimbabwe last Sunday, according to the El Salvador Football Federation. The news was splashed across newspapers in the two countries. Italian sportswear giant EL-Sporto has been linked to the fiasco. The federation's president, Humberto Torres, told a press conference he would be investigating the matter as the fake El Salvador national football team fled the country yesterday, three days before their scheduled departure, after they were sensationally exposed as imposters. 'This is a serious matter,' Torres said. 'That could cause us problems with Fifa as they might believe we had authorised this team to represent us as the national side. These players did not have this authorisation, and we are going to study this matter in fine detail.' He admitted the federation were aware of a match in Zimbabwe concerning a Salvadorean First Division side Isidro Metapan, but in no sense of the word was it the national side. Salvadorean daily Diario de Hoy, citing Zimbabwean press reports, claimed three of the players did not actually have a club and the remainder played for several different teams and were coached by former national coach Ricardo Guardado. The match was the beginning of the hosts' preparations for the African Nations Cup, which runs from Jan 24 to Feb 14 in Tunisia. Zimbabwean football association chief executive Edgar Rogers said a match scheduled for Tuesday was cancelled as the Latin Americans feared for their safety at Harare's Rufaro Stadium. He said: 'The El Salvador team is very temperamental and have said they are unhappy with the media coverage they have been getting. 'They said it was very negative and felt it is not conducive to play another friendly football match during the evening at Rufaro.' El-Sporto officials, who organised the international friendly and misled Zimbabweans that this was the El Salvador national team, have been tightlipped since the scandal broke out. Fans were made to pay the equivalent of S$155 for the VIP seats to watch a fake team while the Minister of Education, Sports and Culture, Aeneas Chigwedere, was invited as the guest of honour for the occasion.