July 18, 2019

9 minutes

Available for over a year

The World Cup qualifiers that preceded a brief but bloody conflict between El Salvador and Honduras in the summer of 1969. The war between the Central American neighbours was over land rights and a long-running border dispute. Mike Lanchin has been hearing from the former captain of the Salvadorean football team, Salvador Mariona.

Photo: Salvador Mariona shows a picture of the El Salvador national team during the World Cup Mexico 1970 (MARVIN RECINOS/AFP/Getty Images)