Manuel Alejandro Salazar Rivas (born January 23, 1986 in

San Salvador San Salvador (; ) is the capital and the largest city of El Salvador and its eponymous department. It is the country's political, cultural, educational and financial center. The Metropolitan Area of San Salvador, which comprises the capital i ...

) is a retired

Salvadoran Salvadorans (Spanish: ''Salvadoreños''), also known as Salvadorians (alternate spelling: Salvadoreans), are citizens of El Salvador, a country in Central America. Most Salvadorans live in El Salvador, although there is also a significant Salvado ...

professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

. He represented the

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

Club career

Salazar started his career at Salvadoran Second Division side Telecom before joining Luís Ángel Firpo in 2005. In December 2008, Salazar along with his club and national team teammate

Carlos Monteagudo Carlos Romeo Monteagudo Alfaro (born April 29, 1985) is a Salvadoran professional footballer. Club career Independiente Nacional 1906 Monteagudo started his professional career at hometown club Independiente Nacional 1906 in 2004. However, for ...

, both were invited to train with Mexican

Primera División A Primera may refer to * Nissan Primera, a car * Primera Air, a former airline * Primera división (disambiguation), multiple top division football leagues * Primera, Texas, a town in Cameron County, Texas * Alí Primera, Venezuelan musician, compos ...

team Monterrey 1a. A (effectively CF Monterreys reserve team), with the hopes of signing with the club's second division side. After the two-week trial, both players returned to El Salvador, with the promise from head coach Gerardo Jiménez, that he would look to open negotiations to transfer them to the club, whether on a full-time basis, or on loan however neither player was ever signed. On July 1, 2010, Salazar signed a six-month contract with FAS only to rejoin Firpo for the 2011 Clausura claiming FAS owing him three months wages.

International career

Salazar received his first call up to the national team in January 2007 and made his debut for

in a February 2007 UNCAF Nations Cup match against

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the cou ...

. He earned a total of 50 caps, scoring no goals, and has represented his country in 18

FIFA World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are hel ...

matches. He has played at the 2007 UNCAF Nations Cup, as well as at the

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

and

2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the tenth edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup competition, and the twentieth soccer championship of North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF). It was played from July 3 to 26, 2009 in the United States ...

s. His final international game was an October 2010

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

against

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

Retirement from football

On May 18, 2011, Salazar decided to retire from the sport due to long-standing knee problems and to focus on his academic and business ventures (he owns a restaurant).Manuel Salazar se retiró del fútbol
- El Salvador.com

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Salazar, Manuel 1986 births Living people Footballers from San Salvador Men's association football defenders Salvadoran men's footballers El Salvador men's international footballers 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup players C.D. Luis Ángel Firpo footballers C.D. FAS footballers