Álex Erazo

Alexander Amílcar Erazo Meléndez (born July 28, 1980 in El Salvador) is a former Salvadoran football player who last played for Juventud Independiente in the Primera División de Fútbol de El Salvador.

Álex Erazo
Personal information
Full name Álexander Amílcar Erazo Meléndez
Date of birth (1980-07-28) July 28, 1980
Place of birth San Salvador, El Salvador
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Playing position(s) Forward
Youth career
2000–2003 Los Angeles
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2003–2005 Alianza
2005–2009 Águila
2009–2010 Alianza 29 (7)
2010–2011 Luis Ángel Firpo 18 (4)
2012 Juventud Independiente
National team‡
2004–2007 El Salvador 12 (1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of December 12, 2010
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of November 30, 2009
This article uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is Erazo and the second or maternal family name is Meléndez.

Club career

Nicknamed el Paleta, Erazo started his career at third division side Los Angeles from San Luis Talpa and joined premier division side Alianza three years later. In 2005, he moved to rivals Águila where he became joined top goalscorer [1] and won a championship medal when he scored twice in the final of the 2006 Clausura. He returned to Alianza in 2009 only to leave them for Luis Ángel Firpo a year later.[2]

International career

Erazo made his debut with El Salvador national team on August 30, 2003 in a friendly against MLS side D.C. United. At the time, El Salvador was coached by Juan Ramón Paredes, and this game was used as a way to test players that had previously not played for the national team. It was not registered by FIFA as a full international friendly. Erazo 46 minutes before being substituted for Ludwig Meraz. His official debut came on April 28 the following year, when he was part of a friendly match against Colombia that was played at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in Washington.

After a couple of years of being overlooked by national team management, Erazo was finally once again given a chance to prove himself under new head coach Carlos de los Cobos on November 15, 2006 in a friendly against Bolivia. In this game Erazo scored a brilliant goal, and impressed many with his great speed, athleticism and play off the ball. After this game, Erazo became somewhat of a key player for the national team and started every game.

In February 2007, El Salvador hosted the UNCAF Nations Cup, and it was no surprise to anyone to see Erazo was selected in the team.[3] Controversially, before the tournament even started, Erazo stated that he would score a minimum of five goals during the event. This was seen by many as a bad move considering that at the time, the national team had a lot of problems with scoring. But considering that El Salvador had two games against traditionally weaker teams like Nicaragua and Belize, it was not seen as impossible for Erazo to achieve what he intended. As the event began, Erazo was played from the offset in the starting 11, but as the games went on and he did not score, Carlos de los Cobos began to look at other alternatives and Erazo began to get subbed early in the games. When the event ended, Erazo finished with zero goals, and although he showed various glimpses of great play, many fans and officials asked for Carlos de los Cobos to look for other players in his position. As a result, Erazo has not played again with the national team since that last game in the UNCAF Nations Cup against Guatemala on February 18, 2007. Many feel that this is because he failed to live up to the hype that he put on himself, while many other believe that his ego had a negative effect on the team.

International goals
Scores and results list El Salvador's goal tally first.
#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
115 November 2006Estadio Hernando Siles, La Paz, Bolivia Bolivia1-31-5Friendly match
gollark: *several-year wait*
gollark: "Hi TJ09! Here's a suggestion for increasing fairness in handing out a few ultra-rare things!"
gollark: I... why... aarfgggasg....
gollark: (and does not go down if you buy any, just if DR goes down)
gollark: Unless the stock limit is, say, the number of threads in DR.

References
  1. El Salvador 2005/06 - RSSSF
  2. Profile - El Gráfico (in Spanish)
  3. UNCAF (Qualifying Tournament for Gold Cup) 2007 Squad Lists - RSSSF
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