Plans Changed for Soccer Game Today

Organizers have canceled a game scheduled at Moorpark High School this evening between El Salvador’s national soccer team and an all-star team from a Thousand Oaks league.

League officials apparently had problems raising a team, said Jorge Brescia, the Oxnard College soccer coach who is coordinating the visit of the El Salvadorans.

But a replacement game has been scheduled for 4 p.m. today at Oxnard College against a Santa Barbara team that recently played against Canada’s national team, Brescia said.

El Salvador lost to Canada twice in the first round of World Cup qualifying games last year and must play them twice again this year in the six-team, double round-robin second round. The top three teams from North America, Central America and the Caribbean to emerge from the competition will join 29 other national teams at the 1998 World Cup in France.

The El Salvador players, including Los Angeles Galaxy star Mauricio Cienfuegos, have been training at Oxnard College since Feb. 10 to prepare for the qualifying matches.

Admission to today’s game is $2.