Philadelphia Union Academy goalkeeper Tomas Romero and the El Salvador U17 team booked a spot in the CONCACAF U17 Championship next spring with a third place finish in the Central American qualifying tournament in Costa Rica.
Romero, 15, of Cherry Hill, N.J. started one of the four matches, a 2-1 win over Belize on November 21. Jairo Guadardo started the other three matches, a 2-0 loss to Honduras on November 18, a 3-0 loss to host Costa Rica last Thursday and a 2-0 win over Nicaragua on Saturday that wrapped up the third place finish.
Costa Rica finished first with four wins out of four and Honduras was second in the six-team tournament.