 El Salvador played four other teams (Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, and Panama) in 1981 CONCACAF Championship qualification, once again in a home-and-away round-robin group with the top two teams advancing to the final tournament. El Salvador and Honduras finished top of the group with equal point. Honduras was acclaimed group winner by goal difference. Once again the finals would be doubling as World Cup qualification, this time for the 1982 FIFA World Cup. The format was one six – team group stage, with the first place team winning the tournament, and qualifying for the World Cup alongside the runner – up. Going into the final matches, with every team having played 4 matches out of five, El Salvador had 4 points and was in third place by goal difference, with Mexico (second place) and Canada (fourth place) both also having 4 points. Honduras led with 7 points, Cuba was in fifth with 3 points, and Haiti was last with 2 points. On 19 November 1981, in their final match El Salvador beat Haiti 1 – 0, their goal being a penalty kick taken by Norberto Huezo, bringing them to 6 points. On 21 November Canada tied with Cuba 2 – 2, eliminating both teams. In the decisive match on 22 November, Honduras tied with Mexico 0 – 0, meaning Honduras won the tournament and Honduras and El Salvador qualified for the 1982 FIFA World Cup, the second (and last) time El Salvador qualified for the World Cup. The national team was under the direction of Mauricio "Pipo" Rodríguez.
