For both boys, the odds are stacked against them in a region where football is struggling to escape the past, starved of investment and increasingly left behind by its rivals.
On a patch of overgrown, yellowing grass in a crowded San Salvador neighborhood, 12-year-old Bryan Oliva dreams of becoming a professional footballer.
Hundreds of kilometers away, in a remote Honduran village, 11-year-old Darixon Rivas harbors the same ambition, training on a muddy pitch after finishing his chores on the family farm.
For both boys, the odds are stacked against them in a region where football is struggling to escape the past, starved of investment and increasingly left behind by its rivals.
"You can earn a lot of money (as a soccer player), but I don't feel like it's possible for me," Oliva told AFP in Zacamil, a densely populated neighborhood of apartment blocks in the Salvadoran capital.
He dreams of using football to provide for his family, but fears youngsters from humble backgrounds like his have little chance of being spotted by scouts, with the few opportunities available concentrated in wealthier areas.
Poverty affects roughly half of Central America's population, but the malaise gripping its football runs deeper.
With few exceptions, investment in infrastructure and youth development is woefully inadequate, leaving a once-competitive footballing region struggling to produce new generations…
