Club Deportivo Águila of El Salvador joined an elite group of CONCACAF club champions by outlasting Suriname's SV Robinhood in the two-legged 1976 Champions' Cup finals at the Estadio Cuscatlan in San Salvador.

In a 5-1 first-leg victory on February 13, 1977, the host got goals from Moises Zepeda Gonzalez (20'), Carlos Vargas (26', 89') and Felix Pineda (40', 79' pk).

Two days later, SV Robinhood triumphed after 90 minutes in the second match, 1-0, on the strength of a Nissar Nathoe's 56th minute goal, which sent the final series to extra time (aggregate score was not used at the time).

Strikes from Zepeda Gonzalez (93'), Ismael Diaz (112') and Luis Baltazar Ramirez Zapata (117') in extra time gave the Salvadoran side a 3-2 victory on the day and its first international title.Remie Olmberg (95') netted the other Robinhood goal.

"Robinhood was a very physical strong team," said Ramirez Zapata."That team (Robinhood) had four or five players in the second division clubs of Europe, so the two games weren't easy for us."

SV Robinhood, which was competing in its first Champions' Cup final since 1972, qualified for the tournament after winning its ninth Surinamese league title in 1976.

"We paid the price for not adapting (to CD Águila's style of play)," Ronald Kolf, the Robinhood head coach, told El Salvador's El Gráfico Newspaper in an interview last year."Águila had a great team and they beat us.

"Their style of play left us without any counter actions or responses."

Founded in 1926, Águila captured its ninth Salvadoran league championship to book a place in the 1976 Champions' Cup.Located in the city of San Miguel (138 km east of the country's capital), Águila became only the second club from El Salvador to win the Champions' Cup (Alianza FC won the title in 1967).

"I was the playmaker, but I was scoring the majority of the goals because I entered from behind the penalty area," remembers Ramirez Zapata, who was known as "El Pele" Zapata."Ismael Diaz (nicknamed 'El Cisco') kept luring the defenders away and that allowed me to get the loose balls in the box.Myself, Moises (Zepeda Gonzalez) or Felix (Pineda), we always took the shots on goal and hardly ever missed.

"The team (Águila) had a foundation base since 1971 and the motivation was that we had never won a CONCACAF title."

Under the direction of head coach Conrado Miranda, who captained El Salvador to the gold medal at the 1954 Central American & Caribbean Games, CD Águila reached the 1976 CONCACAF finals after winning a Central American Triangular First Round Group over Aurora FC of Guatemala and El Salvador's Alianza FC before eliminating Nicaragua's Diriangen FC in the next round.

Then, in the semifinals, Águila was the recipient of a 2-0 forfeit victory in the second-leg against Leon of Mexico in San Salvador.The teams had played to a 1-1 draw in the opener on January 23, 1977.Three days later, however, Leon abandoned the second match while leading 2-1.An on-the-field fight in the 32^nd minute resulted in CONCACAF later awarding the victory to Águila.

Five years later, "El Pele" Zapata was joined by two former Águila teammates -- defender Mario Castillo and midfielder Joaquín Ventura -- on El Salvador's roster at the 1982 FIFA World Cup finals in Spain.Against Hungary, he scored the first and only Cuscatleco goal in the tournament's history.

CD Águila Roster - 1976 CONCACAF Champions' Cup

GOALKEEPERS: Ademir Barbosa, Nelson Meza, Julio Urrutia

DEFENDERS: Mario Castillo, Horacio Diaz Luco, Julio Oliva, Antonio Regalado, Luis Rivas, Gregorio Silva

MIDFIELDERS: Alberto Oliva, David Pinho, Juan Jose Polio, Luis Baltazar Ramirez Zapata, Joaquin Ventura

FORWARDS: Ismael Diaz, Félix Pineda, Abel Quintanilla, Carlos Vargas, Moises Zepeda Gonzalez

TD: Conrado MIRANDA

Final - San Salvador, EL SALVADOR; Estadio Cuscatlan

13.02.1977: CD AGUILA (SLV) - SV ROBINHOOD (SUR) 5:1 (3:0)

Moises Zepeda GONZALEZ 20'; Carlos VARGAS 26', 89'; Felix PINEDA 40', 79' pen - Errol EMANUELSON 68'

15.02.1977: SV ROBINHOOD (SUR) - CD AGUILA (SLV) 2:3 (0:0) (1:0) aet

Nissar NATHOE 56'; Remie OLMBERG 95' - Moises Zepeda GONZALEZ 93'; Ismael DIAZ 112';

Luis Baltazar RAMIREZ ZAPATA 117'

Rodrigo Arias, Co-Editor in Chief of El Grafico Sportsnewspaper (El Salvador) contributed to the content of this story.

For more information or general inquiries concerning historical content, please contact Steven Torres, CONCACAF Director of Information Services at steve.torres@concacaf.org.