Honduras failed to score a goal at the last World Cup. The less glamorous team from Latin America is yet to record a win at the World Cup despite making its debut in 1982. It wasn’t a bad debut, either. It held host Spain to a 1-1 draw. It also drew 1-1 with Northern Ireland, but lost 0-1 to Yugoslavia in its last game.
Honduras had to wait for 28 years though to make another World Cup appearance, in South Africa. Four years later, it has made the cut again, clinching the last confirmed berth from CONCACAF (Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football). Booking the ticket for Brazil was cause enough for celebration for Honduras. It is one of those teams that are happy just to be at the biggest stage of world football. Not that it is incapable of surprising any of its rivals in Group ‘E’ — France, Switzerland and Ecuador, which had reached the round of 16 in the 2006 World Cup, under Colombian Luis Fernando Saurez, the current coach of Honduras.
The team has a reputation of being difficult to beat and it has some fine players too, such as Celtic’s Emilio Izaguirre, Juan Carlos Garcia of Wigan and Maynor Figueroa (Hull) in the defence, Wilson Palacios (Stoke), Roger Espinoza (Wigan) and the rising young star Andy Najar (Anderlecht) in the midfield and Carlos Costly (Real Espana) and Jerry Bengtson (New England Revolution) upfront. With such men, don’t bet too much against Honduras scoring that elusive win at the World Cup.
Comments
SHARE