Honduras reached the Soccer World Cup for only the second time in dramatic fashion: an equaliser in the dying seconds of the USA’s clash with Costa Rica which triggered frantic celebrations.
Yet despite having squeezed into the finals, coach Reinaldo Rueda’s talented team will not be going to South Africa just to make up the numbers.
The road to South Africa
Rueda’s men dug deep from the off to oust Puerto Rico 6-2 on aggregate to progress to the penultimate round of the CONCACAF Zone qualifying (Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football). Once there they successfully negotiated a tricky section to qualifying for the final six-team Hexagonal round ahead of Mexico, Jamaica and Canada.
Star players
Over and above the country’s big-name stars plying their trade in the European game, Los Catrachos’ key man in qualifying was evergreen 36-year-old forward Carlos Pavon. In typically clinical fashion, it was the well-travelled goalgetter who fired his side’s winner in El Salvador to ensure their place at the African showpiece. Aided and abetted by the hugely talented David Suazo, Wilson Palacios, Julio Leon and Amado Guevara, Pavon would love nothing more than to crown his glorious international career with a goal-laden showing on the biggest stage of all.
The coach
After taking the job in 2007 Rueda’s professionalism struck a chord with the powers that be in Honduran football, who gave him the time to work denied many of his predecessors. Rueda repaid that faith by guiding his adopted country to South Africa 2010 on the back of sparkling attacking football and a solid backline.
Facts
- Honduras return to global football’s top table after 28 years away. Their only previous appearance at the finals came at Spain 1982.
- Under the watchful eye of then coach Jose de la Paz, Los Catrachos surprised the world by drawing 1-1 with the hosts and then with Northern Ireland, before exiting the tournament after conceding a late goal in a 1-0 defeat by the former Yugoslavia.
- On the scoresheet for Honduras at that World Cup were Hector Zelaya and Antonio Laing, against Spain and Northern Ireland respectively. — Fifa