Honduras started off with a positive result for their journey to the 2010 World Cup.

On Saturday night they had an International friendly match against Lithuania. Although they are not considered to be one of the greatest European soccer nations, it would be an interesting match with a team with different playing skills, not what Honduras is used to face.

It would also benefit Honduras by giving professor Rueda a way to test some new players as well as to try and find the perfect eleven for South Africa.

The whole country was excited about our first match, which meant the beginning of our quest for the World Cup.

Honduras took this match seriously and that is always positive. All players were playing at 100%, forgetting it was only a friendly match. Lithuania was considered to be a weak team but they had a definite structure and exceptional discipline. It was sure going to be hard for the Honduran offense to break through the Lithuanian defense.

Close to the end of the first half, Ramon Nunez served a great ball to Carlo Costly making him stretch to give Honduras their first goal. It may have been a doubtful offside from Costly. 2 minutes later, David Suazo would give Lithuania a doubtful penalty. Kolesnicenko was the one that tied the game.

At the second half, everything was the same as the first half with the exception that Rueda would give other players some minutes. One of them was Georgie Welcome. He was the top goal scorer for Motagua FC (one of the four prestigious clubs in Honduras.) He deserves a couple of minutes in the senior squad, he is still young and if we give him some minutes he will definitely be a great contribution for the team in future years.

Just 4 minutes for the end of the game, Mauricio Sabillon centered a ball, making the Lithuanian goal keeper leave his spot but was unable to keep the ball. Georgie Welcome was fortunate of being at the right moment at the right time and just had to push the ball. Honduras 2, Lithuania 1.

A couple of minutes later, the ref blew his whistle. Everyone was satisfied of the result our players obtained.

Now, on Wednesday, we will be facing another “weak” opponent, Peru, at Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Hopefully we will come victorious against a Peru that finished at the bottom of the table on the CONMEBOL qualification.

Here are the highlights and goals of the game against Lithuania.

Argentina was only able to scratch out one goal against our team. Honduras even had more goal scoring opportunities than Argentina.

Our next match is against Nigeria (another powerful team) on Tuesday. Manager Umanzor states that things will be different this time and that they will seek for a victory.

Squad List
1 Allan ANGELINO
2 Franklyn AMAYA
3 Jhony RIVERA
4 Ever ALVARADO
5 Sammyr MARTINEZ
6 Ray SALGADO
7 Wilmer FUENTES
8 Roberto LOPEZ
9 Hector MATUTE
10 Luis BERRIOS
11 Antony LOZANO
12 Harold FONSECA
13 Jose TOBIAS
14 Oscar PADILLA
15 David CARRANZA
16 Jair ARAGON
17 Alexander LOPEZ
18 Nestor MARTINEZ
19 Carlos BAIRES
20 Allan RIVAS
21 Alejandro RIVERA

Here are the highlights and goal from the game against Argentina.

It was the last game of the long and tedious qualification. All Honduras was paralyzed the day of the game. Nerves were found in every corner. Nobody was going to miss our last game against El Salvador. This time, we weren’t only depending on our own results, but now depended on what happened on the U.S. and Costa Rica game.

The last match day couldn’t have been any more shocking. Honduras needed to add 3 points while on the other hand we needed U.S.A. to at least draw. At the half-time, the U.S. was trailing 0-2. I thought this was going to be a depressing night but still had small hope for the Americans. Around the 65th minute, Carlos Pavon, the villain against Uncle Sam’s Team last Saturday rose up to a ball sent by David Suazo and with a powerful header he hammered it into the corner of the goal, just like he is used to, impossible for the goalkeeper. Honduras celebrated the goal, but our eyes were still focused on the USMNT vs. Costa Rica. Around the 70th minute, Bradley scored. 1-2, U.S.A. was still trailing.

The minutes went flying by, the Honduran dream faded as we watched Costa Rica snatch our World Cup ticket right in our face.

The El Salvador-Honduras game ended, Honduras had won 1-0. Just when the players were heading back to the dressing rooms a deafening roar erupted from the 3,000 Honduras at El Estadio Cuscatlan. All players instinctively knew what had happened. Most players simply dropped to the turf and let the emotion of the moment wash over them.

The U.S. had done what no Honduran could imagine. They tied at the 49th minute 50 seconds of the aggregate time of the second half. Unimaginable? The Soccer Gods wanted us to be at the World Cup. Justice had been served. This is the stuff Hollywood movies are based on. Honduras deserved to be in the greatest competition of all. They’ve demonstrated their passion and hunger for football ever since Rueda took over.

Down on the pitch, know one could believe it. Words can’t describe what happened after knowing the U.S. scored at the last stretch. Players jumped in joy, they cried, laughed, crawled. Most of them couldn’t even speak. It was something incredible to watch. Watching as how the players hugged, cried and prayed was something that would move anyone.

Just like the players were celebrating, so were the whole 8 million Honduran citizens. Everyone was out in the streets. No one wanted to miss this celebration, the day every Honduran will remember for the rest of their lives. Honduras was a nationwide party last Wednesday. Even our PRESIDENT, ROBERTO MICHELETTI, declared a national holiday for returning to world football’s elite table!

Carlos Pavon ended as the top goal scorer (with 7 goals) in the whole CONCACAF Qualification.

On the last FIFA Wolrd Ranking, Honduras climbed 7 positions to end up at the 35th position. Better ranked than Romania, Ghana, Turkey and neighbors Costa Rica.

As the title states, Honduras had to wait 28 years to finally see their team back on the worlds greatest soccer competition. Our last World Cup was Spain ‘82.

“At Spain 1982, Honduras surprised the football world (by tying against the hosting nation) with their well-organised and skillful brand of football. However, although great things were predicted for the Catrachos, they have failed to grace the final stages of the tournament since.”

Now some warm words for our manager, Reinaldo Rueda “a great student of the game, has assembled a blend of youth and experience as he strives to recreate the glory days. Adapting a very professional approach to the task at hand, he quickly won over the players who recognize in his firm, yet likable, manner a person who can lead them to bigger and better things.”

Rueda has made and excellent job with our Honduran team. The most efficient thing he has changed was the mentality of our team. We’ve seen it changed, we’ve seen a more mature and organized team. Rueda and company have worked on the psychological aspect and have done an extremely well job. This is your price professor. You, sir, is as Honduran as you can be. You deserve it! Honduras loves you!

Now Honduras, what is left is to give it all with your clubs as of now. Later on we’ll have to focus on friendly but competitive matches against big teams. Lets not make ourselves set with just being at the World Cup, let’s not be like Costa Rica on the last World Cup ending with 0 points.

On December the 4th, Honduras will know whoare going to be their rivals in the group stages. Can’t wait.

For now, I can finally say we are going to South Africa. We did it Honduras, We deserved it!!

The following are some moving pictures:

These 2 videos demonstrate the joy of the Honduran players. Only images and/or videos can explain this emotion. Enjoy

In spite of trailing 3-1 when the game was already 30 min into the second half, fans were still cheering for our team. When Julio Cesar “Rambo” de Leon scored the second goal, the whole stadium erupted in a roar of happiness. It was after Pavon missing the penalty that silence fell upon the “Estadio Olimpico”.

Some people left before the game ended and others yelled angry incoherencies against their players and coach but most sat silent after watching their dream being broken at home.

Wednesday will be the last chance we have of obtaining a direct ticket for the World Cup. The game will be played at el Estadio Cuscatlán in San Salvador, El Salvador; were luckily 10,000 Salvadorans will show up knowing that their national team is already disqualified from the round.

For people who’ve got no faith, base your hope on statistics. Costa Rica has little or no chance of beating USA playing as the home team. They haven’t won a game against them in the qualifying round in nearly 20 years. USA easily beated Spain this year on the Confederations Cup and lost only to one goal against Brazil on the finals, so there we see the level of the games they’ve had this year.

We’ve rooted for our team this entire qualifying round against harsh opponents. We’ve celebrated and screamed all of their goals. What difference does one more game make? Let’s give it all one last time and send our best wishes to our national team.

Tomorrow may be our last opportunity of classifying after 27 years. Tomorrow will be crucial in knowing if we obtain a place in S.A. or if we’ll have to battle a ticket against a South American nation.

*Post written by Juan H. Tejeda.

Tonight is the night, our most important game we’ve ever had in this qualification. One win means three points which gives us a direct ticket to our main objective, South Africa.

Tonight, F*** the ´coup´, the wife, girlfriend, kid, work, problems, issues, everything. Tonight almost 8 million Hondurans will be cheering, suffering and hoping of a positive result. It is now or never, we must win this game or else we´ll have to go to El Salvador, win AND expect Costa Rica not to sum all 6 points.

It is clear that in order to win this match we have to play againts the USMNT toe-to-toe. The key is patience. We know how the Americans play every minute as if it was their last.

We have to take advantage of being at home were we havent lost a single game in the whole qualification period. Bob Bradley is aware of that, he knows that El Olimpico will be a hot cauldron. It wont be easy for the American players against all the pressure from the fans.

Both teams at this point are under pressure but probably Honduras is the one with more pressure to handle for being local tonight.

The World Cup is a dream for fans, players, managers, and every Honduran. Honduras needs this victory to heal our political wounds and not only that, all the suffering Honduras citizens undergo.

Honduras needs to seek an early goal just at the beginning. They need to put a lot of pressure upon the Americans from the early start. We must keep those three points!

Honduras, 8 million eyes are set upon you guys. 11 players will be representing our nation.

VAAAMOOOOS HONDUUUURAS!!! HOY VAAAMOOOS AL MUUUNDIALLL!!! COOON TOODO!!

This is the list of the 24 men responsible for taking us to South Africa.

Goalkeepers:
Noel Valladares (Olimpia)
Donis Escober (Olimpia)
Ricardo Canales (Motagua)

Defenders:
Jonny Palacios (Olimpia)*
Osman Chávez (Platense)
Maynor Figueroa (Wigan, England)
Boniek García (Olimpia)
Emilio Izaguirre (Motagua)
Erick Norales (Marathón)
Carlos Palacios (Real España)
Mauricio Sabillón (Marathón)

Midfielders:
Edgard Álvarez (Bari, Italy)
Julio César León (Parma, Italy)
Ramón Núñez (Cruz Azul, Mexico)
Amado Guevara (Toronto FC, USA)**
Wilson Palacios (Tottenham, England)
Hendry Thomas (Wigan, England)
Danilo Turcios (Olimpia)**
Melvin Valladares (Real España)

Forwards:
Carlos Pavón (Real España)
Carlo Costly (Belchatow, Poland)
Walter Martínez (Marathón)
Jerry Palacios (Marathón)
David Suazo (Inter Milan, Italy)

*Jonny Palacios gets his first call-up to the squad after Victor “Muma” Bernardez got injured playing for Anderlecht.

**Dani Turcios and Amado Guevara won’t be able to play against the USA because of yellow card accumulation but they will be available against El Salvador.

The Opponents

USA have called up their usual suspects, but there will be two players missing from the game. Jay DeMerit scratched his eye with a contact lens and the dangerous Clint Dempsey suffered a sprained shoulder this weekend. Dempsey’s absence is especially good.

Adelante Seleccion!

Overall we had two horrible last games and one great debut game. When we all thought we were going to advance to the next round after our great start, it all fell apart so fast.

Here are Eugenio Umanzor’s words after the game, “We were mentally weak today and couldn’t grasp the challenge in front of us. The match had a fair winner because South Africa were better than us. I’m not going to make excuses for what has happened to us because excuses are for those who refuse to face failure. I am the person responsible for what happened and I accept the blame. As for my players, they need to learn how to deal with both the good times and bad, and hopefully we can carry things forward from there.”

That is it for our U-20. Thanks for now.
Our U-17 will be participating in the 2009 Nigerian World Cup on October the 24th. They will be leaving today, October 5th to Alicante, Spain for 15 days of intense training and a couple of friendly matches. On October 20th they will be flying to Nigeria and 4 days later they will have their debut game against none other than Argentina. The other teams on our group are the hosting nation Nigeria and the powerful Germany. Tough rivals, but anything can happen. I’ll keep you posted on our U-17 as the dates keep getting closer.

As for know we must concentrate uniquely on what is most important for us, our senior squad. With almost a foot in South Africa, we will be playing our two last games against the Americans and the El Salvadorians to certify our place in the 2010 Word Cup.

Here are the highlights and goals from our last game against S.A. in the FIFA Egypt U-20 World Cup 2009.

Honduras was unable to come out with the three points against UAE and is now obliged to win against South Africa for their last group match.

The game did not begin as we planned, with UAE having territorial domination and Honduras being attacked from everywhere. Luckily they were unable to score that early. After 30 minutes of play
we had our first goal scoring opportunities but we were unable to go up on the scoreboard. After some exchanging scoring opportunities from both side, it was UAE the ones to go up first.

On the 41st minute of the first half, Ahmed Khalil was the one responsible of converting one of UAE’s free kick. Unluckily Khalil’s well-struck free-kick went over the wall, bounced before the keeper and hit the back of the net. 1-0, UAE was up on the scoreboard. The first half ended with UAE territorially dominating and Honduras looking worried on their game play.

On the second half, Honduras advanced their attacking lines and created a couple more goal-scoring opportunities but they were neutralized by UAE’s defense. Both teams were reduced to ten men in the last stretch of the game when Mayorquin and Ali confronted themselves. After that, we were unable to make a change in the scoreboard.

Honduras must now pick up a point in our final match against South Africa on Saturday to make sure we get a hold of a spot in the last 16.

Here are Emilio Umanzor’s comments after the game, “Our first half performance was what lost us the match. We were more interested in the referee than in our own game, and by losing our concentration we got into trouble and went in a goal down at half time. I think we improved in the second half, but by then it was too late.”

Thinking about our next match, here is what Professor Umanzor had to say, “We need to get back to basics… As I said before our opening match, there’s everything to play for. We’ve got our backs to the wall and the winner of the match will go through to the last 16. I’m counting on my players to realise what is at stake.”

Here is a clip of UAE’s great goal scored against us.

While our senior squad is still on the road for South Africa World Cup 2010, our U-20 is already in Egypt battling for a place in the next round and will try to prove to the world that although we may be a small country, we still got talented players.

Our players have demonstrated maturity of putting aside all of the political turmoil happening back in Honduras and giving in at the U-20 WC.

On Sunday our squad began their journey on the WC debuting against Hungary. As usual, we were the underdogs and Hungary, well it’s a European country.

We couldn’t have debuted any better on Alexandria, Egypt. 3 world cup class goals, no goals conceded, great match against a descent team, and first on the group table. Something not even I was expecting. Brings happiness, faith and hope to all of our suffering citizens back home.

On Wednesday our team will be facing United Arab Emirates who come from tying against South Africa 2-2. Hopefully we can win this match and guarantee a ticket for next round. The difference this time is that United Arab Emirates is now aware about our potential and wont see us as a weak team which was what probably happened with Hungary. Every team will learn not to underestimate a team like Honduras.

Hungary struggled to create goalscoring opportunities during the game due to our great defensive line and goalkeeper. I hope they keep their lines strong and organized.

Mario Martinez scored on the 35′ with a ferocious left-footed strike from outside the box and on the 70′ minute he swept the goalkeeper with a curling shot. Arnold Peralta added the third goal on the 84′ minute with a lovely right-footed shot from way out of the box. All goals were a proof of confidence, maturity, strength and their thirst for victory.

This is just a small step taken by our U-20. We need to advance to next round in order to gain confidence and respect around the globe.

Here is what manager Emilio Umanzor had to say after the victory, “I’m delighted with my players and happy to have confounded everyone who saw us as the weakest team in the group. We’re here to make history for Honduran football.” Very profound and strong words of professor Umanzor.

Below is the table of standings as of Sunday on Group F and also the next upcoming matches.

Below I provided a video for you guys of the highlights and goals of the match.