After 28 years…WE ARE BACK!

October 22nd, 2009 | By: X-ino | 5 Comments »

I’m sorry for taking so long, I was still hungover celebrating…

As you all may know by now, on Wednesday October 14, 2009, Honduras finally got their ticket to the world greatest soccer competition.

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: