World cup 2010 news

The political situation in Honduras right now is, shall we say, messy. But the football team has probably never been better. Honduran players are gaining respect in leagues like Serie A and the English Premier League, and in they have a Colombian coach who seems to know his business.

Yet probably because Honduras hasn’t qualified for a World Cup since 1982, they seem to be the underdogs in World Cup 2010 Group H, where they’ll face Spain, Switzerland and Chile. Read on, get a reminder of which players are Honduran, and you might start thinking about Honduras as contenders for a spot in the Second Round.

Also, for some reason, Honduran players have easily the best names in the tournament.

Nickname: Los Catrachos (which sort of means “The Hondurans”, I think) and also “La H”.

FIFA World Ranking as of April 28th 2010: #40

Group H Matches:
Honduras vs Chile – June 16th, Nelspruit, 1:30pm
Honduras vs Spain – June 21st, Johannesburg (Ellis Park), 8:30pm
Honduras vs Switzerland – June 25th, Bloemfontein, 8:30pm
Buy Honduras World Cup tickets

Kit: White with blue trim.


Read our Honduras jersey review, or find Honduras jerseys in our store.

Coach: The alliteratively named Reinaldo Rueda Rivera. Though he goes by just Reinaldo Rueda. He’s Colombian and a former university professor.

After working his way up through Colombia’s U-17, U-20, U-21, U-23, and senior (read: proper) teams, Rueda took the Honduras job in 2006 and led them through World Cup 2010 qualification. So no club management experience. Which I find fascinating. Honduran fans definitely don’t mind though, as Rueda has taken Honduras to the World Cup for the first time since 1982.

Key Players: You know more Honduran players than you think you do. If you’re an MLS fan, then you’ll be very familiar with captain and attacking midfielder Amado Guevara, who has played for New York, Chivas and Toronto, but is now back in Honduras for his fifth spell with C.D. Motagua. Yep. Fifth. If Guevera doesn’t provide enough creativity, then there’s always Julio César de León who spent last season at Torino (on loan from Parma). The midfield muscle will come from Spurs d-mid Wilson Palacios. Basically, you don’t want to get in this man’s way. You especially don’t want to come between Wilson and a football.

Left back Maynor Figueroa became internet famous for his long range free kick for Wigan this season (see vid below, if you haven’t already) but is also a pretty impressive left back even when he’s not scoring from distance. The only other defender playing in Europe is Víctor Bernárdez, who’s on loan at Anderlecht. (Can anyone explain why so many Hondurans are on loan?)

Striker Carlos Pavon is 36 years old and Honduras’ all time top scorer. He’s good in the air, has played for seemingly every football team in the world and was apparently voted the most popular footballer in the world earlier this year. Which doesn’t sound quite right to me. Pavon will likely be joined in attack by Inter (but on loan at Genoa) striker David Suazo, which makes a pretty dangerous strikeforce for a team that won’t be fancied.

Player with best YouTube video: A compilation of Amado Guevera’s MLS glory days (put together by the excellent Climbing the Ladder.

But this free kick from Maynor Figueroa free kick is a bit good too:

Player with best name: Sadly, Carlos Costly is injured. So the runaway winner is Motagua striker Georgie Welcome. Never heard of him until today, and not sure if he’ll even make the final squad. But you can’t beat that name. Because any time he says thank you, you have to respond “You’re Welcome”.

Player with best nickname: Julio César de León is sometimes known as “Rambo”.

Qualification: Took the third and final automatic CONCACAF qualifying spot with some impressive results, like a 3-1 win over Mexico in April 2009 and a 4-0 win over Trinidad & Tobago in August 2009. However, qualification was ultimately possible thanks to Jonathan Bornstein’s 94th minute equalizer for USA vs Costa Rica’s in the final round of games, a goal which secured third place for Honduras and also made Bornstein a hero in Honduras.

Interesting: Maynor Figueroa is married to Sandra Norales, who plays handball for both the Honduras national team and English team Sheffield.

National Anthem: Himno Nacional de Honduras (The National Anthem of Honduras)

World Cup History:
1982 – First Round

Expectations: Honestly, I don’t know. Honduras won’t expect to beat Spain, but then, who does? Honduras might they might fancy their chances against both Chile and Switzerland though. Coach Rueda is not so quietly confident: “We can take advantage of being tournament unknowns,” he says in this World Soccer Unofficial Guide to World Cup 2010 that I just found under some bills on my desk. “It will not be the case come July.”

Squad: Honduras World Cup squad.

Blog: Join X-ino and SpartaX on Honduras World Cup Blog.

- More World Cup 2010 Team Profiles.

Perth Glory are set to unveil former England striker Robbie Fowler, who was recently released by North Queensland Fury, as their latest signing.