Honduras – World Cup Preview

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Honduras have only ever made the World Cup finals once before, back in 1982. This lack of international experience has led some to question whether they are capable of even escaping Group H. But to be fair, most teams might have a bit of bother tackling Spain, Chile and Switzerland.

To qualify, Honduras finished third in the CONCACAF tournament on that most tense of margins; goal difference. But that’s no impingement on their ability, Honduras is a relatively unknown footballing quality thrown into the world’s largest competition, but to get there they obviously have some talent.

And a good manager too. Reinaldo Ruedo has been in the job since 2007 and looks to be getting things right. The players called up mostly play in the Honduran league but there is a smattering of talent from the English Premier League and Serie A.

Maynor Figueroa, who usually plays as wing back for English club Wigan Athletic may be pushed into central defence while former team mate at Wigan Wilson Palacios will have prior knowledge of playing with his countryman and should link up well. Palacios has made a name for himself recently at Tottenham as a brilliant controller of the ball and expert tackler.

Captaining the squad will be Amado Guevara who’s spent time at clubs across the United States and is now back playing for Club Deportivo Motagua in Honduras. He and Julio Leon, of Torino should provide Honduras’ creative spark.

Front men David Suazo, at Genoa on loan from Inter Milan, and Carlos Pavon are to provide the fire power. Pavon is somewhat of a journeyman having played with a good number of clubs and at 36 he’s one of the older players going to South Africa, but he has an impressive 57 goals in 100 games for Honduras.