Honduras national football team

Honduras

Association	Federación Nacional Autónoma de Fútbol de Honduras
Confederation	CONCACAF
Head coach	Juan de Dios Castillo
Captain	Amado Guevara
Most caps	Amado Guevara (135)
Top scorer	Carlos Pavón (57)
Home stadium	Estadio Olimpico Metropolitano
FIFA code	HON
FIFA ranking	46
Highest FIFA ranking	20 (September 2002)
Lowest FIFA ranking	95 (November 1998)
Elo ranking	41
Highest Elo ranking	23 (September 2001)
Lowest Elo ranking	104 (November 1971)
Home colours Away colours
First international
Guatemala 10 – 1 Honduras (Guatemala City, Guatemala; 14 Sept, 1921)
Biggest win
Honduras 13 – 0 Nicaragua  (San José, Costa Rica; 13 March 1946)
Biggest defeat
Guatemala 10 – 1 Honduras (Guatemala City, Guatemala; 14 Sept, 1921)
World Cup
Appearances	2 (First in 1982)
Best result	Round 1, 1982 and 2010
CONCACAF Gold Cup
Appearances	15 (First in 1963)
Best result	1st, 1981

The Honduran national football team, nicknamed Los Catrachos, La Bicolor, or La H, is the national team of Honduras and is controlled by the Federación Nacional Autónoma de Fútbol de Honduras, FENAFUTH (founded in 1951). They are a rising team in CONCACAF, an ascent that started with their third place finish in the 2001 Copa América, where they were a late invitee, due to a withdrawal by Argentina one day prior to kickoff. In October 2009, they confirmed qualification to the 2010 FIFA World Cup, which was their first appearance in the competition since 1982.^[1]

History

Honduras played its first game against Guatemala on September 14, 1921, where they lost by a large margin, 1–10.

During their first appearance at the Central American and Caribbean Games in 1930, Honduras posted a record of 2 wins and 3 losses. Their only wins came against Jamaica (5–1) and El Salvador (4–1), while they lost two games to Cuba and Costa Rica.

The Football War started after losing a qualifying game for the 1970 World Cup against El Salvador and being eliminated. After massive rioting between fans, on 14 July 1969, the Salvadoran army launched an attack against Honduras. A cease fire was put in effect six days later.

Honduras won the 1981 CONCACAF Championship. Honduras qualified for the World Cup for the first time in 1982. They finished second in both the 1985 CONCACAF Championship and the 1991 CONCACAF Gold Cup. Honduras won the UNCAF Nations Cup twice in 1993 and 1995. In 2009, the team secured qualification to the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

1981 CONCACAF Championship

In 1981, Honduras hosted the CONCACAF championship. All the games were played at Estadio Tiburcio Carias Andino. With a 4–0 win over Haiti, 2–0 win over Cuba, 2–1 victory over Canada, and 0–0 draws against El Salvador and Mexico, Honduras became CONCACAF champions.

Results

Rank	Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
1	Honduras	8	5	3	2	0	8	1	7
2	El Salvador	6	5	2	2	1	2	1	1
3	Mexico	5	5	1	3	1	6	3	3
4	Canada	5	5	1	3	1	6	6	0
5	Cuba	4	5	1	2	2	4	8	−4
6	Haiti	2	5	0	2	3	2	9	−7

1982 FIFA World Cup

Honduras qualified for the World Cup finals for the first time in 1982. Despite getting draws against host Spain, 1–1, and Northern Ireland, 1–1, they could not come up with a win against Yugoslavia losing 0–1.

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Northern Ireland	3	1	2	0	2	1	+1	4
Spain	3	1	1	1	3	3	0	3
Yugoslavia	3	1	1	1	2	2	0	3
Honduras	3	0	2	1	2	3	−1	2

2001 Copa América

Since 1993, CONMEBOL has invited teams from other confederations to participate in their confederation championship, Copa América. Honduras took part as one of the last minute teams added for Copa América 2001. (Argentina dropped out one day before kickoff.) The team arrived only a few hours before the tournament's first game and with barely enough players. Despite the odds, Honduras progressed onto the quarter-final stage where they faced and defeated Brazil 2–0. In the semi-finals however, it was Colombia that knocked off Honduras, 0–2.

2009 UNCAF Nations Cup

Group Stage

In 2009, Honduras took part in 2009 UNCAF Nations Cup. The group stage draw took place on December 9, 2008 in Guatemala City.^[2] The reigning champions, Costa Rica, and the hosts, Honduras, were automatically drawn as top seed in their respective groups.^[3] Costa Rica was paired with Panama and Guatemala, the first two runners-up from the UNCAF Nations Cup 2007.^[2] The remaining teams – El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Belize – were drawn into the same group as Honduras.^[2]

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Honduras	3	3	0	0	8	2	+6	9	Qualified to the Semifinals
2	El Salvador	3	1	1	1	5	4	+1	4
3	Nicaragua	3	0	2	1	3	6	−3	2	Qualified to the Fifth place playoff
4	Belize	3	0	1	2	3	7	−4	1	Eliminated

Despite going undefeated in the group stage, Honduras lost a heartbreaker on January 30 to Panama during the semi-finals, losing 0–1. In the third place match, they defeated El Salvador 1–0 on a Roger Espinoza goal.

2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup

After finishing third in 2009 UNCAF Nations Cup, Honduras qualified for the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup. It was their ninth ever appearance since its inception in 1991.

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	United States	3	2	1	0	8	2	+6	7	Qualified to Quarterfinals
2	Honduras	3	2	0	1	5	2	+3	6
3	Haiti	3	1	1	1	4	3	+1	4
4	Grenada	3	0	0	3	0	10	−10	0

Knockout stage

	Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Final
	18 July – Philadelphia
	Canada	0
					23 July – Chicago
	Honduras	1
					Honduras	0
	18 July – Philadelphia
					United States	2
	United States (a.e.t.)	2
									26 July – East Rutherford, New Jersey
	Panama	1
									United States	0
	19 July – Arlington
									Mexico	5
	Guadeloupe	1
					23 July – Chicago
	Costa Rica	5
					Costa Rica	1 (3)
	19 July – Arlington
					Mexico (a.e.t. p.s.o.)	1 (5)
	Mexico	4
	Haiti	0

2010 FIFA World Cup qualification

2010 FIFA World Cup qualification – CONCACAF Fourth Round

Standings

Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  United States 10 6 2 2 19 13 +6 20  Mexico 10 6 1 3 18 12 +6 19  Honduras 10 5 1 4 17 11 +6 16  Costa Rica 10 5 1 4 15 15 0 16  El Salvador 10 2 2 6 9 15 −6 8  Trinidad and Tobago 10 1 3 6 10 22 −12 6

Costa Rica  – 1–0 2–0 0–3 4–0 3–1 El Salvador  1–0 – 0–1 2–1 2–2 2–2 Honduras  4–0 1–0 – 3–1 4–1 2–3 Mexico  2 –0 4–1 1–0 – 2–1 2–1 Trinidad and Tobago  2–3 1–0 1–1 2–2 – 0–1 United States  2–2 2–1 2–1 2–0 3–0 –

• The United States, Mexico and Honduras qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
• Costa Rica advanced to the CONMEBOL/CONCACAF play-off.

New kit

Honduras wore new jerseys for the entire hexagonal round.^[4]

2010 FIFA World Cup

On October 14, 2009, Honduras qualified to the 2010 FIFA World Cup, after a 1–0 win against El Salvador gave them the third automatic qualifying spot from the Fourth Round of CONCACAF Qualifying.^[5]

Honduras faced Chile, Spain, and Switzerland, respectively.^[6] In their first match they lost to Chile 0–1 by a goal from Jean Beausejour. They faced Spain in the second match and lost 0–2 by 2 goals from David Villa. In their last match against Switzerland they got a draw and finished the World Cup with 1 point.

Group H

Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Spain 3 2 0 1 4 2 +2 6  Chile 3 2 0 1 3 2 +1 6  Switzerland 3 1 1 1 1 1 0 4  Honduras 3 0 1 2 0 3 −3 1

Stadium

Estadio Olimpico Metropolitano

Honduras plays the majority of its home games at Estadio Olimpico Metropolitano in San Pedro Sula. El Olímpico was built in 1997, and has a capacity of 45,000. Aside from being the home of the national team, it was the home of the 1997 Central American Olympics and is currently the home of C.D. Marathón.

When not playing at the Estadio Olimpico, the national team also plays at Estadio Tiburcio Carías Andino in Tegucigalpa. Tiburcio Carías Andino opened on March 15, 1948, and seats 35,000 people.

Fixtures and results

Upcoming fixtures

Date	Tournament	Location	Home Team	Away Team
September 7, 2010	Friendly	Montreal,  Canada	Canada	Honduras

Results

Date	Tournament	Location	Home Team	Score	Away Team	Honduras scorers
September 4, 2010	Friendly	Los Angeles,  United States	Honduras	2:2, 4:3 (pens.)	El Salvador	Bonieck  58', Roger Rojas  86', Mendoza (pen.) , Juan Carlos Garcia (pen.) , Roger Rojas (pen.), Jorge Claros (pen,)
June 25, 2010	2010 World Cup	Bloemfontein,  South Africa	Honduras	0:0	Switzerland	None
June 21, 2010	2010 World Cup	Johannesburg,  South Africa	Honduras	0:2	Spain	None
June 16, 2010	2010 World Cup	Nelspruit,  South Africa	Honduras	0:1	Chile	None
June 5, 2010	Friendly	Sankt Veit an der Glan,  Austria	Honduras	0:3	Romania	None
June 2, 2010	Friendly	Zell Am See,  Austria	Honduras	0:0	Azerbaijan	None
May 27, 2010	Friendly	Villach,  Austria	Honduras	2:2	Belarus	J. Leon  25', G. Welcome  71'
April 21, 2010	Friendly	San Pedro Sula,  Honduras	Honduras	0:1	Venezuela	None
March 3, 2010	Friendly	Istanbul,  Turkey	Turkey	2:0	Honduras	None
January 23, 2010	Friendly	Carson,  United States	United States	1:3	Honduras	C. Pavón  19', J. Palacios  37' R. Espinoza  51'
November 18, 2009	Friendly	Miami Gardens,  United States	Honduras	1:2	Peru	D. Suazo  46'
November 14, 2009	Friendly	Tegucigalpa,  Honduras	Honduras	2:1	Latvia	C. Costly  42', G. Welcome  87'
October 14, 2009	2010 World Cup Qualifier	San Salvador,  El Salvador	El Salvador	0:1	Honduras	C. Pavón  64'
October 10, 2009	2010 World Cup Qualifier	San Pedro Sula,  Honduras	Honduras	2:3	United States	de León  46', 77'
September 9, 2009	2010 World Cup Qualifier	Mexico City,  Mexico	Mexico	1:0	Honduras	None
September 5, 2009	2010 World Cup Qualifier	San Pedro Sula,  Honduras	Honduras	4:1	Trinidad and Tobago	C. Pavón  20', 29', A. Guevara  61', D. Suazo  83'
August 12, 2009	2010 World Cup Qualifier	San Pedro Sula,  Honduras	Honduras	4:0	Costa Rica	C. Costly  30', 90+2', C. Pavón  50', M. Valladares  90'

• Results within the last 12 months.

Players

Current squad

The following players were called in 26 August 2010.^[7] Caps and goals current as of September 6, 2010

0#0 Pos. Player Date of Birth (Age) Caps Goals Club 18 GK Noel Valladares (captain) 3 May 1977 (1977-05-03) (age 33) 76 0 Olimpia – GK Ricardo Canales 30 May 1982 (1982-05-30) (age 28) 3 0 Victoria 3 DF Maynor Figueroa 2 May 1983 (1983-05-02) (age 27) 73 2 Wigan Athletic 6 DF Sergio Mendoza 23 May 1981 (1981-05-23) (age 29) 52 2 Motagua 4 DF Johnny Palacios 20 December 1986 (1986-12-20) (age 24) 7 0 Olimpia – DF Quiarol Arzú 3 March 1985 (1985-03-03) (age 25) 0 0 Platense – DF Juan García 8 March 1988 (1988-03-08) (age 22) 1 1 Olimpia – DF Wilmer Crisanto 19 September 1989 (1989-09-19) (age 21) 0 0 Victoria – DF Brayan Beckeles 28 November 1985 (1985-11-28) (age 25) 0 0 Vida – DF Erick Norales 11 February 1985 (1985-02-11) (age 26) 17 2 Marathón – DF Oscar García 4 September 1984 (1984-09-04) (age 26) 43 3 Olimpia – MF Roger Espinoza 25 October 1986 (1986-10-25) (age 24) 14 3 Kansas City Wizards – MF Edder Delgado 20 November 1986 (1986-11-20) (age 24) 1 0 Real España 8 MF Jorge Claros 8 January 1986 (1986-01-08) (age 25) 16 2 Motagua 7 MF Mario Martínez 30 July 1989 (1989-07-30) (age 21) 1 0 Real España – MF Irvin Reyna 7 June 1987 (1987-06-07) (age 23) 1 0 Necaxa 9 FW Jerry Bengtson 8 April 1987 (1987-04-08) (age 23) 2 0 Vida 11 FW Roger Rojas 9 September 1990 (1990-09-09) (age 20) 1 2 Olimpia 10 FW Christian Martínez 8 September 1990 (1990-09-08) (age 20) 1 0 Real España 21 FW Rubén Licona 1 0 Necaxa

Recent call-ups

The following players have been called up to the Honduran squad in the last 12 months.

0#0 Pos. Player Date of Birth (Age) Caps Goals Club GK Donis Escober February 3, 1980 (1980-02-03) (age 31) 11 0 Olimpia GK Kevin Hernández December 21, 1985 (1985-12-21) (age 25) 2 0 Real España GK Marlon Licona February 9, 1991 (1991-02-09) (age 20) 0 0 Motagua DF Emilio Izaguirre May 10, 1986 (1986-05-10) (age 24) 44 1 Celtic DF Víctor Bernárdez May 24, 1982 (1982-05-24) (age 28) 44 2 Anderlecht DF Osman Chávez July 29, 1984 (1984-07-29) (age 26) 31 0 Wisła Kraków DF Mauricio Sabillón November 11, 1978 (1978-11-11) (age 32) 25 0 Hangzhou Nabel Greentown DF Samuel Caballero December 24, 1974 (1974-12-24) (age 36) 71 11 Changchun Yatai DF Johnny Leverón February 7, 1990 (1990-02-07) (age 21) 0 0 Motagua DF Mario Beata October 17, 1974 (1974-10-17) (age 36) 17 0 Marathón DF Crisanto Norales 0 0 Victoria DF Nery Medina August 5, 1981 (1981-08-05) (age 29) 9 0 Real España DF Carlos Palacios January 30, 1982 (1982-01-30) (age 29) 4 0 Real España MF Wilson Palacios July 29, 1984 (1984-07-29) (age 26) 71 5 Tottenham Hotspur MF Hendry Thomas February 23, 1985 (1985-02-23) (age 25) 39 2 Wigan Athletic MF Ramón Núñez November 14, 1984 (1984-11-14) (age 26) 21 3 Leeds United MF Edgar Álvarez January 9, 1980 (1980-01-09) (age 31) 49 3 Bari MF Luis Arcángel Ramos November 4, 1985 (1985-11-04) (age 25) 0 0 Debrecen MF Allan Lalín January 5, 1981 (1981-01-05) (age 30) 9 1 Khazar Lankaran MF Marvin Chávez November 3, 1983 (1983-11-03) (age 27) 18 1 FC Dallas MF Mauricio Castro August 11, 1981 (1981-08-11) (age 29) 4 0 New England Revolution MF Melvin Valladares July 14, 1984 (1984-07-14) (age 26) 14 2 Guerreros MF Julio César de León September 13, 1979 (1979-09-13) (age 31) 76 15 Shandong Luneng MF Emil Martínez September 10, 1982 (1982-09-10) (age 28) 49 2 Hangzhou Nabel Greentown MF Mariano Acevedo January 9, 1983 (1983-01-09) (age 28) 10 1 Marathón MF Luis López August 29, 1986 (1986-08-29) (age 24) 1 0 Marathón MF Carlos Will Mejía September 29, 1983 (1983-09-29) (age 27) 12 1 Marathón MF Danilo Turcios May 8, 1978 (1978-05-08) (age 32) 85 7 Olimpia MF Rigoberto Padilla December 1, 1985 (1985-12-01) (age 25) 3 0 Olimpia MF Walter Hernández December 28, 1978 (1978-12-28) (age 32) 12 1 Olimpia MF Amado Guevara May 2, 1976 (1976-05-02) (age 34) 137 29 Motagua MF Miguel Castillo December 1, 1986 (1986-12-01) (age 24) 6 0 Motagua MF Mario Roberto Martínez July 30, 1989 (1989-07-30) (age 21) 0 0 Real España FW David Suazo November 19, 1979 (1979-11-19) (age 31) 52 16 Internazionale FW Carlo Costly July 18, 1982 (1982-07-18) (age 28) 39 14 Vaslui FW Jerry Palacios November 1, 1981 (1981-11-01) (age 29) 11 4 Hangzhou Nabel Greentown FW Walter Martínez March 28, 1982 (1982-03-28) (age 28) 39 11 Beijing Guoan FW Carlos Pavón October 19, 1973 (1973-10-19) (age 37) 101 57 Real España FW Luis Lobo December 26, 1987 (1987-12-26) (age 23) 0 0 Real España FW Georgie Welcome March 9, 1985 (1985-03-09) (age 25) 17 4 Motagua FW Rubén Rivera May 18, 1987 (1987-05-18) (age 23) 0 0 Motagua FW Alexander López May 6, 1992 (1992-05-06) (age 18) 0 0 Olimpia FW Rony Flores September 28, 1984 (1984-09-28) (age 26) 0 0 Marathón

Most capped

As of June 26, 2010, the players with the most caps for Honduras are:

Top goalscorers

Previous Squads

• 1982 FIFA World Cup squad
• Copa América 2001 squad

Coaches

Manager	Years
Flavio Ortega	1991–1992, 2006
Estanislao Malinowski	1993–1994
Carlos Carranza	1995–1996
Miguel Company	1997–1998
Ramón Maradiaga	1999–2002
Bora Milutinović	2003–2004
José de la Paz Herrera	2005
Reinaldo Rueda	2006–2010
Juan de Dios Castillo	2010-

Records

Competitive record

Youth team records

Record versus other nations

As of 2010-06-25

2 points per win

Nation	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Antigua and Barbuda	1	1	0	0	1	0	+1	2
Argentina	1	0	0	1	1	3	-2	0
Aruba	1	0	1	0	1	1	0	1
Azerbaijan	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	1
Barbados	1	1	0	0	1	0	+1	2
Belarus	1	0	1	0	2	2	0	1
Belize	4	4	0	0	13	2	+11	8
Bolivia	5	1	2	2	3	4	-1	4
Brazil	5	1	1	3	6	16	-10	3
Canada	18	9	4	5	29	23	+6	22
Chile	6	2	0	4	10	12	-2	4
China PR	1	1	0	0	1	0	+1	2
Colombia	13	6	4	3	13	9	+4	16
Korea Republic	1	0	0	1	0	3	-3	0
Costa Rica	50	15	15	20	66	95	-29	45
Cuba	12	5	2	5	21	23	-2	12
Curaçao	2	0	1	1	2	3	-1	1
Denmark	3	1	1	1	2	4	-2	3
Dominican Republic	1	1	0	0	2	0	+2	2
Ecuador	9	2	5	2	9	8	+1	9
El Salvador	52	28	13	11	85	51	+34	69
Finland	1	0	0	1	1	2	-1	0
Grenada	1	1	0	0	4	0	+4	2
Guadeloupe	1	0	0	1	1	2	-1	0
Guatemala	35	12	16	7	43	42	+1	40
Haiti	14	9	1	4	29	12	+17	19
Jamaica	19	10	4	5	38	17	+21	24
Japan	2	0	1	1	7	8	-1	1
Latvia	1	1	0	0	2	1	+1	2
Martinique	1	1	0	0	4	2	+2	2
Mexico	28	5	5	18	22	55	-33	15
Netherlands Antilles	11	5	3	3	24	20	+4	13
Nicaragua	12	11	1	0	46	6	+40	23
Northern Ireland	1	0	1	0	1	1	0	1
Norway	1	0	0	1	1	3	-2	0
Panama	35	23	5	7	63	19	+44	51
Paraguay	5	1	2	2	3	5	-2	4
Peru	7	2	3	2	10	10	0	7
Puerto Rico	2	1	1	0	6	2	+4	3
Romania	1	0	0	1	0	3	-3	0
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	6	6	0	0	36	4	+32	12
Slovenia	1	1	0	0	5	1	+4	2
Spain	2	0	1	1	1	3	-2	1
Switzerland	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	1
Suriname	3	1	2	0	4	3	+1	4
Trinidad and Tobago	15	7	6	2	24	15	+9	20
Turkey	2	0	0	2	0	3	-3	0
Uruguay	2	1	1	0	3	2	+1	3
United States	18	4	3	11	20	32	-12	11
Venezuela	8	2	2	4	7	8	-1	6
Yugoslavia	1	0	0	1	0	1	-1	0
Zambia	1	1	0	0	7	1	+6	2
Totals	426	183	110	133	680	542	+138	476

Titles

• CONCACAF Championship: 1
  

1981

• UNCAF Nations Cup: 2
  

1993, 1995

Facts

• Honduras was the first Central American football team to score 2 goals at a World Cup tournament.
• Honduras is the only Central American football team to defeat and eliminate Brazil in a tournament (Copa América 2001 in quarterfinals).
• The team competed and finished third in the CONCACAF Fourth Round of Qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
• The mascot for the team is named El Catrachin.

See also

• Football in Honduras
• Honduras U-20 national football team
• Honduras U-17 national football team
• Honduras at the FIFA World Cup

References

External links

• Honduras at FIFA
• Honduras national football team Stats and Analytics at Footbalistic
• FENAFUTH
• Matches at World Football Elo
• RSSSF List of Honduras Matches

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