Honduras vs Chile
Honduras
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.
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.
MATCH DETAILS
Play Time:
11:30 until 13:30 GMT
Honduras vs Chile
Fifa World Cup South Africa 2010
Chile
Chile can’t be considered a shock going in with a good crop of youngsters coming through, but damnit, they shocked South America with the manner of their qualification. They finished one solitary point behind Brazil, taking down Argentina for the first time in an official game on their travels, and ran strong on the back of Marcelo Bielsa, exorcising his demons from 2002 – even if it wasn’t very patriotic.
It’s setup something of a quandry in South Africa, because history says they won’t make tremendous waves, but if they bring their good qualifying form to the party – it wasn’t all rosy – says they just might turn a few heads.
They’re a bit top heavy – partly because of that 3-4-3, but largely because point man Humberto Suazo is so large. Flanking him will be the super pacy duo of Mark Gonzalez and Alexis Sanchez, one of the biggest talents in the world, with Mathias Fernandes, once one of the world’s best talents, tucked in just behind as a trequartista. It’s a phenomenal ode to attacking football.
Carlos Carmona, Rodrigo Millar and Roberto Cereceda have been called in to provide a bit of the work in midfield, while the three-man back of Gary Medel, Gonzalo Jara and Waldo Ponce get to enjoy nightmares of the counterattack. The man who gets to enjoy the fun evolve in front of him is No. 1 Claudio Bravo.
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