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Honduras warming-up to face the best
Los Catrachos will be facing European champions Spain, South America’s impressive package Chile, and Euro 2008 co-host Switzerland in the group stages at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
While Spain are poised to secure Group H’s top spot in an easy manner, the contest for the second spot could be very tight.
As Honduras will be featuring for the second time only in a World Cup final, they’ll hope to create a positive and memorable impact.
In their last three friendly matches, Honduras have been able to record two precious victories amid one loss.
Los Catrachos defeated Latvia 2-1 back in November 2009 before losing to Peru through an own goal. In January 2010 though, Honduras toppled the USA 3-1 as they bounced back in a resounding manner.
Testing their abilities against Turkey might be very helpful for Honduras in the build up for South Africa 2010.
Turkey
Unlike Los Catrachos, Turkey failed to reach Africa’s first ever World Cup tournament. The Turks put up brave performances against perfect record holders Spain during the qualifiers. However, they couldn’t survive Bosnia Herzegovina’s heroics.
Turkey eventually finished third in their qualification table. This meant that they had automatically been denied access to enter South Africa for participation in the World Cup.
Certainly, the Turks had dreamt of a better future after being able to historically reach the semi-finals at the 2008 European Championships.
But their run during the qualifiers for South Africa 2010 couldn’t permit their World Cup dreams to be granted.
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The country’s football federation recently appointed former South Korea, Australia, Russia, and Chelsea coach Guus Hiddink as they look forward to brighter events.
The 63-year-old Dutch man has a strong CV.
He carried co-host South Korea all the way to the semis at the 2002 World Cup. Among his achievements, Hiddink also led English Premier League club Chelsea to F.A Cup glory during the 2008/2009 season.
It was only in November 2009 that the manager suffered a massive shock. Then in charge of Russia and with the task of leading that nation to the 2010 World Cup, Guus Hiddink lost on aggregate to Slovenia in the play-offs.
In the end, the Dutch couldn’t help the Russians to accomplish their World Cup dreams.
Now as coach of the Turkish national football team, Guus Hiddink is expected to transform Turkey’s potential into an unstoppable force.
Wednesday’s match against Honduras will be his first in charge of the Crescent Stars.
If Hiddink can start his coaching career in Turkey on a winning note by defeating Honduras – who will be participating in South Africa 2010 – it could mean the start of positive things to come for the Turks.
