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A third place finish in the 2001 Copa America championship and a string of impressive results have made Honduras part of the tournament’s favorites.
In 1991, Los Catrachos managed to go all the way to the final of the Gold Cup tournament. They qualified as leaders of their group, which included the likes of Mexico, in an emphatic way. These old days record Honduras’ 5-0 thumping victory over Jamaica and 4-2 demolition of Canada in the group stages.
Honduras went past Costa Rica in the semifinals, but couldn’t see out the United States in the final. After 120 minutes without a single goal, the match had to go down to penalties. Honduras lost 4-3 in the end. It was a disappointment for Honduras to lose in the final, but their bravery was all the same undisputable. In 2005, they participated in the Gold Cup for the seventh time in eight attempts and came third.
Los Catrachos – who are part of FIFA’s top forty teams in the world rankings – would like to keep going on the good track that they’ve laid since years ago.
Recently, Honduras brushed away the misery of losing 2-0 to Costa Rica by recording a 3-1 win against Mexico and a 1-0 victory against El Salvador. These results have lifted them onto third in the CONCACAF World Cup qualifying table.
While the dream of reaching the finals of the World Cup in South Africa remains a realistic possibility, Honduras will try and focus on doing well in the Gold Cup tournament.
C. Pavon has been an inspiration for Los Catrachos lately. The player has netted four times in Honduras’ last eight matches. Honduras have lost none of the games where Pavon has scored. Maybe they can carry on with this luck when they face Haiti.
Honduras are undoubtedly hot favorites to clinch all three points against Haiti. Haiti are 123rd in the Fifa World rankings. They also qualified as a replacement for Cuba and they will be playing in their fourth Gold Cup tournament.
However, Haiti have also shown a lot progress since the 21st century. Three appearances in the Gold Cup championship since 2000, and a quarter final place finish in 2002 explain that ‘Le Bleu est Rouge’ have some good power in them.
They certainly aren’t part of the big guns in the Gold Cup tournament, but this factor could also come at their own good. Haiti will have nothing to lose really when they come up against Honduras in their opening game of the competition.
