FOUR TO NOTHING Honduras made yesterday a disastrous "technical scale", in the closing of the period before the World Cup qualifiers that will begin on the 12th against the Dutch Antilles, when falling spectacularly (4-0) against the United States. The friendly, disputed in the Gillette Stadium, has also served as preparation for the home team, who will face Granada on the day after the Honduran opener. The 'Bicolor' was humiliated by a rival who literally passed it superficially, not only in the score but in the unfolding of the game, that was widely dominated by the local team, on the basis of rapid and precise passes, wide and aerial play that could not be countered by the Hondurans, who constantly made mistakes. Honduras began to have problems from the first minutes when Víctor Coit had to leave the the goal through injury, leaving the position to Héctor Medina who, shortly after his entrance, was baptized by the first goal of Brian McBride, who headed a pass from the right by Chris Armas when he beat Milton Palacios. The same McBride doubled on Medina, with a cannon shot inside the box that nailed straight in the upper angle of the Honduran goal, forcing the Catrachos "to row against the current" and in numerical inferiority, after the expulsion a little later of the captain Amado Guevara, who attacked Marcus Bradley. Before the interval, the Americans created a pair of opportunities, but midfielder Landon Donovan and the forward Casey attacker finished off target of Medina's goal. In the second half, Honduras did not change its timid and doubtful attitude, always leaving the initiative to the Americans, who passed the ball all over the ground, opening the field, playing with greater depth and a forcefulness that would finish with a larger score. A new goal from substitute Eddie Lewis, on minute 77, and another one 10 minutes from the end by Tony Sanneh, sealed the game. Both were assisted by midfielder Claudio Reyna, who played his 100th game with the American team. Honduras reacted only in the final stretch of the game, with efforts from subs Víctor Mena and Milton "Tyson" Núñez, who came close to both posts of Tim Howard's goal. They were the sparks of a team with the lights extinguished, without coordination, fragile, that never found the course and has left doubts and worries facing the qualifiers. ... TO THE MARGIN The humiliating defeat of Honduras in Boston provoked criticisms from the Televicentro narrators, to the point that Salvador Nasralla, at a certain moment, reflected on its impotence with this phrase: "They give me the desire to put on my boots and to go to the training of the national team. I am not a good player, but I could finish better." http://www.tiempo.hn/DEPORTES/Deport04.htm
Here are a few others, if anyone would like to translate something else. I have to run shortly. http://www.laprensahn.com/deportes.php?id=123&tabla=June_2004&fecha=20040603 http://www.elheraldo.hn/detalle.php?nid=13511&sec=5&fecha=2004-06-03 http://tribuna.icomstec.com/news/index.php?id=40010&mode=2
I guess 'short white guy' gets babelfished into Chris Armas. And Marcus Bradley must be Bob's long-lost son.
I'll take el Heraldo <Pls forgive the editorializing, but I wish we had soccer writing like this>: Horror of the fourth dimension Foxboro - When most of the scaffolding sounds bad (something like -- well clac, clac, clac) it's time to worry. When the highest part of the structure begins to give way (and is left so off balance as to show not a single shot at the opponents' goal), it's time to hit the red alarm. And when the H(onduras) plays (Pardon? Could this be our nats, or is it just a group of ballet dancers with weird hairstyles and multicolored shoes that was invited to brighten the palate of capitalist-American consumerism <Don't know what the second part means, but the first part ROCKS>) as they did yesterday in the States, it's time to light a candle, leave it to the winds, to luck and hope for a big ol' miracle of biblical proportions (come on, believers, light a candle, come on) to step up to the first stairtread called the Dutch Antilles, the Carribbean powerhouse of the eighties that has its base in Dutch soccer. And if Bora's salary scares even the dead, the questions that flow like a raging river after each match played by the team of us all grow more and more damaging. Betting with a useless 4-4-1-1, with too many skilless <crude> players (Like Milton Palacios, Maynor Sauzo, Victor Mena o Nery Medina), Bora's boys seemed to have come from the very same cemetery. Walking mummies with iron chains on their feet. Each goal was clear evidence of the lack of optimism for what we face. Minute 21: Center by Cherundolo (marking error by Nery Medina) and clean header by the <I like this part> Foxboro annihilator, Bryan McBride (horror marking by Milton Palacios). Minute 36: Claudio Reyna y Casey leave the Honduran midfield (the lost Mena, Sauzo, Wilson and Amado) without breath and they serve it up deliciously for the annihilator McBride, who takes the left side of the goal apart (error by Hector Medina, who allowed the goal by the post he guarded). Minute 76Confusio among Victor Bernardez y Maynor Figueroa) The ball falls to Eddie Lewis in the small box, who beats Medina with his left and a half-turn. Minute 80: New header at the penalty spot, this time by Tony Sanney (the worst part of the Honduran game, the defense, again was noteworthy for it's complete worthlessness.) Of course, Honduras had 90 minutes to reply, but (scary, but true) what it ended up with was a white hurricane, which began with the childishness of Amado (sent off for a slap to Beasley), with DMB having his way on the left, with Landon Donovan, who made us his children, with Casey and Reyna who almost, almost finished the humiliation with more gols, and with a dance included.... Oh!! I forgot... the best part of Honduras was the uniform. A serious design, elegant, with a round collar and dashing <I think>. Can we win just with the kit? Hmmmm. I doubt it. It would be better if we kept praying.
Agreed. This, combined with some of the other Honduran press accounts that give Donovan the assist on McBride's second, make me wonder if the fellas got Donovan and Cherundolo confused. (Is the press box at the Razor particularly far away?) I think referring to either as having a "Who's your daddy?" type game would be a bit generous, but if you thought they were the same guy, it might be different.
La tribuna refers to Landon Donavan as the one who hit the cross to McBride, and even better Sean Casey served up the second one to McBride. Didn't know he was given a release by the Cincy Reds. The way he is hitting maybe he could be a two sport star. Sorry, but I don't trust myself enough to translate. It is onething to comprehend what is written, it is a whole new game explaining it in another tongue. But it was complimentry of the USA, read much like an AP report, not an editorial.
To those who translated for thanks a lot, much appreciated. It always intristing to hear from the other side. Thanks
A great game, a good bitch slap to a regional rival to generate plenty of doubt going into the first round of qualifiers.
Here's La Prensa. This one also makes me wish we had soccer writing like this is in the US. HUMILIATION Another ridiculous one and the doubts continue to grow. For the optimists and those who believe in the National Team, right now it's better to save your emotions and your cheers. The US gave it right back to us, 4-0, just like in 2002. It's worrisome, what happened yesterday doesn't exactly have a name, but it was truly a humiliation. Enough already with these defeats, the selection can't play at all. The US humiliated us in their house, rained down the goals on us, and exposed our lack of collective play, our bad defense, and there's no reason to delude ourselves that we can make the World Cup. At least yesterday's opponent was the US in a friendly game, and not the Netherlands Antilles en an official one, because if we have another disaster like that [in a wcq], goodbye Bora and goodbye dreams. POOR The US didn't play a high-flighted or brilliant football, but was practical and without making much effort imposed their superiority on the pitch. All the opening minutes were full of struggles. Amado Guevara played well below his level; Mauricio Sabillon showed none of his deep passes; Wilson Palacios showed nothing of those insightful, elegant plays or those lasers that always spring Pavon; all told, there was nothing. First, goalie Victor Coello had to leave due to injury and later Guevara was ejected childishly with five minutes remaining in the first half. Bad stuff. The americans came into the game energized and thus commenced to spoil the evening for the Hondurans and rightly so, because the Hondurans were disoriented in their tactics and in their collective game. They paid for this lack of togetherness in the 21st minute. On a long pass from the side by Landon Donovan [actually, Dolo] into the box between Milton Palacios and Maurico Sabillon, the forward Brian McBride easly headed the ball into Hector Medina's goal. 1-0 and the disappointment was beginning. From there, the party was more a party for the Americans. It was more a celebration. Psychologically, Honduras collapsed. At the 30-minute mark a long bomb from Maynor Figueroa half-surprised the Americans. The americans had given one moral wound and gave the other at minute 36. A pass from Claudio Reyna, a half-flick from Conor Casey, and the ball fell perfectly for Brian McBride, who struck a superb shot and beat goalie Hector Medina. For the remainder, the US maintained its rhythm, strove for more goals and more flew in. At the 76th minute, corner from Claudio Reyna, and in the area Lewis went for the ball, flicked it between the legs of Victor Bernardez and Maynor Figueroa and made it 3-0. The mental advantage of the americans came as no surprise. Bora made various changes but none showed well, none impacted the game as they should have. Thus, in the 80th minute, Landon Donovan drove a pass from the right, and Tony Sanneh jumped up to head in to complete the 4-0 that the Catrachos suffered. At the end the evidence remained clear. All was for naught, showing the consequences of too little effort. The scoreline makes one think about what is to be done in the official game against the Netherlands Antilles. Whether they recover mentally will be a question of pride, nothing more. What a pain in the ass.