Welp.. its about that time. well, not really. We have a 2nd round Bye, but lets start to play coach. ITS ROAD TO RIO!
i wonder who's going to be in our group? I have a feeling costa rica is going to be in our group. or maybe guatemala or el salvador or even panama. plus a caribbean team or 2 between now & the qualifiers for next year ..honduras NEEDS to have serious friendlies. i'm tired of the same matches with el salvador or guatemala. we need to play against a south american team & a european team or 2.
I don't understand how we have so many good LB and not a single good RB. It is usually the other way around, we need to find ourselves a RB and our back four would be the best in the region. We have tons of good DM/CM and we should stick with a 4-5-1 formation. I don't see any team in the region being able to break us down defensively. We need to work on our set pieces both offensively and defensively. We had a bunch of free kicks and corners and the balls were terrible innacurate, we need to find someone that knows how to take free kicks other than Rambo. Defend the corner kicks, the goals that CR and Mexico scored were all defensive lapses, and it seems that the opposing team keeps getting their head in there on most all free kicks. That is unacceptable when you consider the size of our team, they should be great on set pieces. I think that we have depth an quality and most positions except goalie, RB, LM, and CAM. It is up to Suarez to find these players. I think that we need to wrap up Najar in one of our upcoming friendlies, we need his creativity.
Wilmer Crisanto needs a shot at right back. Better yet, give a shot to the kid from Debreceni. He's fast, a strong tackler and has a tank. (Edit: not sure if he's a lefty though).
The kid from Drebceni is Luis Ramos, and he plays CDM, like Hendry and Wilson. I think we have wingers. Najar, Nunez and Alvarez down the left, on the right its Boniek, Mario Martinez and Mario Chavez. Nunez tho has looked not that great, while Portillo on the other hand looked really good on the left. Noel aint goin nowhere. tbh the older the better the goalie. prolly has one more cycle left in him, but we do need a replacement whether it be Ricardo Canales or Donis Escober or someone younger in Jose Mendoza of Platense, and I like how Eddiw Hernandez didn't even sniff the field. Poor kid, but he can be a real good player. very Costly-esque.
None of those other than Alvarez is a winger. Alvarez is right footed and has played on the right side all his life. Portillo looked really good against CR but looked shaky against the Mexicans. He never made an attempt to dribble past Juarez, if he is playing he needs to penetrate the defense. The jury is still out on him. I think Mario Martinez could be a good LWinger but he seems to love to drift inside just like Nunez. Noel is our best goalie by far but he is shaky on set pieces. On the goal where chicharito missed he went out and caught air. He is a liability on set pieces and corners, he doesn't impose himself on the defenders. He is the captain, he should be more vocal out there and tell Muma to calm down and stop going on reckless tackles and eating shit with the ball instead of clearing it. The attacking midfielder or support striker is what we desperately need. Someone who is creative in the final third and can create for himself and others. Hopefully Najar can blossom into that role. I think Espinoza is an adequate player in that position as well, once he gets more confidence. I like the way he dribbles with his head up once he is heading the north south.
I don't think we should be playing with an Attacking mid or supporting strikers. we should play the 4-4-2 that got us into South Africa. 2 forwards, 2 wingers, 1 holding mid, 1 mid Mario can play wing. I've seen him do it a lot at Real Espana.. matter of fact he is a wing. I don't see him drift in a lot unless he's looking to pass it off or make a play on goal. Noel isn't big.. he can't impose his physical will on players bigger than him. Aldo and Dennis Marshall were bigger than him, while on the Chicharito goal.. Even Iker wouldn't have managed that from going in. It was going in whether or not he was there or not. Noel is vocal.. yall just don't see it. I've seen him tell his players plenty of stuff after the play is done. Espinoza is a utility player. Plays leftback at Sporting KC or Left wing. It was interesting seeing him play Mid with us though.
I don't know about the 4-4-2 with the current players we have today. I don't think we have a CM that can distribute the ball the way Amado did back in his day. The team went as he did with that formation and once he was done our team didn't look dangerous in the attack. To be honest with you I think we looked at our best for the first time in years on the first half against CR and I think we need to emulate that again. If our wingers could put quality crosses into the box I would be a 4-4-2 advocate, but from what I have seen we don't have that kind of player and the league does not seem to develop that kind of player. As far as Espinoza, we had been getting rapped in possession against guatemala and Jamaica until we put the kid in to play. Once Espinoza was given a chance our midfield looked much more fluid. I don't know if we need Espinoza playing CM but we need a player with his offensive qualities playing alongside Wilson. We can't have two destroyers playing CM and hope to look good offensively.
iight guys.. we've just fount (idk if that a word..idc tbh) out who are WCQ opponents will be... Group C: Honduras Cuba Winner of Group D (Canada) Winner of Group C (Panama) In all retrospect we should advance. Panama will really give us trouble here. If we can win all of our home games.. (Which we should), and take 3-6 away points, we should be in the Hex.
We have to win all our home games. Do that and try to get a draw or two away (@ Cuba should be a win) and we should be through. We can't overlook them. Friendlies will be important because Panama and Canada will have had some competitive games under their belts.
Panama is through to the Second Round... now its down to Canada. See if they can stave off St. Kitts and St. Nevis.
Honduras Group C schedule: (Home teams left, Away teams right) PRIMERA FECHA - VIERNES 8 DE JUNIO 2012 Honduars vs Panamá Cuba vs. Canadá SEGUNDA FECHA - MARTES 12 DE JUNIO 2012 Canadá vs. Honduras Panamá vs. Cuba TERCERA FECHA - VIERNES 7 DE SEPTIEMBRE 2012 Cuba vs. Honduras Canadá vs. Panamá CUARTA FECHA - MARTES 11 DE SEPTIEMBRE 2012 Honduras vs. Cuba Panamá vs. Canadá QUINTA FECHA - VIERNES 11 DE NOVIEMBRE 2012 Canadá vs. Cuba Panamá vs. Honduras SEXTA FECHA – MARTES 15 DE NOVIEMBRE 2012 Honduras vs. Canadá Cuba vs. Panamá
Canada's result over St. Kitts completes our group.. so it officially looks like this..nothings changed tbf. Group C: Honduras Panama Canada Cuba
This Honduran looks shaky compared to what we had in 2010 and Luis Suarez has not impressed me yet. Hopefully we can build on the 2-0 win over Serbia. Panama Possibly our toughest Challenge they have grown into a very good National team. Beating Costa Rica 2-0 plus this second round has only improved them. Hopefully we can get a draw away and a win home but it wont be easy. Canada The Canadians are rough players and with Vancouver,Toronto and now Montreal in the MLS will only increase their talent. Physically they outmatch us but dont have much for creativity they are more like a USA NT B or C team. They are probably the second toughest if not the hardest challenge. Cuba..... Cuba can either be a surprising opponent or the punching bag for the group. They have caused troubles to other Central America teams (Costa Rica 2004) (Guatemala 2008). So who knows what kinda potential they have hopefully Honduras doesn't take them lightly. So this is a very interesting group but not the group of death (refer to group b). Honduras needs a solid striker someone that can keep scoring and not try shooting from far. They also need a play maker no more Guevara so we going to have to rely on Wilson Palacios, Ramon Nunez,Roger Espinoza or even Andy Najar. Defense should be OK with Thomas on center and Izaguirre on the wings with Oscar Garcia to add an attacking potential to the defense.
Hendry Thomas has proved to be a liability anywhere on the field, even more so in center. Izaguirre should add more dimenson at LB, but Figueroa has been doin a fine job there..can go both ways imo, but I think Suarez will prefer to move Izzy out wide to Leftback and play Maynor at CB. Oscar Boniek doesn't play defense anymore, he's a midfielder/winger now and one helluva player at that. He adds a lot of dynamic play to our midfield.. He's really grown into his own on the NT. Wilson Palacios will be very useful because he can somewhat control the pace of a game and is experienced, he can also win balls back in the middle and link play up from defense to attack, but since he's always hurt, Roger Espinoza has stepped into his place and settled in very very well. Roger Espinoza..what can you say, this guy gives his heart and soul to the team, the definition of Garra Catracha. Ramon Nunez doesn't fit the system as a wide attack, hopefully Suarez uses him as a second striker or central attacking mid where his knack seems to be on the field. Tonight we've learned Georgie Welcome is a threat and Edgar Alvarez is beast (didn't need tonight to figure that out). We should be ready for WCQ by June.
Anyone know how Izaguirre's recovery is going? Would be nice to have him and Palacios back for the early 2012 friendlies before the qualifiers start for real.
Izzy will be back for Celtics in early 2012, just in time for the final stretch of the SPL season... He shouldn't be called up till he's gotten games under his belt, which would be by March or probably April imo.
Sooooo in this Luis Suarez era so far.. these players have been called-up with... Porteros: Donaldo Morales (C.D. Motagua), Donis Escober (C.D. Olimpia), Noel Valladares (C.D. Olimpia), Orlin Vallecillo (C.D. Marathon), Ricardo Canales (C.D. Victoria), Jose Mendoza (C.D. Platense), and Marlon Licona (C.D. Motagua) Zagueros: Osman Chavez (Wisla Krakow), Victor Bernardez (Unattached), Johnny Leveron (C.D. Motagua), Erick Norales (C.D. Marathon), Rommel Murillo (C.D.S. Vida) and Mario Chavez (C.D.S. Vida) Laterales: Juan Carlos Garcia (C.D. Olimpia), Brayan Beckeles (C.D. Olimpia), Mauricio Sabillon (C.D. Marathon), Maynor Figueroa (Wigans Athletic), Javier Portillo (C.D. Olimpia), Daniel Tejada (Real Espana), Irving Guerrero (Deportes Savio) MedioCampo: Wilson Palacios (Stoke City), Hendry Thomas (Wigan Athletic), Alfredo Mejia (Real Espana), Edder Delgado (Real Espana), Roger Espinoza (Sporting Kansas City), Mariano Acevedo (C.D. Marathon), Mario Berrios (C.D. Marathon), Orlin Peralta (C.D.S. Vida) and Jorge Claros (C.D. Motagua) Volantes: Edgar Alvarez (Palermo), Julio Cesar Rambo de Leon (Shandong Luneng Taishan), Oscar Boniek Garcia (C.D. Olimpia), Mario Martinez (Real Espana), Emil Martinez (C.D. Marathon), Ramon Nunez (Leeds United), Mario Chavez (FC Dallas), Andy Najar (DC United), and Arnold Peralta (C.D.S Vida) Delanteros: Georgie Welcome (Unattached), Jerry Bengtson (C.D. Motagua), Roger Rojas (C.D. Olimpia), Eddy Hernandez (C.D. Platense), Marco Tulio Vega (C.D. Marathon), Carlo Costly (Houston Dynamo), Anthony Lozano (CD Alcoyano), and Walter Martinez (Beijing Guoan) Thats a lot of experimenting... and I don't even think its over.