Friday, March 29

El Salvador defeats Honduras 2-0 in a duel of bottom teams in the Concacaf octagonal

El Salvador defeated Honduras 2-0 on Sunday night in a clash of colistas that closed the tenth date of the octagonal final of the Concacaf qualifiers for the Qatar-2022 World Cup, played at the Metropolitan Olympic Stadium in San Pedro Sula (north) .

Nelson Bonilla, at minute 34, and Darwin Cerén, at 90+2, scored the goals of the game, which broke a spell for El Salvador that had never before been able to beat its neighbor on a visit in the history of World Cup qualifying.

El Salvador reached 9 points, with very remote possibilities of acquiring the ticket to Qatar, but left its rival more demoralized, already eliminated with 3 units and without raising its head.

The change in the bank of the Colombian Hernán ‘Bolillo’ Gómez for the Uruguayan Fabián Coito did not work for Honduras.

The lack of goals and the fragility in defense have led the “H” to one of the worst participations of the last qualifying rounds.

“These are dark moments where there is no patience. In life there come moments when they are not opportune and everyone’s patience has run out,” expressed an angry ‘Bolillo’ Gómez, although he did not clarify his intention to resign.

At the beginning of the game, an apparently better placed Honduran team was seen on the field, looking to open the scoring.

But the well planted defense of Hugo Pérez’s team forced him to try with medium distance shots. The defensive block of the Salvadorans was firm.

Kervin Arriaga lost a ball in the rival field and the Cuscatleca squad came out in a well-rounded break. Dueñas left Bonilla hand-in-hand with defender Denil Maldonado, whom he eluded with a cut and with a violent frontal shot he defeated goalkeeper Edrik Menjivar.

After the opening, the locals reacted but more out of pride because they were shipwrecked trying to reach the area with high centers that were never caught by Brayan Róchez.

After the break, Gómez brought in his stars Romel Quioto, Alberth Elis and Edwin Rodríguez.

The changes turned the “H” into a whirlwind over Mario González’s goal but surprisingly the tie did not fall, despite the constant pressure plays.

El Salvador grouped all his people in his area to protect his goal from the siege and the minutes were consumed by the desperation of the catrachos.

In another counterattack, Cerén was outlined on the right and with a strong shot, low, at the base of the right post, he made it 2-0.

“We have made a disastrous eliminatory but we are going to continue working, to continue fighting”, affirmed the Honduran attacker Alberth Elis. “This tie was not for us, we are ashamed,” he added.

The “H” was coming off a 2-0 home loss to leader Canada on Thursday and El Salvador also fell 1-0 on the road to the United States.

Next Wednesday, El Salvador receives the leader Canada and Honduras will visit the United States.

The table of positions on the tenth date left Canada with 22 points, the United States 18, Mexico 18, Panama 17, Costa Rica 13, El Salvador 9, Jamaica 7 and Honduras 3.

The Concacaf World Cup awards three direct tickets to Qatar and the possibility of a playoff for the fourth-placed team against a team from Oceania.

nl/ma



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