Honduras, England’s opponents in tonight’s friendly, are
coming to Brazil to enjoy, possibly, their first World Cup win. Hondurans are known
as Los Conchratos (Catrachos), named after a 19th century national General. Luis
Fernando, a son of French immigrants, recorded that some merchants in Puerto
Cortes had given him a football in 1896, and that soccer has been played in
Honduras since then. In 1906, the republic's government hired a Guatemalan
professor named Miguel Arcangel to teach soccer at a college in Tegucigalpa.
Three years later, the Spanish monk Niglia introduced the game at the Instituto
Salesiano San Miguel in Comayagua.
With a small population of under 8 million, Honduras is renowned
for macaws, coffee and being laid back. Their national squad contains Wilson
Palacios from Stoke City, JC Garcia of Wigan, Maynor Figueroa who plays for
Hull and Emilio Izaguirre of Celtic. The rest of their players mostly earn a
living at home, in the USA and Andy
Najar is with Anderlecht. Star player is Carlo Costly of Real Espana who has scored
a goal every 3 of his 69 matches for his national side. His father played in
the 1982 World Cup for Honduras, when the team reached a high point in its
history, getting a point of the Spaniards. This time, they finished third in their
group behind the USA and Costa Rica losing 3 times and winning 4 out of 10
games. Once Los Conchratos get past England they meet Ecuador, France and
Switzerland.
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