View the Honduras 8 – 1 Canada highlights here.
The Honduras vs Canada Group C CONCACAF qualifying match will be held on Tuesday, October 16, 2012 at 4:00 PM EDT at the Estadio Olimpico in San Pedro Sula. This is the biggest match in Canadian national team history in recent years, a draw or win puts them through to the final CONCACAF qualifying round, a loss eliminates them. For Honduras, this is a win-or-elimination scenario, a bit of a surprise for a team that was expected to win Group C. Will Canada endure the Honduran attack and hold out for the all-important draw?
Honduras played a good game against Panama last Friday (view the highlights here), and were close to winning the match. The 0-0 draw left them with eight points, two behind Canada, this means Honduras “just” has to beat Canada by any amount, they don’t need to worry about piling on the goals. Against Canada, Honduras will be forced to generate the offense, as Canada will surely rely on their great defense and fall back. Considering Honduras has been unable to score against either Panama or Canada during Group C play, Canada has a good shot at keeping a clean sheet.
Canada has struggled all throughout the qualification process on the offense, and when you add the fact that De Rosario is out due to injury and Occean due to a red card, you’ve got problems. Furthermore, Canada’s offense looked bad against Cuba, even though they scored three goals, Canada could have scored seven or eight. Canada’s offense won’t magically repair itself against Honduras, Canada must rely on its defense. I seriously doubt Canada will be able to score against Honduras, either a 0-0 draw or a loss are Canada’s options.
Last time Canada played in the final round of the CONCACAF qualifiers was more than 15 years ago, when they failed to qualify to the 1998 World Cup. Now, Canada has the chance to take the sport of soccer to the next level in their home country, all they need is a draw. With three teams in the MLS, and a successful Canadian run in the Women’s Olympic soccer tournament, getting to the final round of the qualifiers would push the fan-base to the next step. That is why the Honduras vs Canada match is the most important game in Canada’s history in the last 20 years, it not only signifies a ticket to the final qualifying round, but a great opportunity to increase soccer’s visibility in Canada.
Prediction: The Honduras vs Canada match will be a tight, defensive, emotional, heart-wrenching, not apt for people with heart conditions type of game. The Estadio Olimpico will be packed, the home fans looking for the win and doing everything in their power to help. Canada will fall back and rely on defense and counterattacking (mostly defense) to keep the tie. Honduras will attack, and dominate possession most of the game, but they will not have many clear scoring opportunities. When the whistle blows at the end of the Honduras vs Canada match, the score will read Honduras 0 – 0 Canada. I believe Canada will heroically hold off the Honduran attacks and maintain a monumental draw.
Television: The Honduras vs Canada match will be televised on Tuesday, October 16, 2012 at 4:00 PM EDT on Sportsnet One in Canada and beIN Sports en Espanol in the USA.
Note: Come back to FutnSoccer.com after the game, we will have a recap and highlights available about 20 minutes after the final whistle blows.
