Honduras grabs vital win over El Salvador

(image via Federación de Fútbol de Honduras)

The second match of Saturday’s Concacaf Gold Cup doubleheader in Houston saw two central American rivals, Honduras and El Salvador, square off. The stadium began to fill up as the first game came to an end and fans of both teams filled Shell Energy Stadium to the brim. The fans sang their national anthems and cheered and chanted, creating an incredible atmosphere.

On the pitch, the match was big for both teams, coming off disappointing results in their first matches. El Salvador drew 0-0 with Curacao while Hondruas was dominated 6-0 by Canada.

The Hondurans got their goal in the 33rd minute through former Houston Dynamo winger Romell Quioto. Edwin Rodriguez played a perfect, slide-rule pass into the path of Quioto to run into the box. He took a slight bump from behind but kept his balance and put his shot away to give Honduras the 1-0 lead.

Honduras looked to double their lead in the 66th minute after some great work in the box. The ball ultimately made its way to Joseph Rosales, but the Minnesota United man’s low effort was turned away by El Salvador goalkeeper Mario Gonzalez.

Honduras scored a second, to seal the match, in the dying moments. An El Salvador free kick wwas headed away by Justin Arboleda. Substitute Dixon Ramirez ran onto it into the open space where no El Salvador defenders were back. Gonzalez was way off his line at midfield and Ramirez went right around him before slotting into the empty net to make the score 2-0 in the 5th minute of stoppage time.

Honduras earned the crucial three points to jump them into second place in Group B. The current standings have Canada in first with four points. Honduras are second with three. Curacao is third with two. El Salvador is at the bottom with just one point. They will now take on Curacao on Tuesday, with the winner advancing to the Gold Cup quarterfinals. That is, unless El Salvador can bounce back and stun Canada in their match.

Tonight’s two matches weren’t filled with goals but both were exciting and intense. The results on Saturday night in downtown Houston now set up a third and final group stage match on Tuesday with everything still to play for.

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Curacao’s late equalizer earns draw with Canada