December 24, 2021
Today saw the
final match of the Honduras 2021/22 Liga Salva Vida Apertura. Like many
countries in Central and South America, Honduras operates an Apertura and
Clausura system but unlike a few of the other countries, does not have a
play-off between the two winners to determine the overall champion. Instead,
two titles are awarded. However, the results over the two competitions are
aggregated, with the side with the least amount of points being relegated. The
three sides with the best overall record qualify for the CONCACAF league.
There are 10
sides in the Liga Nacional, who play each other home away in both the Apertura
and Clausura for 18 match competitions. The top six enter the play-offs, with 3rd
vs 6th and 4th vs 5th over two legs in the
repechage play-off round, with the two winners proceeding to play against the
top two sides in the semi-finals. The two victorious sides then face a
two-legged final to identify the period champion.
The Honduras
national team, currently ranked 76 by FIFA, are currently bottom of the 2022 CONCACAF
World Cup qualifying group with just three draws from 8 matches, against
Canada, Costa Rica and El Salvador, and so are unlikely to reach the finals in
Qatar. Honduras have previously qualified three times for the World Cup Finals.
In 1982, they managed to draw with hosts Spain and Northern Ireland before
succumbing 0-1 to Yugoslavia. In 2010 they drew with Switzerland but lost to Spain
and Chile, and in 2014 they lost all three matches, against France, Ecuador and
Switzerland.
Honduran
internationals to have graced the Premier League include record cap holder
Maynor Figueroa ( 177 caps ) who played for Wigan and Hull City, ex-Birmingham,
Wigan, Tottenham, Stoke midfielder Wilson Palacios ( 97 caps ) and ex-Wigan
midfielder Roger Espinoza ( 52 caps ). Milton Nunez ( 86 caps ) made one
appearance for Sunderland, defensive midfielder Hendy Thomas ( 52 caps ) played
for Wigan and defender Ivan Guerrero ( 84 caps ) played for Coventry.
In the
professional era since 1966, CD Olimpia have won 33 Championships, Motagua have
won 17, Real Club Deportivo Espana have won 12, Marathon have won 9 but no-one
else has won more than two titles. Olimpia and Motagua are both based in the
capital Tegucigalpa, whereas Real Espana and Marathon come from the second city
San Pedro Sula.
In the 18 game
regular Apertura season Real CD Espana finished as clear leaders on 38 points,
two points ahead of Vida, who play in the Caribbean coastal town of Le Ceiba.
Olimpia and Motagua finished level, three points behind Real Espana, with Lobos
UPN, also from the capital Tegucigalpa, and Marathon a further 8 points adrift.
In the repechage,
Olimpia overturned a first leg 0-1 deficit to eliminate Marathon 3-1 on
aggregate, whilst Motagua knocked out Vida 5-2 on aggregate.
In the
semi-finals, Olimpia won the first leg 2-0 over Vida, and progressed to final
after a narrow 1-2 loss to win 3-2 overall. In the other semi-final, Real
Espana triumphed 2-0 at home over Motagua after a 1-1 away draw.
In the first leg
of the final Olimpia established a potentially match winning lead for their 34th
title, by beating Real Espana 2-0 in front of a three-quarter full stadium in
their 35,000 capacity Estadio Tiburcio Carias Andino. Ticket prices for the
first leg ranged from the equivalent of £6 to £24.
In a game they
totally dominated, and should have won by a greater margin, their match winner
was international midfielder Jorge Alvarez ( 9 caps ), with a delicate flick
over the advancing keeper for the opening goal in the first half, and early in
the second half fired a fabulous 20 yard volley into the top corner after a
corner was headed clear.
Most rounds of
the regular season were played behind closed doors, but the Real Espana versus
Olimpia tie in round 11 in early October was played in front of a crowd of 2,300.
However, there are no restrictions for the finals, and Olimpia’s Argentinian
coach Pedro Troglio ( ex Lazio and Ascoli and 21 caps including a goal against
the Soviet Union in Italia 90 ) cautioned that the tie was far from over in
front of a hostile crowd and on a difficult pitch, and their 34th
title and fourth in a row, was far from certain. Real were also unbeaten at
home this season.
Olimpia are also
known as the Lions and are the only Honduran side to have won the CONCACAF
League, being successful in 1972 and 1988. Of the team that played in the first
leg of the final, all were qualified to play for the Honduras national side,
with 12 of them having full caps, except for defender Gaston Diaz, who won one
cap for Argentina in 2011. Veteran striker Jerry Bengtson ( 63 caps ), formerly
with Kazakh side Irtysh Pavlodar, New England Revolution, Iranians Persepolis
amongst others, has scored 15 times so far this season and played in the 2014
World Cup Finals, as did centre-back Brayan Beckeles ( 65 caps ), who had a
spell with Mexican side Necaxa.
Real Espana had their
royal title appointed in 1977 by Spanish King Juan Carlos who accepted an
honorary life Presidency at the club in a ceremony in San Pedro Sula. This was
the first time a Spanish monarch had bestowed such an honour to any club in the
Americas.
Home is the 25,000
capacity Estadio Francisco Morazon, which has a grass pitch, and their nickname
is Los Aurinegros or the Gold and Blacks, after the colours they play in. The
last of their 12 titles was the 2017/18 Apertura.
Their squad for
the first leg was all Honduran except for Mexican striker Omar Rosas and
forward Carlos Bernandez, who has 5 caps for Belize. 5 of the squad are full
internationals for Honduras. However, their top scorer in the Apertura with 11
goals, Argentine Ricardo Rocca, missed the first leg through injury.
Matches between
Olimpia and Real Espana are known as Clasico Moderno, or the Modern Classic,
and is considered to be the most fierce of rivalries in Honduras, ahead of the
San Pedro Sula or Tegucigalpa derbies. This is the fifth occasion when Olimpia
have travelled to Real to win a title, having only been successful once in the
previous four attempts, although they did win the most recent encounter in
2011/12.
Bet365.com made
Olimpia 23/20 favourites to win the match, with Real Espana at 7/4 and the draw
at 5/2. Temperature at the 19.00 kick-off local time was expected to around 24
degrees.
As expected,
Olimpia announced an unchanged starting line-up from the first leg, whilst Real
made two changes with the return of Rocca and Kevin Alvarez, who played for
Norkopping in Sweden and has 14 caps., with Quaye and Reyes missing out.
Both sets of
fans created a cracking pre-match atmosphere, with singing, drums, flag waving,
letting off flares and fireworks, and the old-fashioned behaviour of throwing
toilet paper onto the pitch ! It all calmed down for the singing of the
national anthem though.
Olimpia striker
and captain Jerry Bengtson wore a face mask for the toss-up, but also continued
to wear it during the game as well. The mask did show his number ( 27 ) to help
with the identification…..
The match began
at a frantic pace with Real looking for an early goal. The first incident
happened in the fourth minute when Olimpia right back Maldonado ( their only
uncapped player ) blocked a cross with his chest and fell to the floor holding
his head. When the Real player went over to show some concern, Maldonado jumped
up and started to remonstrate at the bemused player. The referee gave Maldonado
a stern lecture and Real took and wasted their corner.
Olimpia
weathered the early storm and created the first chance of the match in the 6th
minute. Hernandez ran onto Rodriguez’s chip over the square defence and crossed
low into the penalty area, but Pinto’s shot was deflected narrowly wide of the
near post from 6 yards by Garcia. After the second corner in a row, Pinto
sliced a volley well wide from a good position.
The pattern of
the first half was soon established. Real dominating possession but their high
tempo, short passing game failing to create any clear-cut chances against a
solid defence and the crosses into the area invariably being just too long or
headed clear by a defender, with Olimpia looking much more dangerous on the
counter-attack. In the 18th minute Real keeper Lopez made a good
punch to clear a corner under pressure from Beckeles and Bengtson.
The first card
of the match was shown in the 23rd minute, the lively Vuelto,
ex-Tenerife and Portland Timbers, was adjudged to have fouled Maldonado when
making contact with a challenge which left him free down the left. Some
referees might have allowed play to continue……
Two minutes
later Olimpia keeper Menjivar dived bravely to block Benavides’ low cross into
the near post and was fouled by Rosas as the Real player attempted to play the
ball. In the 28th minute Bengtson escaped his marker but his header
from Rodriguez’s corner was straight at Lopez, who easily saved.
A few cans were
thrown on to the pitch in the 30th minute when Rosas appealed for
handball in the Olimpia penalty area, but the referee adjudged that the first
handball was by the Real player, which TV replays subsequently confirmed was
the correct decision.
Four more cards
followed in quick succession. Maldonado
saw yellow for a foul on Vuelto, but the referee missed his sly kick otherwise
the punishment might have been stronger, and then Real’s Garcia entered the
book for scything down Pineda near the half-way line. Olimpia’s Pineda then saw
yellow for a foul on Rocca, and Rocca then joined him after an aerial challenge
with Beckeles was deemed to worthy of a caution.
Real’s first
real shot on goal came three minutes before the interval, Meija found some
space just outside the Olimpia area but his curling shot was high and wide and
didn’t trouble Menjivar. With the last kick of the half, Benavides’ 25 yard effort
was not too far off target.
With the score
0-0 at half-time, Olimpia’s lead from the first leg was rarely jeopardised, and
Real faced an uphill struggle in the second half to turn things around.
Real pressed at in
the early stages of the second half, but had only two headers from Alvarez to
show for it, both routine saves for Menjivar.
Real’s Mayron Flores
was booked for bring down Rodriguez, after which Portillo stood up to the Real
player moved his head towards to statuesque defender and then collapsed
theatrically to the floor, only to be ignored by the referee. Such behaviour
did make Flores laugh.
The turning
point in the match came in the 58th minutes. Alvarez found space
down the right and played a cut-back to give Vuelto a shot from around 16 yards,
but his goalbound effort was blocked by the sliding Beckeles. With Real exposed
Hernandez released Pinto to run towards the Real area, and his unselfish pass
across the face of the goal presented Bengtson with the opportunity to roll the
ball into the unguarded net. Olimpia now had a 3-0 lead on aggregate with 30
minutes left to play.
There then followed
a short spell of Olimpia players falling to floor after minimal contact, with
perhaps the most extreme example being when Rocca ran into keeper Menjivar who
collapsed holding his leg, even though the minimal contact had been to his
upper body. Again. the referee told him to get up.
Olimpia nearly
scored again in the 67th minute when Rodriguez drilled a low free kick from
left at goal but Lopez was able to push out for a defender to hack clear to safety.
As the clock ticked down, Real were increasing deflated and their fans started
to stream out of the stadium. Conversely, the Olimpia supporters behind the
goal were celebrating, letting of flares and fireworks.
In the closing
stages, Olimpia came close to a second goal. A free-kick went through the
defensive wall but bounced fractionally wide, and substitute Benguche twice
sent shots from the right across the face of the goal but wide of the far post.
After 4 minutes of added time, Olimpia were able to celebrate their 34th title. It was a disciplined, professional performance, if a tad cynical. However, over the two legs they were worthy winners, and Real lacked any cutting edge.
However, Olimpia will not have too long to celebrate, the dates for the opening
matches of the Clausura tournament have already been published, with the first
games scheduled for January 15th, 2022.
Real CD
Espana : Lopez – Montes,
F.Flores, M.Flores, D.Garcia – Alvarez, Meija ( M.Garcia ), Benavides, Vuelto ( Martinez ) – Rosas, Rocca,
CD Olimpia : Menjivar – Maldonado, Garcia, Beckeles, Portillo– Pineda, Alvarez ( Meija ), Rodriguez ( Reyes ), Pinto ( Altamirano ) – Bengtson ( Benguche ), Hernandez ( Arboleda )
Highlights : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9On1EcIIuU
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