Coach
Reinaldo RUEDA
03.02.57
Coach since 2007
Colombian who was previously at the helm of his home country’s national team. Has been such a success steering Honduras to their second World Cup that he was granted Honduran citizenship in April. Made his name when he took over the Colombia team in 2004 after they had made a poor start to the South American qualifiers for the 2006 World Cup and they finally missed out by one point on reaching the fifth-place playoff against Australia.
Goalkeepers
Ricardo CANALES
30.05.82
Motagua
2 caps (0 goals)
Third-choice keeper who is generally brilliant on his line with superb reflexes but easily caught out if he comes off it as with Venezuela’s goal in the farewell warm-up friendly in San Pedro Sula which Honduras lost 1-0.
Donis ESCOBER
03.02.81
Olimpia
11 caps (0 goals)
Agile and athletic, he is gunning to take over from older Olimpia team-mate Valladares. He breaks the Honduran mould with greater command of his area and is sound coming out to crosses.
Noel VALLADARES
03.05.77
Olimpia
72 caps (0 goals)
Veteran who has been preferred as first choice but is being strongly challenge by Olimpia team-mate Escober at his club and for his country. A good shot-stopper who is suspect coming off his line and in the air.
Defenders
Victor BERNARDEZ
24.05.82
Anderlecht (Blg)
38 caps (1 goal)
Defender who sneaked into squad despite lack of playing time on the Belgian champions’ bench.
Osman CHAVEZ
29.07.84
Platense
26 caps (0 goals)
Central defender who is good in the air but can be turned by fast, skilled forwards of the kind Honduras will face against Chile and Spain. Has had a trial with Tottenham Hotspur.
Maynor FIGUEROA
02.05.83
Wigan Athletic (Eng)
66 caps (2 goals)
A central defender for his country who plays at left back for his Premier League club, he made headlines when he beat Stoke City goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen with a free kick from inside his own half.
Oscar GARCIA
04.09.84
Olimpia
42 caps 2 goals
Comfortable anywhere on the right flank, as a full back or wing. At start of 2009-10 season, was due to join Wigan Athletic at same time as compatriot Roger Rojas, but deal never materialised.
Emilio IZAGUIRRE
10.05.86
Motagua
38 caps (1 goal)
One of Honduras’s best home-based players, a fast attacking left-back who creates danger cutting diagonally towards the box or crossing from the goalline.
Sergio MENDOZA
23.05.81
Motagua
47 caps (1 goal)
Returned to the side this year after a 12-month doping suspension to secure a place at right-back. A big man who is not very mobile but sound in defence.
Johnny PALACIOS
10.12.86
Olimpia
6 caps (0 goals)
One of several footballing brothers, he is a tall centre-back challenging for a place in the starting line-up. His youngest brother Edwin, also an Olimpia player, was kidnapped in 2007 and his remains found 18 months later.
Mauricio SABILLON
11.11.78
Hangzhou Greentown (Chn)
25 caps (0 goals)
Played in most of the qualifiers, he is first choice at right-back. His attacks on the right of what can be described as a back curve, rather than flat back four, mirror Izaguirre’s on the left.
Midfielders
Edgar ALVAREZ
09.01.80
Bari (Ita)
45 caps (3 goals)
Athletic, very fast right wing back, very hard to mark, who has played in Italy since 2004.
Julio Cesar DE LEON
13.09.79
Torino (Ita)
74 caps (13 goals)
Nicknamed Rambo, having begun his career with Olimpia he has played in Italy since 2001 when he moved to Reggina, whom he helped gain promotion from Serie B. He has been on loan at Genoa from Parma. A free-kick specialist, he is usually first choice on the left wing for Honduras after injury and disagreements with the coaching staff in 2008.
Amado GUEVARA
02.05.76
Motagua
133 caps (29 goals)
Honduras’s much-travelled record cap holder, he is a converted attacking midfielder a la Michael Ballack, playing from deep where he can escape markers, picking up the ball from defence and distributing play. Returned home from Toronto this season to ensure regular playing time and secure a World Cup place.
Ramon NUNEZ
14.11.85
Olimpia
16 caps (3 goals)
One of Honduras’s most skilled players on the ball, a creative midfielder who has a tendency to be selfish and try to resolve moves on his own. Grew up in the
United States and first played professional football in the MLS for Dallas, He has also played in Mexico.
Wilson PALACIOS
29.07.84
Tottenham Hotspur (Eng)
68 caps (5 goals)
The most successful of the Palacios brother, he was an Honduran pioneer in the English Premier League where he started on loan from Olimpia to Birmingham City before joining Wigan and then moving to Tottenham.
Hendry THOMAS
23.02.85
Wigan Athletic (Eng)
38 caps (2 goals)
Made his debut for Olimpia as a 16-year-old and went on to score the club’s 2000th goal. Has impressed in his first season in England’s Premier League after the initial refusal of a work permit in 2008. He is a cousin of striker David Suazo.
Danilo TURCIOS
08.05.78
Olimpia
80 caps (7 goals)
Nippy midfielder who can play on both sides of the attack, roaming at will. Deadly with free-kicks, usually takes corners and is brilliant at ghosting into scoring positions in the box.
Melvin VALLADARES
14.07.84
Real Espana
14 caps (2 goals)
Tall, deep-lying midfielder who should go as cover for captain Amado Guevara and Hendry Thomas. Converted from a play-making role.
Forwards
Carlos COSTLY
18.07.82
Vaslui (Rom)
37 caps (14 goals)
Generally known as Carlo, he grew up as a teenager in Mexico where he went with his mother after she separated from former Honduran 1982 World Cup player Anthony Costly. He spent two years with Belchatow in Poland and had a loan spell with Birmingham City when they were in the second-tier English Championship before signing for Romania’s Vaslui this year.
Roger ESPINOZA
25.10.86
Kansas City Wizards (USA)
9 caps (3 goals)
Midfielder who has lived in the U.S. since he was 12 and never played club football in Honduras. Espinoza was drafted 11th overall in the 2008 MLS SuperDraft by Kansas City Wizards. He made his MLS debut on April 9, 2008 against the New England Revolution.
Walter MARTINEZ
24.03.82
Marathon
34 caps (11 goals)
Nicknamed “Pery”, he generally partners and plays off a centre-forward like David Suazo or Carlos Pavon or can act as an attacking midfielder behind two strikers. Another Honduran who spent time in China, playing for Beijing Guoan in 2007-08.
Carlos PAVON
09.10.73
Real Espana
96 caps (57 goals)
An Honduran idol, even beyond the confines of his sport, a happily-married family man who has become the face of a UN campaign to fight violence against women. An athletic forward and a prolific scorer, he has also played in Spain, Italy, Mexico, Guatemala and the USA, where he joined the LA Galaxy at the same time as David Beckham.
David SUAZO
05.11.79
Genoa (Ita)
49 caps (15 goals)
First choice striker who is struggling to recover from a right leg muscle injury in time for the finals. Pencilled into Reinaldo Rueda’s 23-man squad but the coach said if the World Cup were now Suazo would not be going. Has played in Italy since 1999, with Cagliari until 2007, and is on loan to Genoa from Internazionale.
Georgie WELCOME
09.03.85
Motagua
11 caps (2 goals)
Tall, lanky central striker dangerous in the air but ungainly with the ball at his feet. He became the first player to play for Honduras while with a second division club when he was at Arsenal on the island of Roatan in 2008.
