World Cup qualifiers – Honduras vs Mexico: The Mexican national team is under a lot of pressure due to their rather poor performances. The team faced Honduras who are last in the Octogonal on Sunday. They needed a win to stay in the driver’s seat for the 3rd automatic spot from the CONCACAF.
The hosts did give a tough fight to the much stronger visitors. However, Ajax’s Edson Álvarez found the back of the net in the 70th minute to give Mexico three crucial points through a 0-1 win.
Following this as long as Mexico gains a point in their final match of the qualifiers against El Salvador. They qualify directly to the WC. However, if they lose and Costa Rica manages a significant win in their midweek game. Then Mexico would be forced to go through the inter-confederation playoffs.
World Cup qualifiers – Honduras vs Mexico: Match Summary
Full-time score: Honduras 0-1 Mexico
Honduras: Luis López, Denil Maldonado (76′ Marcelo Pereira), Wesly Decas, Marcelo Santos, Bryan Acosta (84′ Gerson Chavez), Alfredo Mejía, Kervin Arriaga (45′ Edwin Rodriguez), Kevin López (69′ Edwin Solano), Cristian Sacaza (54′ Alexander López), Ángel Tejeda (69′ Junior Lacayo).
Mexico: Guillermo Ochoa, Johan Vásquez, César Montes, Gerardo Arteaga (65′ Jorge Sánchez), Edson Álvarez, Héctor Herrera, Carlos Rodríguez (67′ Diego Lainez), Raúl Jiménez (81′ Érick Gutiérrez), Hirving Lozano (81′ Henry Martín), Jesús Corona (67′ Uriel Antuna).
Pre-match conference
Honduras manager, Hernán Darío Gómez: “With the respect that the Mexicans deserve, they don’t like any foreign coach, Osorio qualified five dates earlier in the last tie, I think he has a record and they didn’t like it, so that’s difficult. Let him lose here with us, inside he will get his result, he has two games, he has never been out, he has always been classified. The area is not easy, it is very tight, there are more teams than individuals.
“In Mexico all the games kick ‘Tata’, in all the games ‘Tata’ doesn’t work and he’s qualifying. So the player is going to play it for. You have to support the coach so that the players gain confidence.
“Tomorrow we will face one of the most important teams in CONCACAF. We will face the greatest, because he is the one who has never missed the World Cup. He is the one who manages this area, now the distances have been shortened. But it is a motivation for our team.”
