Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras look to build momentum at Central American Nations Cup
For at least Costa Rica, El Salvador and Honduras, the most important thing is to qualify for the World Cup. Winning the Central American Nations Cup would be a nice start toward that goal.
The seven-team sub-regional championship gets underway Thursday in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, with the Ticos, Cuscatlecos and Catrachos the clear favorites in an event that will qualify the last five teams for the CONCACAF Gold Cup. Only three countries have ever won the Copa de Naciones de UNCAF since it was initiated in 1991: Costa Rica (6), Honduras (2) and Guatemala (1).
Costa Rica has won the last three, and not only appears to be the dominant team in Central America, but is bidding to climb alongside Mexico and the United States as the confederation’s perennial powers.
Another title would continue to solidify its growing reputation, and offer a momentum boost as it tries for a third consecutive appearance at the World Cup.
“The priority this year is to qualify for the World Cup,” Costa Rica manager Rodrigo Kenton said. “Without room to observe players, we’re taking advantage of a competition like UNCAF to evaluate them and simultaneously we need to win to continue growing the confidence and morale of the Costa Rican player.”
Costa Rica already should have plenty of confidence going into the January 22-February 1 event. It was the only team in CONCACAF to get through to the semifinal round of qualifying without a loss or even a draw in six matches, outscoring its opponents 20-3.
But Kenton has called only a handful of regulars from the semifinal round of qualifying, owing to the fact that the first game of the final round of qualifying, the hexagonal, is set for February 11.
Kenton, as well as counterparts Reindaldo Rueda of Honduras and Carlos de los Cobos of El Salvador and the rest of the field, will be largely restricted to domestic-based sides, unable to call on those playing club soccer in southern Europe because the Central American championship does not fall within the international match calendar.
That will cost Kenton players such as Bryan Ruiz, who led Costa Rica with four goals during qualifying, and Froylan Ledezma, who had a pair of goals. But Kenton also has not called in playmaker Walter Centeno or midfielder Celso Borges.
Goalkeeper Kaylor Navas, forward Alejandro Alpizar and defender Michael Umana are a few of the regulars that will be asked to carry the side.
Honduras, which finished atop Group B in the semifinal round of World Cup qualifying – ahead of Mexico, is similarly limited. Rueda called in only five players from outside the country for his two-week training in Florida in the United States, but is seeing the return of career team scoring leader Carlos Pavon after 16 months.
"We will try to make a good Cup of Nations and give this tournament the seriousness that it deserves," assistant coach Alexis Mendoza said.
Honduras will be playing at home, offering late last year to step in and take over as the tournament’s host to replace Panama, which withdrew due to construction and renovation delays of the planned venue.
For El Salvador, which advanced to the final round of World Cup qualifying well behind Costa Rica but well ahead of Haiti and Suriname in Group C, its roster will include two players possibly more familiar to the United States than the Catrachos.
Twenty-three-year-old forward Arturo Alvarez, who plays for the San Jose Earthquakes of Major League soccer, was born in the United States and played for the country’s youth national teams. But with native Salvadoran parents, he qualifies for the Central American nation. Additionally, Edwin Miranda of the Puerto Rico Islanders, was born in El Salvador but grew up in Los Angeles.
While most are generally conceding Costa Rica, Honduras and El Salvador should easily qualify for the Gold Cup, some wonder if Nicaragua or Belize can surprise teams such as Guatemala or Panama and break their streak of having never qualified for the CONCACAF finals.
Belize has never advanced past the first round of the Central American cup in five tries, but Nicaragua finished fifth in 2005, a result that would earn it a place among the 12-nation Gold Cup field this time around.
At the other end are Costa Rica, Honduras and El Salvador, which are trying to build a little inertia for something even bigger.
CONCACAF.COM
