By Fernando Abarca
Given the expectations of a fairly even game due to the internal situations of both teams, it was safe to say that Honduras was the rival to measure where we were standing.
El Salvador finalized the US tour this Tuesday night in Houston, Texas, at Shell Energy Stadium, home to the Houston Dynamo. El Salvador’s goal was to conclude the American tour with a win and leave American soil with a draw, a loss, and a win. Conversely, Honduras looked to boost its confidence after losing the play-in game vs. Costa Rica.
El Salvador started the first half of the game with an easy idea of passing and attacking, generating plays, and providing goal opportunities during the first 20 minutes. The illusions were high for la Selecta in the 10th minute of the game when Jairo Henriquez centered the ball outside of the box, and Bryan Gil, with a first touch, scored, leaving the Honduran keeper with no chance to stop it.
El Salvador knew how to take advantage of La H’s mistakes. Josep Rosales from the left wing did not manage to control; Bryan Tamacas fought the ball, keeping possession and passing the ball to Henriquez and generating the goal that lifted the hopes to end a drought of 22 games.
Throughout the first half, El Salvador dominated almost the entirety of the game, having the opportunity to score more goals. The closest goal chances were by Nelson Bonilla and the former Houston Dynamo midfielder Darwin Ceren, who broke the defense and joined Bonilla to take a shot that hit the crossbar.
At the end of the first half, El Salvador clearly understood the assignment of going out there and competing. Everything seemed to favor the Salvadorans from going 22 games without a victory.
The second half
At the start of the half, Honduran Head Coach Reinaldo Rueda started moving pieces to strengthen the squad, as Andy Najar and Bryan Roches were subbed in. Honduras played with a different energy and believed in equalizing the result.
Honduras dominated El Salvador in every way and sense possible. El Salvador, once again, proposed a defensive game. At the same time, Honduras pushed hard in its tactics. Najar from the left side found an open space to center the ball to Ronchez, who put it back in the net with a header in the 61 minutes of the game. Tomas Romero of the New York Redbulls could not find a reach to stop the header. From that point on, Honduras had the game under control.
Again, El Salvador's key player was the goalkeeper in the last two games. Romero made several saves from different angles. Salvadoran Head Coach Doniga played the first 30 minutes, making no changes until the 74th minute, when Pablo Punyed, Mayer Gil, Tereso Benitez, and Melvin Cartagena entered the pitch.
The changes made by Doniga were meaningless, as the team was utterly inferior at that point. The substitutions needed to produce the targeted goal to ease the pressure on Honduras but failed. El Salvador lost their game idea by making silly mistakes, creating turnovers, and playing slower. During the last 10 minutes of the game, Honduras created two more chances at the 80 and 85 minutes.
Stoppage time came, and the game ended at the end of the 93rd minute. El Salvador’s biggest problem is holding the result and keeping a clean sheet.
The Aftermath
There are so many areas of improvement after these last games. The question is no longer when the streak will end but rather how the Salvadoran team will prepare for the upcoming qualifying round in June. El Salvador will return to activity in June against Puerto Rico, where the dream is to qualify for the World Cup or, at least, to win a game.
