November 19 – Honduras go into the second leg of their Nations League quarter final tie against Mexico in Toluca with a two-goal lead and a major upset in the offing.
An incident after the final whistle saw a can thrown from the crowd and hitting Mexico manager Javier Aguirre who was left bleeding from his head. The Hondurans have subsequently been sanctioned with their next home game behind closed doors, but they won’t let that dampen their competitiveness.
The Hondurans have been threatening to break back into the top echelon of Concacaf’s football for the past year, but even they could not have expected the emphatic victory in the first leg match at Estadio Francisco Morazán in San Pedro Sula, Honduras.
Mexico have been a perennially dominant force in Concacaf and are the current Gold Cup holders, but have yet to win a Nations League title. Even so, they have never failed to qualify for the final four, which for this edition will be held at the SoFi Stadium in Hollywood Park, Los Angeles, next March.
The 2024/25 Nations League has been planned as a key competitive building block for nations ahead of the 2026 World Cup, which Mexico is co-hosting.
Mexico going into the tie as clear favourites under returning coach Aguirre.
Raul Jiménez had a straightforward chance for Mexico on 21’ but his left-footed volley from the centre of the box went high. It was their best chance of the game with Mexico never convincingly threatening the Honduras goal after that.
Honduras could have had the lead on 40’ but Joseph Rosales’ long-range strike was saved by Mexico’s veteran goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa. It was a second half brace from Luis Palma on 61’ and 79’ that sealed the match for Honduras.
The scenes at the close of the match saw Aguirre reportedly needed four stitches to close the head wound. In announcing the sanction, Concacaf said they take “note of recent statements from the Honduran Football Federation regarding their commitment to take action against any type of violent behavior from fans at their matches. Concacaf looks forward to learning more about these efforts and to amplifying any work that seeks to prevent incidents from occurring.”
At the same time Concacaf said its Disciplinary Committee has opened a separate disciplinary case investigating the conduct of Aguirre. Social media had images and comment of Aguirre repeatedly ‘giving the finger’ to the Honduras fans.
The teams resume their quarter final battle tonight.
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