MANY Honduras players ply their trade in England and Scotland; namely Juan Carlos Garcia and Roger Espinoza at Wigan, Maynor Figueroa at Hull, Wilson Palacios at Stoke, Emilio Izaguirre at Celtic and Arnold Peralta at Rangers.

 

Outright odds: 1500/1

To win group: 22/1

To qualify: 5/1

 

Full squad: Noel Valladares, Donis Escober (both Olimpia), Luis Lopez (Real Espana); Brayan Beckeles (Olimpia), Emilio Izaguirre (Celtic), Juan Carlos Garcia (Wigan), Maynor Figueroa (Hull), Victor Bernardez (San Jose Earthquakes), Osman Chavez (Qingdao Janoon), Juan Pablo Montes (Motagua); Arnold Peralta (Rangers), Luis Garrido (Olimpia), Roger Espinoza (Wigan), Jorge Claros (Motagua), Wilson Palacios (Stoke), Oscar Garcia (Houston Dynamo), Andy Najar (Anderlecht), Mario Martinez (Real Espana), Marvin Chavez (Colorado Rapids); Jerry Bengtson (New England Revolution), Jerry Palacios (Alajuelense), Carlo Costly (Real Espana), Rony Martinez (Real Sociedad).

Manager: Luis Fernando Suarez

World Cup record: Group stage (1982, 2010)

How they qualified (most recent first): Finished third in their final CONCACAF qualification group behind USA and Costa Rica, but ahead of Mexico and old foes from third-round qualification, Panama.

v Jamaica (away) 2-2 (HT 2-1) Costly 2 Figueroa 32

v Costa Rica (home) 1-0 (HT 0-0) Bengtson 64

v Panama (home) 2-2 (HT 1-0) Costly 28, Palacios 62

v Mexico (away) 2-1 (HT 0-1) Bengston 63 Costly 66

v USA (away) 0-1 (HT 0-0)

v Jamaica (home) 2-0 (HT 1-0) Garcia 10, Rojas 88

v Costa Rica (away) 0-1 (HT 0-1)

v Panama (away) 0-2 (HT 0-1)

v Mexico (home) 2-2 (HT 0-1) Costly 77, Bengtson 80

v USA (home) 2-1 (HT 1-1) Garcia 40, Bengtson 79

v Canada (home) 8-1 (HT 4-0) Bengtson 7, 17, 83, Costly 29, 49, 88, Martinez 33, 61

v Panama (away) 0-0 (HT 0-0)

v Cuba (home) 1-0 (HT 1-0) Bengtson 33

v Cuba (away) 3-0 (HT 1-0) Bengtson 32, Bernardez 62, Chavez 90+3

v Canada (away) 0-0 (HT 0-0)

v Panama (home) 0-2 (HT 0-0)

Goalscorers: Using the stats from only the more competitive final phase of qualifying, Carlo Costly and Jerry Bengtson got four goals apiece in qualifying (Bengtson also got five in the previous round).

Half-time/full-time: Honduras won from all positions, coming from a half-time deficit away in Mexico for one of their wins.

Clean sheets: Honduras managed to keep just two clean sheets in their 10 final-stage qualifiers.

Win to nil: Both of those clean sheets earned wins to nil.

Other competitive internationals (most recent first): After finishing runners-up to Costa Rica in the Copa Centroamericana last January, Honduras went forward to the CONCACAF Gold Cup where they lost to eventual winners and hosts USA in the quarter-finals in July.

v USA (away) 1-3 (HT 0-2) Medina 52

v Costa Rica (neutral) 1-0 (HT 0-0) Najar 49

v Trinidad & Tobago (neutral) 0-2 (HT 0-0)

v El Salvador (neutral) 1-0 (HT 0-0) Claros 90+2

v Costa Rica (away) 0-1 (HT 0-1)

v Belize (neutral) 1-0 (HT 0-0) Beckeles 67

v Haiti (neutral) 2-0 (HT 1-0) R Martinez 4, M Chavez 78

v Panama 1-1 (HT 1-1) Montes 31

v El Salvador 1-1 (HT 0-0) Bengtson 75

Build-up (most recent first): Recent friendly defeats to Israel and Turkey, neither of whom will be in Brazil, do not bode particularly well. And best not mention November's clash with the hosts and tournament favourites.

v Israel (neutral) 2-4 (HT 0-1) Espinoza 47, Costly 83

v Turkey (neutral) 0-2 (HT 0-0)

v Venezuela (home) 2-1 (HT 1-1) Bengtson 7, J Palacios 50

v Ecuador (neutral) 2-2 (HT 0-1) Costly 63, 67

v Brazil (neutral) 0-5 (HT 0-1)

 

Team verdict: Many Honduras players ply their trade in England and Scotland; namely Juan Carlos Garcia and Roger Espinoza at Wigan, Maynor Figueroa at Hull, Wilson Palacios at Stoke, Emilio Izaguirre at Celtic and Arnold Peralta at Rangers.

Their performances in qualifying, particularly the impressive 2-1 win away in Mexico, suggest that they shouldn't be dismissed too lightly in Group E.

However, they will struggle to qualify and the best bet could well be for them to finish bottom as France, Switzerland and Ecuador really should be too strong.