The U.S. certainly owes a debt of gratitude to two players with ties to American soccer, former Columbus Crew striker Stern John, and goalkeeper Shaka Hislop who played his college ball at Howard University. The two Trinidad & Tobago players were key to the shocking 1-0 upset in Honduras that allowed the U.S. to clinch a World Cup Berth on Sunday.
Not much has been written here in the U.S. about that match and that is a shame. For Trinidad, playing on raw emotion 48 hours after burying midfielderer Mickey Trotman who was killed earlier in the week in an auto accident, turned in perhaps the most amazing performance of the final round.
Everyone not only expected Honduras to win the home match at Estadio Olimpico in San Pedro Sula, but to run up the score to gain a goal-differential advantage going into its final match with Mexico. So Trinidad & Tobago came into the match looking to defend, and hoping for some kind of break. It got a season's worth in one match.
Trinidad defender Brent Rahim (University of Connecticut) was, shall we say, a bit over-zealous in his efforts. Twenty minutes into the match, he accumulated his second yellow card and was gone, leaving the visitors to play a man down for 70 minutes. Immediately, Honduras coach Ramon Enrique Maradiaga smelling blood, and brought on attacking midfielder Julio César de León, while taking off a defensive midfielder.
The result was almost immediate. Honduran striker Carlos Pavón put one in the net, but it was disallowed after it was ruled he had controlled the ball with his hand. For Honduras, this was going to be the tone for the rest of the match.
At the start of the second half, Maradiaga took off his central defender Reynaldo Clavasquin, and brought on yet another attacker, Saúl Martinez. Within 90 seconds, Honduras hit the crossbar twice on what should have been sure goals. First León hit it with a free kick from 30 yards, then defender Samuel Caballero's hit it again with a header off a corner kick.
In one of the few Trinidad opportunities of the day, John ran under a long looping pass in the 61st minute, held off two defenders and put a shot past Honduran keeper Noel Valladares. John was not even scheduled to play, instead to in England for a Worthington Cup match, but he came to replace his friend Trotman.
For the next half hour, Trinidad put 10 men behind the ball and defended with all its power. Three more Honduran shots rattled off the woodwork, once hitting the underside of the cross-bar and staying out. Hislop made two terrific saves, one on Pavón that was as good as any seen in the competition.
The final score could well have been 6-1 Honduras, but as Bruce Arena and a number of U.S. players said after the match in Foxboro, soccer can be a strange and cruel game. Or cruel to the Hondurans. For the Americans it was sublime.
Amazingly, this was Honduras' third home loss of the final hexagonal with setbacks to Costa Rica, the U.S. and Trinidad. Strangely, Honduras defeated Mexico at home, when no one expected it, and won away at the U.S. and drew with Jamaica and Costa Rica.
Some teams have trouble winning at home because of the pressure of high expectations. Notwithstanding the home win against Mexico, Honduras may be a classic example.
