Men's National Team

1 - 3

Honduras

San Pedro Sula, Honduras | Estadio Olímpico Metropolitano

Attendance: 35000

90'

Goal: Hendry Thomas scores for Opponent
60'

Goal: Carlo Costly scores for Opponent
Goal: André Hainault scores for CANADA André Hainault

52'
8'

Goal: Walter Martinez scores for Opponent

Timeline

Men's National Team

KO

KO
8 ' |
52 ' | André Hainault
60 ' |
90 ' |
FT

FT

Honduras

Match Report

Defender André Hainault found the back of the net for his first international goal tonight, but he would have preferred that it came in a match under better circumstances. It was Hainault that equalized the game early in the second half, but it was not enough as Canada fell 1:3 to Honduras on match-day four of CONCACAF Stage III in the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™ Qualifiers.

Such was the result in San Pedro Sula this night that Honduras ended Canada’s 2010 South Africa hopes.

Walter Martinez sent the Estadio Olimpico crowd into an early tizzy just nine minutes after the opening whistle. Honduran captain Amado Guevara started the play and put the ball in the box for Wilson Palacios. Palacios pivoted to get the ball in the middle after which Martinez got a toe on the ball to knock it past Canada.

Off the whistle, Canada came out strong looking for the equalizer. In the 11th minute, Ali Gerba made a good header off a perfect centering pass from Canadian captain Paul Stalteri. After that, however, Honduras got out and thew wave after wave at the Canadian defence.

In the second half, coach Mitchell made two changes to get the Canucks back on their feet. Rob Friend went in up front in place of Gerba and Iain Hume went in at midfield in place of Marcel de Jong. The changes proved fruitful as it led to a Canadian goal in the 54th minute, thanks in part to substitute Hume.

Hume slipped on his free kick, but still got the ball deep in the Honduras box. Kevin McKenna headed the ball off the crossbar, but Hainault picked up the rebound and got a knee on the ball to beat Honduran goalkeeper Noel Valladares.

The game started to swing in Canada’s favour, but then in the 61st minute a Honduran strike changed the game for good. Carlos Costly hit a deadly strike from 25 yards out on which Canadian goalkeeper Lars Hirschfeld had no chance.

Late in the game, Friend created the best chance to equalize the score off a corner kick in the 82nd minute. Friend was well placed to make a header on goal, but the Honduran defender was in place to direct the ball away from danger.

Honduras’ Hendry Thomas then sealed the victory with a goal in the 91st minute, the host nation’s third of the game. It was Elvis Turcios who centered the ball before Thomas dove to get his head on the ball and direct it into the net.

Coach Mitchell had been forced to call on changes to Canada’s lineup, most notably because of suspensions to Dwayne De Rosario and Adrian Serioux and injuries to Julian de Guzman, Daniel Imhof and Issey Nakajima-Farran.

Some of Canada’s new faces were goalscorer Hainault of FK Siad Most and defender Kevin Harmse of Toronto FC. Both started the game on the back four. De Jong also started for Canada, making his fourth appearance with the national team. Nik Ledgerwood, Chris Pozniak and Joshua Wagenaar were also called in for the match.

Coach Mitchell did, however, profit from the return of forward Tomasz Radzinski, who a month ago was injured in the Canada-Honduras match in Montréal.