HexagonalBlog

Rueda off to Ecuador?

Reports from Honduras and Ecuador claim that Honduran national team coach Reinaldo Rueda is about to take the similar post in the South American country.  One of Rueda's assistant coaches gave an interview with one of the radio stations in Ecuador saying that "it would be an honor" to coach the national team and that he and the rest of the staff are working out the remaining details with the federation.  Rueda's imminent departure has provoked a wide range of reactions from across Honduran football, ranging from thanksgiving for leading Honduras back to the World Cup finals, to anger that he is abandoning them for a big-money contract, to fear that Honduras' national team will have to start the rebuilding process all over again.  The latter fear is actually the one that I share and Honduras will have a lot of work to do to form a competitive team for the 2014 cycle. 

On Diez's website there is a totally unscientific survey asking the fans who they prefer to be the next coach of Honduras.  The fun part about the survey is that the number one choice of Honduran fans by a very wide margin is the USA's Bob Bradley.  Ex-Salvadoran national team coach Carlos de los Cobos is a distant #2.  Bradley ain't happening, but de los Cobos might if the Chicago Fire decide that their little experiment hasn't worked.

The confusing Liberia Mía saga

In the time that I've spent studying and writing about Central American and Caribbean soccer, I've seen quite a bit.  I've seen clubs go up, and I've seen clubs go down.  I've seen clubs change their names, multiple times in fact.  I've seen clubs get relegated and buy the license of the promoted club so that they can stay in the top flight.  I've seen clubs win the league one season, get relegated the next, and disband shortly thereafter. 

I don't think I've ever seen a situation quite like this one.  Liberia Mía are (or should I say, were) a club playing in Costa Rica's top flight, but they were called Municipal Liberia until a few years ago when Mario Sotela bought the club and sought to buy himself a championship.  They won the Torneo Verano in 2008 and played a qualification round in the CONCACAF Champions League, in which they lost 6-3 on aggregate to Real España (won 3-0 at home, and lost 0-6 away!).  After that season the club changed its name to Águilas de Guanacaste, ostensibly to be more representative of the Guanacaste region in which they reside but in the end making no one happy.  The residents of Liberia felt slighted, to say the least, with the name change, and the team underperformed in the league and didn't draw fans from the rest of the province. 

This season, the club decided to change its name to Liberia Mía, but the owner decided to clean house completely.  The transferible players were sent to Herediano, a club which is also owned by Sotela.  The rest were released from their contracts.  In their place are players from the youth programs.  But to top things off, Liberia decided to sell their place in Primera to Barrio México, who finished second in last season's Segunda División.  (That transfer of playing license was approved by Unafut today.)  The radical moves aren't doing much to relieve Liberia's financial problems.  At least 15 players have sued to have their debts with the club honored, with the support of the players' union.  The debts of three of the players will be canceled by the Barrio México owner, but the others must wait.

It's all very confusing, and I'm not sure I understand it all.  I'm almost certain that the fans don't understand it either.  If I were a supporter of a club in Costa Rica, I'd wonder why I even bother.

Esteli sends a protest to CONCACAF

The president of Real Estelí has sent a letter of protest to CONCACAF over the exclusion of the Nicaraguan champions from next season's CONCACAF Champions League.  It's not going to change the decision of the Executive Committee, but it is useful for recording Estelí's disapproval of the final ruling.

Fidel Moreno, Estelí's president, makes a couple of points in his letter; one, that it is unfair that a stadium that FIFA permits for international friendlies is unsuitable for the regional club competition, and two, that CONCACAF's ruling fails to take into account the enormous expense that the poorer federations must undertake to bring their stadia into compliance. 

With respect to the first point, it is not uncommon for confederations to have higher standards for venues in their club competitions than FIFA does for international matches.  CONCACAF, in contrast with UEFA, has only one set of criteria for assessing the suitability of possible match venues.  That might be unfair to the champions of smaller countries and perhaps there should be two classes of stadium criteria, but those are the rules at the present time. 

The second point has greater salience in my opinion, and asks exactly what CONCACAF is trying to achieve by having such stadium regulations in its club competition.  I understand that CONCACAF is trying to pull the national federations in the direction of modern stadia with modern amenities.  (See the new Estadio Rommel Fernández in Panama.)  Too many of the Central American and Caribbean stadia look like the shacks that they surround, and the amenities inside are not much better.  At the same time, however, CONCACAF need to remember that Central America and the Caribbean are very different worlds from North America, much less Western Europe.  Barring a massive investment from the national government or the private sector -- which is even more of a non-starter now that it would be in the best of economic conditions -- or massive investment from FIFA, the best that most of these stadia can hope for is a gradual progression toward the ideal in CONCACAF competitions. 

Romero's strongest passage in his protest letter states "CONCACAF's decision to exclude us [the Nicaraguan champions] brings us to a more important discussion: whether countries like ours and Belize are really members of CONCACAF or are just part of their statistics, with a lack of regard for FIFA's fundamental principles on the universality and development of football."

CONCACAF's report on Esteli stadium

PinoleroSports.com, a news site devoted to Nicaraguan sport, obtained a copy of the inspection report that was submitted to CONCACAF after UNCAF officials visited the Estadio Independencia in Estelí a week ago.  The report sheds some light on why the stadium, and Nicaraguan clubs, were excluded from the CONCACAF Champions League.

Will Estelí's stadium pass CCL inspection?

Last Thursday, officials from CONCACAF (I'm guessing from the UNCAF offices in Guatemala) inspected the Estadio Independencia in Estelí to determine if it is suitable to host matches in the CONCACAF Champions League next season.  Close to a million dollars have been spent on the upgrades to the lighting, stands, locker rooms, and press boxes.  The draw for the preliminary round is next Wednesday, so a final decision will have to be made by Monday.

You can find pictures at the aforementioned link and the Real Estelí website. 

The locker room and the lights look good, but that playing surface certainly leaves much to be desired.  At least with the end of the league season there will be some time for the surface to recover in time for the Champions League matches -- in theory.  Overall the facilities look basic but in good working order.

Spring 2010 playoffs in Central America: Champions Weekend

This weekend, the rest of the playoffs in the Central American leagues will be decided.  (Belize's Premier League is in playoff mode, but they don't finish until next weekend.)  Champions were decided in Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Panama tonight, and in El Salvador tomorrow next weekend.

Costa Rica

Saprissa returned to the summit of Costa Rican soccer after overwhelming Universidad de San Carlos 3-0 in the final of the Torneo Verano.  Combined with the 5-2 away result, the Purple Monsters won the series 8-2 on aggregate.  The final outcome was never really in doubt, but Saprissa scored within the first ten minutes through Josué Martínez and dominated the proceedings for the following 80.  It is the 29th national title for Saprissa, who will play in the group stage of next season's CONCACAF Champions League.  Brujas FC, the Torneo Invierno winners, will go through the preliminary round.

Guatemala

Municipal won its 28th league title tonight -- and swept both of the short tournaments for the season -- after defeating Xelajú MC 4-0 in Quetzaltenango to win the Clausura championship 7-1 on aggregate.  Xela had a tall task ahead of them after the two-goal defeat at the Mateo Flores stadium, but they struggled to get past a more experienced and organized Municipal side and fell behind on a beautiful individual effort by Juan José Castillo in the 18th minute.  Castillo received the ball inside the penalty area with his back to goal, spun around and cut back inside with his left foot, and curled the ball past the outstretched arms of Patterson.  A great goal!  Just before halftime a strong run on goal by Darwin Oliva induced an own goal, and Municipal were up 2-0 on the night and 5-1 on aggregate.  The match ceased to be a contest after that, but Municipal didn't cease scoring -- Municipal legend Juan Carlos Plata poked the ball past Patterson late in the match, and Marío Rodríguez scored on the last kick of the season.  Municipal will enter the Champions League at the group stage, while Xelajú MC will have to await its opponent in the preliminary round.

(And in case you might be wondering, the MC in Xelajú's name stands for Marío Camposeco, a standout striker for Xela and Guatemala's national team in the late 1940s/early 1950s who was killed in a light airplane crash in 1951.  The club and the stadium at which they play are named for him.)

El Salvador

The Clausura final will be played between Isidro Metapán and Águila on the 23rd of May at the Estadio Cuscatlán.  I will update this section with the final result when it comes in.  (I corrected the text above, I thought the final would be played on Sunday the 16th.)

Panama

Árabe Unido won the Clausura championship in Panama after defeating San Francisco 1-0 in the one-off final at the new Estadio Rommel Fernández.  José Justavino scored the winner just after the restart, and then Árabe Unido had to weather the final 40 minutes with a man disadvantage after Publio Rodríguez was shown a straight red.  Unido won both of the short tournaments in the LPF, so they will go through to the group stage of the CONCACAF Champions League.  Tauro FC gains Panama's second berth in the tournament by virtue of their better overall league record over San Francisco FC.

Nicaragua

They're playing the End-of-Season final between Real Estelí and Walter Ferretí -- not sure why, as the match has no bearing on the league's lone berth into the CONCACAF Champions League.  Why not just save the problems of logistics and motivation and have one unitary tournament from August to May?  (You can ask that question to the rest of the Americas.)  At any rate, the first leg in Estelí ended 0-0 to the surprise of almost no one.

Part 3 of Spring 2010 playoffs in Central America

Playoffs around Central America are in the final stage, and champions have been crowned in Honduras and Nicaragua.

Honduras: Olimpia won their 23rd league title on Saturday night after defeating Motagua 3-2 on aggregate (3-1 and 0-1).  It was also the first time that Olimpia had defeated Motagua in a final after four attempts.  Motagua dominated the match and scored the lone goal midway through the first half through George Welcome, but could not score the equalizer.  The closest they would get to leveling the series was when Shannon Welcome crashed his header against the crossbar midway through the second half.  Olimpia and Marathón will advance to next season's CONCACAF Champions League, and Olimpia will enter at the group stage because of their better position in the overall season table.  Motagua, who finished with the highest point total over the two tournaments (71 points; the only club with more than 20 wins in the regular season), end with nothing.

The Clausura final in El Salvador will be between Águila and Isidro Metapán.  Águila drew 0-0 with Vista Hermosa on Saturday night, which allowed them to progress 2-0 on aggregate.  This afternoon Metapán scored a big upset by defeating Firpo 2-1 at the Estadio Cuscatlán to go through 4-3 on aggregate.   East will meet west in the Clausura final which will once again be a one-match affair.

In Guatemala, Municipal and Suchitepéquez will meet in the final of the Clausura tournament.  Municipal upset Comunicaciones 3-2 on aggregate (2-1 and 1-1), while Suchi Xelajú MC defeated Xelajú MC Suchi on penalties after a 2-2 aggregate draw (2-0 and 0-2).  That penalty round by Xelajú Suchitepéquez featured three of the worst penalties that I've seen in a shootout -- an attempted curl that flew wide of the far post, a blast that almost left the stadium, and a stop-and-start that produced a weak roller.  Xelajú will be in the Champions League next season thanks to their regular season record, but will win a berth in the group stage if they defeat Municipal in the final series.(CORRECTION: I don't know what I was thinking last night, but I completely reversed the outcome of the Suchi-Xelajú match.  And I was watching that match, too.  I suppose I wasn't thinking all that clearly...at any rate, I've corrected the text above.)

Saprissa have one hand and four fingers on Costa Rica's league trophy after defeating Universidad de San Carlos 4-2 away in the opening leg of the Verano final.  San Carlos were up 2-1 midway through the second half and Saprissa were down to ten men after Ándres Nuñez was sent off for elbowing a San Carlos player, but then the Bulls of the North lost the plot disastrously.  The San Carlos defenders failed to pick up their markers and forgot how to head crosses out of danger, and Saprissa scored three goals in the final thirteen minutes.  The second leg of the final will be played on Saturday.

Real Estelí won the Clausura final in Nicaragua against Walter Ferretí 1-1 on aggregate (1-1 on Wednesday, 0-0 Sunday).  The win places Estelí in the CONCACAF Champions League as the league's lone representative on the narrowest of margins.  Estelí and Ferretí had identical point totals over the two tournaments, but Estelí had a better goal difference.  Of course, Real Estelí appearance in next season's continental competition depends on Estadio Independencia having passed CONCACAF inspection.  A team was supposed to have visited last month but I haven't seen any news on the verdict.

Árabe Unido and San Francisco will meet in Panama's Clausura final on Friday.  San Francisco drew 2-2 at Atlético Chiriqui to progress to the final 3-2 on aggregate, and Árabe Unido reversed a 1-0 deficit against Chorrillo to win 2-0 after extra time (2-1 aggregate).  The final will be played at the newly renovated Estadio Rommel Fernández, which is a huge improvement on the previous building.  It's as if a European stadium has been airlifted into Panama!

I have no idea what's really happening in Belize, but according to the latest table, Belize Defence Force head the Premier League table, closely followed by Hankook Verdes, Paradise/Freedom Fighters, and FC Belize. (They're in the playoff stage as well; the first round finished this weekend but I haven't searched the Belizean news sites for results yet.  Hat-tip to Eric.)

A Costly loss for Honduras

Very bad news for Honduras' hopes in the World Cup as doctors confirmed that Carlo Costly has a broken bone in his right foot.  Costly, who plays for SC Vaslui in Romania, suffered the injury in a league match against CFR Cluj last weekend.  The recovery time from such an injury is six to eight weeks, which means that Costly will miss the World Cup. 

It was originally thought that Costly had suffered a broken ankle, which would have kept him out of football for up to four months.  This injury isn't as serious at the outset, but no less crippling to Honduras' hopes in South Africa.

Costly has been Honduras' most potent attacking option over the past two years, and it will be very hard to replace him.  David Suazo and Carlos Pavón simply aren't consistent enough.

Honduran league player dies in car accident

Denovan Josué Morales, a midfielder with Hispano in Honduras' Primera division, was killed today along with two other people in an automobile accident.  He was 22.  Morales was traveling with his cousin to a roof-painting job when the truck he was traveling in collided head-on with a bus near the town of Siguatepeque, located about halfway between Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula. 

Morales scored four goals during the Clausura for Hispano, which finished just outside the playoff places in fifth place.  RIP.

Haiti loses to Argentina in charity match

Haiti's national soccer team lost to Argentina 4-0 in a friendly match played tonight in Cutral-Có in the Patagonian province of Neuquén.  The match went as expected; Argentina dominated throughout and scored at regular intervals, and the Haitian team was largely a bystander (the local papers said that they resembled an amateur team).  The match won't be too useful for Maradona to evaluate his players, as the only player in tonight's lineup who looks likely to be in South Africa is Martín Palermo, who scored tonight.

At almost 50 US dollars for the cheap seats, tickets were extremely expensive, but there was still a large crowd to see a rare appearance by the national team in the interior of the country.  Despite the final result, the big winner of the night was Haiti, which received some much needed funds for the rebuilding of the football infrastructure and -- for players and fellow countrymen -- a few hours of relief from the grinding reality at home.