Male Football Team from Honduras Reaches Final at Lima 2019 Pan American Games

The male football team from Honduras qualified for the final of the Lima 2019 Pan American Games on Wednesday, eliminating Mexico in the semifinals on penalties (2-4), after a tough match with three expulsions in extra time.

The Hondurans had their goalkeeper Naid Guity as their standout player. He corrected his mistake in Mexico's goal by preventing two other goals from the Tricolor when his team was behind on the scoreboard. He then stopped one of the penalties in the shootout.

The Mexicans, who were favorites to reach the final, took the lead with a midfield goal from Francisco Venegas but were surprised with ten minutes remaining by José Alejandro Reyes' equalizer.

In the penalty shootout, the Tricolor missed two penalties, one saved by Naid, and another hitting the post, while the 'H' didn't miss any, and defender Denil Maldonado scored the last and decisive shot.

This will be the second time that Honduras plays in a Pan American Games final, as they did in 1999, when they lost to Mexico.

At the beginning, the Hondurans were affected by the cold atmosphere of the San Marcos stadium in Lima and started with timid attacks until Mexico settled on the pitch and took control of the game.

The Tricolor had up to three dangerous incursions in Honduras' box before taking the lead with a superb goal from Venegas from midfield, who saw Naid excessively advanced.

The young Tigres midfielder came close to sealing the match in the last play of the first half with a free-kick that Naid saved.

The Central Americans wasted a great opportunity to equalize at the start of the second half, but then Mexico also missed with a close-range shot from midfielder Marcel Ruiz, testing the reflexes of the Honduran goalkeeper once again.

With ten minutes left, Honduras found the reward when it caused the least harm to its opponent. It was thanks to a ball that reached the feet of midfielder José Alejandro Reyes, who found plenty of space to run through the middle and all the time in the world to place a shot into the bottom corner of the goal.

The draw took the match to extra time, and there Honduras came very close to scoring a second goal with a shot from midfielder Carlos Pineda.

Then came the festival of expulsions, as both teams maintained the same intensity despite nearly a dozen players being cautioned on the field.

The first to fall with two yellow cards was the left-back Riky Zapata from Honduras, but immediately after, Mexico lost two players in just three minutes with the expulsions of forward José Godinez, with a straight red card, and defender Brayton Vázquez, who received his second yellow.

With players missing on both sides, both teams were satisfied with reaching the penalty shootout, a lottery that worked perfectly for Honduras without missing any shots, while Mexico started against the ropes by missing the first penalty and continued to struggle by missing the third one. EFE

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