US soccer team arrives in Honduras for big World Cup qualifier on Saturday night

US arrives in Honduras for World Cup qualifier

SAN PEDRO SULA, Honduras — The bus containing the U.S. soccer team pulled up to the hotel with only two dozen or so local police standing guard. The regular State Department security contingent had come along on the flight from Miami.

For all the jitters about security ahead of Saturday night’s World Cup qualifier against Honduras, the situation was pretty much normal. While there were military when the team’s charter arrived Thursday at Ramon Villeda Morales International Airport, it was only a fraction of the security force that blanketed the team at the last two World Cups in South Korea and Germany.

“If they are sending us down here as a U.S. team, I can’t really be worried that the State Department and everyone doesn’t have it covered,” U.S. captain Carlos Bocanegra said. “We’re pretty far away from what’s going on.”

In a plaza downtown was one of the few signs of the political struggle unfolding in this Central American nation, which has been in turmoil since a military coup ousted President Manuel Zelaya in June. Zelaya returned to the country in late September and took refuge in the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa, complicating the situation for Interim President Roberto Micheletti.

“The constitution is not negotiable,” the sign said.

U.S. coach Bob Bradley briefed players on the security situation before the team left Florida but didn’t spend too much time on it.

“Whenever we travel, we always have tremendous security. In this particular case, we’ve had a little discussion with the team, so that they are aware of the different factors,” he said. “We’re very comfortable with the way our security gets handled.”

Tom King, the U.S. Soccer Federation’s managing director of administration, got to Honduras three days ahead of the team. When players arrived, local media was waiting at the hotel but there was no evidence of hostile fans.

Already two days before the game, downtown streets were filled with scalpers hawking tickets for the match at 45,000 capacity Estadio Olimpico Metropolitano. There were plenty of Catrachos jerseys on sale, too.

While the 11th-ranked United States would qualify for its sixth straight World Cup with one game to spare if it wins, No. 42 Honduras is 8-0 at home in qualifying and has outscored opponents 22-3 in those matches. The Catrachos are trying to make it to their second World Cup following their only appearance in 1982.

“The entire country is going to be behind them,” Bocanegra said. “Not to get on the political side of things, but obviously it will be something that brings everyone together, is football, which is a cool thing.”

The United States has had difficulty this year in Central America, needing a pair of goals in the last 15 minutes for a 2-2 tie at El Salvador and losing 3-1 at Costa Rica.

“Teams from Central America are good teams, well coached,” Bradley said. “And then combine that with environments: passionate crowds that are there behind their team and an environment that is never easy for the visitors.”

With two games left, the United States (5-2-1) leads North and Central America and the Caribbean with 16 points, followed by Mexico (5-3) with 15, Honduras (4-3-1) with 13 and Costa Rica (4-4) with 12. The top three teams qualify, and the No. 4 finisher meets South American’s fifth-place team in a home-and-home playoff.

If the Americans fail to clinch Saturday, when Mexico hosts El Salvador and Costa Rica is home against Trinidad and Tobago, they could ensure a berth with a tie or a victory against Costa Rica on Wednesday night at Washington’s RFK Stadium.

Qualifying hasn’t come down to the final day for the U.S. since 1989, when they won 1-0 at Trinidad to reach the World Cup for the first time since 1950.

“Ideally we can finish up things Saturday but, again, there are factors in all of this that are sometimes out of our control,” Bradley said.

The game will not be on television in the United States because the Honduran federation sold broadcast rights to a company that will broadcast it in the U.S. only in bars on a pay-per-view basis.

“We are certainly disappointed for our fans,” Bradley said. “Certainly the idea that this match is not on regular TV is disappointing for all of them, and we understand and feel badly about that.”