The World Cup Qualifying Matches start today, Tuesday 16th October 2012
World Cup qualifying: Excitement rising for crucial Canada-Honduras soccer game
Toronto Star
SAN PEDRO SULA, HONDURAS—
There’s no mistaking it’s game day here.
Not only has a national holiday been extended through Tuesday, the media is non-stop in its coverage of this afternoon’s World Cup qualifying match at Estadio Olimpico between Canada and Honduras.
With the match set to kick off at 2 p.m. local time (4 p.m. ET, Sportsnet), at least two morning TV news programs began broadcasting live from the stadium shortly after 7 a.m. On another channel, a man, dressed in a replica of the white jersey Honduras will wear in the match, was taking phone calls from viewers and discussing the game.
Hondurans must win to advance to the final round of qualifying for the 2014 World Cup. The Canadians only need to earn a draw to reach that stage for the first time since the playdowns for spots in the 1998 World Cup in France.
On the front page of the tabloid newspaper Golazo, four of the Honduran players posed with a team flag. At the bottom of the page, it said that 38,000 fans in the stadium and the entire country’s population of eight million will be united in their cry of: “Honduras, Honduras, Honduras.”
Another tabloid newspaper, La Prensa, featured a front page picture of the Hondurans training Monday and devoted an entire 12-page special section to the match. On its cover, a cartoon depicts a petrified Canadian player being tossed into a pot labelled “Olimpico” which is on a burning fire. Loosely translated, the headline said, “You’re toast.”
At the stadium, upwards of 400 police officers are expected inside the stadium with another 50 stationed outside.
Four members of the Canadian media, including the Star, have been told to arrive four hours before the match to secure seats in the press box, which is actually not a box at all but rather a row of chairs and a table located amidst the fans. There have been assurances that visiting reporters will have security during the match and be escorted down to the Canadian locker room for player interviews after the match.
Canadian officials were told at the pre-match meeting Monday that none of the fans will be allowed to bring guns into the stadium.
San Pedro Sula is deemed the most dangerous city in the world, with more than 1,100 murders last year.
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