Honduras caps festive atmosphere with Gold Cup win

HOUSTON- Throughout the intersection of Bastrop and Prairie on the East End of the Bayou City, fans of El Salvador and Honduras danced to the vibrant sound of cumbias Saturday evening before their beloved national soccer teams faced off at Shell Energy Stadium.

Houston is home to some of the largest communities of Hondurans and Salvadorans in the United States, and those communities showed up in force to watch their countries play a Concacaf Gold Cup Group B match.

While most of the Central Americans were still partying outside of the stadium, Curaçao faced Canada in the first game of the Gold Cup doubleheader. Once that game ended at 1-1, the party atmosphere continued inside the stadium for Honduras’ 2-0 victory over El Salvador. 

Curaçao stuns Canada

Canada, coming off a 6-0 victory against Honduras, got on the board first. Midfielder Nathan Saliba, who was making his fifth international appearance, scored in the ninth minute with a right-footed shot from the center of the box to the bottom corner. 

Jeremy Antonisse tied the score in the 94th minute. He scored on a right-footed shot from the center of the box to the center of the goal. Joshua Zimmerman delivered the assist.

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In the second game, the crowd erupted as Honduras’ forward Romell Quioto gave the Catrachos a lead in the 33rd minute. The former Houston Dynamo player split two defenders. Then he sent a right-footed shot from the center of the box to the bottom right corner. 

He was assisted by midfielder Edwin Rodríguez. Honduras added the second goal late in stoppage time. Midfielder Dixon Ramirez sprinted down the field and got past El Salvador goalkeeper Mario Gonzalez, who was pushed up in the midfield. 

Ramirez scored an empty-net goal from outside of the box to seal the 2-0 victory for Los Catrachos.

Late breakaway for Honduras

“We took advantage of Dixon’s potential,” Honduras manager Reinaldo Ruedas said. “Thank God, (Dixon) was able to expose (Gonzalez) him at that moment. And he was able to finish. We were able to score the second goal, which gave us a huge relief.”

Canada leads Group B with four points heading into the third and final match of group play. Honduras is in second place with three points. Curaçao is in third place with two points, and El Salvador is at the bottom of the standings with one point. 

Canada will play against El Salvador next on June 24 at Shell Energy Stadium. Honduras will play Curaçao next on June 24 at PayPal Park in San Jose, Calif.