Concacaf at Copa América: #1 Honduras (2001)
After being added to the tournament just hours before their first game, Los Catrachos shocked the world!
We’ve reached the final spot on our countdown of the most memorable performances from Concacaf at Copa América! Before you start thinking my Honduran bias is taking over here (and it very well could be) - this is a list of the most memorable performances not simply the best performances. Given the circumstances surrounding Honduras’ inclusion, and their improbable run to the podium, there is no question they deserved the top spot on this list!
If you missed #2 in our countdown, feel free to check it out below:
I gave an overview of the situation surrounding the 2001 Copa América in the third spot in our countdown - the tournament was canceled due to security concerns, then reinstated, and a few teams decided against sending teams. Argentina was one of these nations and they made their decision the day before the opening games (citing death threats their team was receiving from terrorist groups). Costa Rica was already added as an alternate after Canada dropped out so CONMEBOL needed another last-minute replacement…they chose Honduras!
The events in the following 24 hours are almost impossible to believe. Honduras had just hours to put a team together, which meant several of their best players would not make it. Household names like Carlos Pavón and Tyson Nuñez, among others, were not there. Thankfully, one of their most important players Amado “El Lobo” Guevara was able to make it…barely. A lot of the behind-the-scenes information I will include on Honduras’ appearance at the tournament can be read in full in the post linked below:
Here is an excerpt from that post related to the “preparation” the team had:
I asked Amado what those days were like preparing for the tournament and he began to chuckle. He explained, “I laugh a little because when you ask me how those days went…there weren't days, it was just one.” He was still playing Mexico when he got a call from manager Ramon Maradiaga. Maradiaga told him he needed to get a flight back to Honduras the next day because they would be traveling to take part in Copa América. He was shocked…not only because Honduras was invited, to which he said “That's not normal in our country, it had never happened,” but also because they were on such a tight timeline.
When he arrived in Tegucigalpa the next day, a Colombian military aircraft was already waiting to escort the team to the tournament. Because everything was arranged at the last minute, there were a lot of new players called into the team. Amado even recalls people asking the names of the other players on that flight. The manager informed Amado that he would be captaining the team for the first time in his career during the tournament. They didn’t get to their hotel until 3 a.m. the next day and had to face Costa Rica in their opening game that night.
As the captain, I asked Amado about that responsibility, the team’s expectations, and what his message was to the other players. On the expectations, he said, “Honestly, the expectations were to go and play the three games, do our best, and then return.” As I talked with him, it seemed that because there weren’t high expectations, it allowed the team to play more freely. His message to the team, which was supported by the coaching staff, was to go out and enjoy it. He explained, “If God had given us that opportunity, we would enjoy every moment, we would play without any pressure. Everything was a gain for us. Everything we did was going to be a gain because nobody could demand anything from us.”
Let’s get into all the details and stories that made this run from Los Catrachos so memorable!
2. Honduras 2001
Result: 3rd place
Summary
After little sleep and no preparation, they faced off against regional rival Costa Rica. After a tightly contested first hour, they gave up a goal in the second half and ended up losing 1-0. The team was not demoralized though, in fact, it was the opposite. Amado told me “We felt that we could do more, we were ready for more, and we had that confidence.” The team viewed that first game as their training. They took everything day by day. The technical staff didn’t correct mistakes in training with the same intensity as usual and they supported the players. The players were given more downtime to check out the city and meet people. Amado explained that everything was atypical but they were enjoying every moment.
In their second game, they faced off against Bolivia and everything started to click. After a solid first half, La H turned it up a notch in the second. In the 53rd minute, Amado fired home a shot from outside the box to give them a 1-0 lead. Just a few minutes later, a poor clearance from the keeper fell into his path and he took a strike from 30+ yards that found the back of the net (you can find those highlights below). El Lobo bagged his brace and led Honduras to their first-ever, victory at a Copa América. The team was flying high and knew they could keep improving.
In their final group-stage game, they faced Uruguay. To advance to the knockout round, they just needed a tie but Amado explained to me, “We wanted to win, we wanted to continue making history.” Honduras did just that as they beat Uruguay 1-0 thanks to a beautiful give-and-go move started and finished by Amado. The team felt unstoppable as they were making history. Amado recalled this moment, “After the game, I remember that we arrived at the dressing room and celebrated, euphoric and everything…and then we realized that the opponent we had was Brazil.”
Amado and the team knew it would be a tough test but they did not back down. They were surprisingly able to maintain a lot of the ball and had several chances in the first half. Despite not playing their usual futbol, Brazil had three very quality chances that required big saves from Noel Valladares to keep Honduras level. Coming out of the break, Los Catrachos had all the momentum and in the 57th minute, Rambo de León played a perfect ball to Saúl Martínez who directed a header toward the goal…it bounced off the post, deflected off a defender into the net…1-0 Honduras! Just minutes later, they struck again with a beautiful near-post finish…but the referee incorrectly called the ball out of play before it was crossed. It makes you wonder what these games would have been like with VAR!
This momentary setback inspired Honduras even more and Brazil couldn’t seem to slow them down and get control of the game. La H continued to dominate the game into added time while only holding a 1-0 lead. Despite the momentum, this Brazil team was dangerous enough that they just needed a half-chance to potentially tie the game. In the 94th minute, Amado cut off the Brasileiro attack and ran down the field where a teammate picked up the ball, entered the final third, and played to Saúl Martínez who beat the keeper to seal the game for Honduras 2-0! This was the greatest achievement in Honduran futbol history - to beat the region’s, and arguably the world’s, most successful team was an unimaginable achievement. Do yourself a favor and check out the highlights of that game below:
After the shock of that victory and the celebrations had ended, Honduras found themselves in the semifinals against the host country Colombia a few days later. They played the hosts in a tight game but ultimately weren’t able to capitalize in and around the box and they fell 2-0. This resulted in a rematch versus Uruguay in the 3rd place game, which still left all to play for Los Catrachos. Going into that game, no team from Concacaf outside of Mexico had ever finished in the top 3 of this legendary tournament and they had another chance to make history.
Honduras opened the scoring early in the game and Uruguay responded in kind. Late in the first half, Honduras took a 2-1 lead off of a beautiful set-piece delivery from Amado. Uruguay responded just a few minutes later. They entered the second half tied at 2-2 and that score line would hold through the end of the game…penalties would decide the winner. Noel Valladares saved the second Uruguayan attempt and Júnior Izaguirre finished off the game with the final penalty. Honduras placed third and made history! Watch the highlights here.
Best Moment: Beating Brazil in the quarterfinals
For a smaller footballing nation like Honduras to knock a giant of the game out of a tournament is almost unheard of. Rather than trying to explain what that moment was like for Amado and the team, I want you to hear it in his own words. He explained to me that until the pandemic, he hadn’t watched the replay of the game, but that moment and those feelings seemed just as fresh over 20 years later.
Best Player: Amado “El Lobo” Guevara
After captaining the underdogs Honduras to a third-place finish, scoring 3 goals and adding a few assists, Amado Guevara was named into the Best XI and received the MVP award of the entire tournament. He was and still is, the only player from Concacaf to receive this prestigious honor, and his name is cemented alongside the other winners such as Pelé, Carlos “El Pibe” Valderrama, O Fenômeno Ronaldo, Luis Suárez, and of course…Lionel Messi. Recently, Amado received a photo of all of the Copa America MVPs and he told me, “I often wonder how I achieved that. And my answer was only God. He had that special gift for me and my family…the truth is that it is something very beautiful…I see it as it is, that it was a blessing from God.”
Their run at the 2001 Copa América remains one of the greatest achievements in Honduran futbol history and it kicked off one of the greatest eras for the national team! If you’d like to hear more directly from the players involved in that historic run, check out this great piece Rely Maradiaga (he does incredible work for Honduran sports)!
The 2024 Copa América kicks off on Thursday! Later this week, you will receive a full preview of the Concacaf teams participating in this edition (USA, Mexico, Jamaica, Canada, Panama, and Costa Rica). I cannot wait to watch these games and bring you coverage throughout it all!