In Gold Cup previews for both Mexico and Costa Rica, the focus was on strikers. For Mexico, it is Javier Hernandez who gets the spotlight and for Costa Rica, it is Bryan Ruiz. They are the top two strikers in CONCACAF, not just performing well for their respective national teams, but doing so for their clubs teams to earn worldwide notice. What is forgotten in all of the talk about CONCACAF's top strikers is the man who should be the easy choice, David Suazo.
Gold Cup 2011 Previews: Honduras Still Trying To Replace David Suazo
For those who have only started following the sport in the last year or two, you are forgiven for not knowing the game. After all, he has barely played at all in that time, but it wasn’t too long before that when Suazo was easily the top striker in CONCACAF. He was devastating, with lighting pace, an uncanny ability to find space and calm finishing, Suazo was gaining a reputation as top striker, in CONCACAF or elsewhere.
Suazo's emergence was sensational for club and country. He came up with the Honduran team at the tail end of qualifying for the 2002 World Cup and scored a couple goals, then in qualifying for the 2006 World Cup he scored five more. Suazo was getting the job done for his club too, scoring 19 goals to get Cagliari promoted to Serie A, then scoring 40 goals in a two-year span in Italy's top tier. Inter Milan made a move to bring him in and essentially confirmed what observers already knew. Suazo was a top striker.
Strikers can only be good when they can play though and Suazo began to have issues with that playing part. He had one solid season for Inter, but was then loaned to Benfica and the injuries began to hit. One injury sidelined him. Another injury sidelined him. He aggravated one of his injuries and everything was piling up for him.
This string of injuries came at the worst of times for Honduras. They were building a very good team. With Wilson Palacios in the center of the pitch, Maynor Figueroa flying forward from the back and a couple accomplished strikers in the region up top to partner Suazo in Carlos Pavon and Carlo Costly, Honduras had a lot to be excited about. Most of their excitement was because of Suazo though. CONCACAF's top striker and the most deadly player in the region was the man the team was built around, then he was gone.
The injuries sidelined Suazo and Honduras was not the same. They were good. Make no mistake about that and Suazo played sometimes, but he was not the same player. Honduras qualified for the 2010 World Cup, the first time they had qualified for the tournament since 1982, but it wasn't quite as good as it could have been. If any team was going to challenge CONCACAF's top two of Mexico and the United States, it was going to be Honduras. It was going to be a Honduras with Suazo, but for all intensive purposes he was gone.
Now Honduras finds themselves chasing again. No, not chasing Mexico and the U.S. That is a role they were used to, but they are now chasing Costa Rica. Pavon’s age has caught up with him and with George Welcome not on the team, the options up top aren’t so dangerous. Palacios, who was in the best form of his life just 12 months ago, is now in a funk and struggling to get matches.
What was once CONCACAF’s top challenger is now falling. They don’t have the region’s best player anymore and their next best player is off form. What was supposed to be the golden age of Honduran football, built around the great Suazo, has been ruined by Lady Luck.
Projected Starting Lineup (4-4-2)
GK Noel Valladares, LB Amilio Izaguirre, CB Victor Bernardez, CB Osman Chavez, RB Mauricio Sabillon , LM Roger Espinoza, CM Wilson Palacios, CM Hendry Thomas, RM Ramon Nunez, ST Jerry Bengston, ST Carlo Costly
Key Player
Carlo Costly - Without much established help up top, Costly will be asked to carry the Honduran attack, something he is capable of doing, but has never been asked to do before.
Key Bench Player
Walter Martinez - It is possible that Martinez starts, but if he comes off of the bench he becomes their best choice for a spark in the attack.
Prediction
Honduras is still the fourth-best team in CONCACAF, but they are a ways off of third-best Costa Rica so while they win a weak Group B, they go down weakly to the U.S. in the semifinals.
See More:
