These were the scenes on the streets of La Ceiba last night after Honduras beat El Salvador 1-0 and the USA got a last-second equalizer from Jonathan Bornstein to earn a 2-2 draw against Costa Rica. Those two results gave Honduras an automatic berth in the 2010 FIFA World Cup and forced Costa Rica, who beat the US squad 3-0 the a qualifier in Saprissa, into a playoff with Uruguay. It also prompted my buddy Jeff to ask whether Costa Ricans will now talk about Bornstein the way Bostonians talk about Bucky Dent.
My favorite part of this video might be the chants of “USA! USA!” at the end. The USA had already qualified on Saturday by beating Honduras 3-2 in an epic match that should have been shown on ESPN2, but was instead limited to closed circuit TV to any establishment willing to pay $1,000 or more for the game.
So of course, four of my fellow Railhawks supporters and I decided to pay $20 to go watch it. At a Honduran restaurant. In full Team USA regalia — shirts, hats, scarves, flags, the works.
We expected a lot of dirty looks, but the owner seemed genuinely happy to see American fans show up — and pay, no doubt — and the mostly Honduran crowd whooped and clapped at us as we walked into the room. We stood in the back and kept to ourselves, enjoying the atmosphere — the loudest shouts came when the satellite feed briefly went out — and marveling at the fact that Conor Casey was capable of scoring two goals in a game of that magnitude. Perhaps we’ve underestimated that ever-lovin’ oaf.
Even after the USA’s solid comeback victory, the Honduran fans showed us respect, shook our hands and told us they wanted to see us beat Costa Rica. After last night’s results, I’m pretty sure we’ll be welcome there back in June to watch World Cup matches.
I’d be remiss, of course, if I didn’t mention the 9th minute cheers for Charlie Davies, the striker who was seriously injured in a fatal car accident on Tuesday morning. (Match Fit USA had the best coverage of that story, as well as the best photo of the tribute I’ve seen yet.) I’ve been quiet about that accident, in part because stumbling across Ashley Roberta’s Facebook page and Twitter feed left me at a loss for words. Davies will live through this and might become the American Eduardo, but a very pretty 22-year-old woman’s life is over, leaving her friends and family to grieve and ask why. It’s a sobering reminder that this can all be taken away in a instant, so we need to enjoy these moments while we have them.
It also left me wondering if Bornstein’s last-second header was just as metaphoric of this, though perhaps now isn’t the time to explore that.
Either way, I was happy to see that she was far from forgotten in last night’s tributes. After the game, Landon Donovan grabbed a banner from the stands for his teammates to hold up. Ashley’s initials were next to the large 9 on the banner. Well done, USA supporters.
One more quick note: US defender Oguchi Onyewu suffered a torn patella tendon late in the game and had to be carried off the pitch. He’s expected to return to action in February, so the injury shouldn’t keep him out of the World Cup.
