Honduras out of CONCACAF Pre-Olympic qualifier
Howard Hugh Hamilton
CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament, which starts Friday
in Hershey, PA. The issue was that the players were promised
a bonus of 30000 lempiras (about $2050) for making it to the
final round, but the federation wanted to pay them about $1500
of the total up front and the remainder later. Fourteen of
the players struck and refused to board the plane to Hershey,
and as a result the national federation submitted its withdrawal
from the tournament. In addition, the federation suspended
the 14 strikers from national team play for two years. It's
also possible that Honduras will face sanctions from future
U-23 tournaments. Costa Rica will take Honduras' place in
the final round.
While I can understand the players balking about being paid
their bonus in installments ($2000 is almost a year's salary
in Honduras), this whole episode really is a shame for
Honduran futbol. They had a good outside chance of qualifying,
and they were probably the most dangerous opponent that the USA
(and Mexico) would face. But now the USA will have to prepare for
Costa Rica on Friday instead of Honduras.
--
Howard H. Hamilton -- PhD Candidate -- AIAA Student Chapter Chairman
Stanford University, Aero/Astro Dept., Stanford, CA 94305 USA
howardh(at)leland.stanford.edu http://www.stanford.edu/~howardh
Doug Karpa-Wilson
Hugh Hamilton) wrote:
> Honduras' U-23 team withdrew from the final round of the
> CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament, which starts Friday
> in Hershey, PA. The issue was that the players were promised
> a bonus of 30000 lempiras (about $2050) for making it to the
> final round, but the federation wanted to pay them about $1500
> of the total up front and the remainder later. Fourteen of
> the players struck and refused to board the plane to Hershey,
> and as a result the national federation submitted its withdrawal
> from the tournament.
Man, that's rough. its sad that a team should go out for want of $7000.
That's what Roy Keane makes in what, nine hours?
Doug
--
hay hombres que luchan un dia y son buenos
hay otros que luchan un año y son mejores
hay quienes luchan muchos años y son muy buenos
pero hay los que luchan toda la vida ellos son los imprescindibles
Noah Elliott
>
> Honduras' U-23 team withdrew from the final round of the
> CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament, which starts Friday
> in Hershey, PA.
They are back in, according to internetsoccer.com
Howard Hugh Hamilton
Doug Karpa-Wilson <dkar...@indiana.edu> wrote:
>In article <8dlsre$e...@myth9.Stanford.EDU>, how...@Stanford.EDU (Howard
>
>> Honduras' U-23 team withdrew from the final round of the
>> CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament, which starts Friday
>> a bonus of 30000 lempiras (about $2050) for making it to the
>> final round, but the federation wanted to pay them about $1500
>> of the total up front and the remainder later. Fourteen of
>> the players struck and refused to board the plane to Hershey,
>> and as a result the national federation submitted its withdrawal
>> from the tournament.
>
>Man, that's rough. its sad that a team should go out for want of $7000.
>That's what Roy Keane makes in what, nine hours?
Which is what a Honduran makes in say, three years. And if the
players are awarded plots of land (not unusual for Central American
and Caribbean govt's to do so for qualification to the WC), the
amount of money is a lot. Even so, it's a shame.
Howard Hugh Hamilton
Howard Hugh Hamilton <how...@Stanford.EDU> wrote:
>Honduras' U-23 team withdrew from the final round of the
>CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament, which starts Friday
>in Hershey, PA. The issue was that the players were promised
>a bonus of 30000 lempiras (about $2050) for making it to the
>final round, but the federation wanted to pay them about $1500
>of the total up front and the remainder later. Fourteen of
>the players struck and refused to board the plane to Hershey,
>and as a result the national federation submitted its withdrawal
>the 14 strikers from national team play for two years. It's
>also possible that Honduras will face sanctions from future
>U-23 tournaments. Costa Rica will take Honduras' place in
>the final round.
I forgot to add this: for the Spanish-speaking among you, you
can check out the entire story at http://www.laprensahn.com.
It was in yesterday's edition (ediciones anteriores) and it's
probably in today's (Thursday's) edition as well.
Howard Hugh Hamilton
Pennsylvania for the Olympic qualifying tournament after all.
All of the USSF and CONCACAF officials have called the
matter a non-story, but it definitely is a huge story in
Honduras. I read through the article in www.laprensahn.com
pretty quickly, but it seemed that the striking players
were looking at a lifetime suspension from Honduran football
and the government was starting to get involved as well.
The public seems to be very much against them as well, calling
them 'mercenaries' and accusing them of placing money before
national pride. The reaction of the public (and the press)
to the players reminds me of the way the US media treated
the Ryder Cup players during the 'pay-for-play' controversy.
While I still think that Honduras is still a dangerous
team for the US and Canada, both teams have to have a
big advantage right now.