Sixteen teams entered. Eight remain. The 2016 Summer Olympics football competition is down to the quarterfinal round and only one CONCACAF team is left standing on the men’s side of the competition. Surprisingly, that isn’t defending gold medal-winning Mexico, but Los Catrachos from Honduras, who pulled off an epic 2-2 draw against Argentina in their final group stage match to secure a place in the knockout round.
So for this week’s Throwback Thursday, we decided to throw it back to the last time Honduras was in the tournament, which was only four years ago. The young team featured many stars who would go on to play in Major League Soccer, but it's not one of the young stars we’re focusing on today. Instead, it is Roger Espinoza, the Sporting KC midfielder who was selected as one of the overage players to represent his country in London.
At that time, Espinoza had already established himself as a key contributor to a Sporting KC side that had finished in first place in the Eastern Conference in 2011. The following year, Sporting KC would again finish in first in the Eastern Conference and take home its second Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. On the international front, Espinoza had become a key cog in the Honduras midfield having previously represented the nation at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.
The Olympic draw was not kind to Honduras as they were pitted against Japan and Morocco sides with no shortage of European talent and a Spain side that featured David de Gea, Jordi Alba and Juan Mata. Honduras was not fazed however, earning draws against Morocco and Japan and upsetting Spain 1-0 to finish in second place in the group.
That finish set up a quarterfinal showdown with a powerhouse Brazil side that scored nine goals in the group stage. The Brazilian attack was led by the trio of Neymar, Hulk and Pato, while veteran defenders Marcelo and Thiago Silva held down the back line.
With the score tied 1-1 and Honduras down a man after Wilmer Crisanto’s first-half ejection, Espinoza brought the stadium to their feet with a well-taken shot that beat goalkeeper Gabriel to the far post. Unfortunately for Honduras, however, Brazil stormed back through a penalty kick by Neymar in the 50th minute and a second goal by Damiao in the 60th minute to win 3-2.
"Playing in that game against Brazil was so motivating," Espinoza said. "It was a game that you had to play well because it was the quarterfinals of a major tournament against one of the best teams in the world. It is an experience I will never forget."
The impressive performance from Espinoza drew rave reviews from across the soccer world and earned him a contract with then-EPL side Wigan Athletic just four months later.
