History
Honduras’ only previous appearance at the finals came at Spain 1982. Under the watchful eye of then coach Jose de la Paz, they surprised the world by drawing 1-1 with the hosts and then with Northern Ireland, before exiting the tournament after conceding a late goal in a 1-0 defeat by the former Yugoslavia.

Qualification
Honduras gave their close and much larger neighbours Mexico a real scare in the northern end of the American continent’s Round three. The Mexicans had already slipped up in other games when they travelled to Honduras for the final match. An own goal saw Mexico lose in the rain and Honduras topped the group. Had Jamaica won their final game by more the Mexicans would have been out. In the final stage of qualifying the Hondurans started badly, but again beat Mexico in the third game with Carlos Costly scoring two. In their final game Honduras beat El Salvador away to pip Costa Rica - who drew with the US - to the third automatic qualification spot on goal difference.

Prospects
David Suazo, Wilson Palacios and Maynor Figueroa have helped Honduras become a side with the quality to hurt any team in the world on their day. However, these three are the exceptions, and over half the squad still plays in the Liga Nacional de Honduras. Reaching only their second World Cup finals underlines that standards are improving at home with clubs such as Olimpia competing with top Mexican clubs in the CONCACAF Champions Cup. A run to the semis of the CONCACAF Gold Cup is further evidence of recent form. Veteran Carlos Pavon, 36, of Real Espana hit seven goals in qualifying, and Carlo Costly, who plays in Poland, scored six. A recent friendly win over Latvia is notable and they beat Chile last year, but will have to perform at their very best to make it out of the group.