There are guns firing, horns blasting, fireworks going off, and people cheering in the streets all over the city of La Ceiba this evening as two international sides pulled off spectacular results and secured positions in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Carlos Pavon, the proverbial goat of the Honduras-USA match after missing late from the penalty stripe for the tie, scored the lone goal in Honduras’ 1-0 win over El Salvador. Immediately, every television in the country switched to the Costa Rica-USA match and boy was it exciting. Costa Rica, needing a win to secure third place in the CONCACAF, took an early two goal lead into the 72th minute. But the US clawed back and secured the draw and first place in the group on an unlikely header goal by Jonathan Bornstein in the 5th minute of stoppage time. The tie gave Honduras the third place berth, their first in more than two decades and the celebrations began. No chance I will be getting anything done in class tomorrow.
It is impossible to understate the importance of this World Cup qualification to the people of Honduras right now. Their political establishment a mess, the fall off in the world economy compounded by the loss of aid and tourism have made life difficult for a country with 50% of its population living below the poverty line. But they have their futbol team. For old and young, male and female, the Honduran national team is their team. They know the players, they know the schedule, they know what is at stake, and they watch every game from start to finish with a passionate intensity. Victory and defeat are shared experiences that seem to be the glue that binds them together through these difficult times.
At Trinity, the students have been anticipating the final games of qualifying for weeks. They were particularly excited about the USA-Honduras match, which was played in nearby San Pedro Sula on Saturday. I made a bet with the 10th grade boys that if Honduras won the game, they could give me whatever hair cut they wanted, as long as I did not bleed. If the United States won, they would have to buy me a baleada (tortilla with red beans and fried egg, a staple here) and lemonade (which comes in a sandwich bag with a straw) a day for a week. Needless to say, the morning recesses have been quite filling the past two days. I ended up buzzing my head anyways, but only because it is so hot down here and I was having way too many bad hair days at school.
Today was Honduras Spirit Day at school in anticipation of the big game against El Salvador this evening. As a fundraiser, the Trinity allowed students to break the uniform dress code and wear jeans and a Honduras jersey (they are selling them on every corner) if they paid 10 lempiras (about 60 cents). Almost all of the students and many of the teachers came sporting their blue and white colors and a couple even wore face paint. Ms. Betty’s 8th and 9th grade English classes used the new vocabulary they had been working on to come up with cheers. Everyone was in a great mood and although it wasn’t the most productive of days, the whole school had an energy to it that made it a fun place to be.
The interim president just declared a nation holiday to celebrate the qualification. Trinity will be having classes tomorrow, but I am guessing that more than a handful of my students will not be in school and everyone else will be too excited to be interested in Newton’s First Law of Motion or converting liters to cubic centimeters. Even with first quarter exams coming up and a lot of material left to cover, I can’t really complain. Right now, this country needs something to celebrate. And I have a tasty snack coming my way.
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