A week after Honduras faced Venezuela in an international friendly and lost, came a similar result under different circumstances.
Venezuela hosted Honduras in Barinas for the second friendly between the countries in a week on Wednesday, and again beat the Central Americans, this time by a 2-1 score. This time, however, Honduras took the lead, albeit briefly, when they opened the scoring in the 14th minute through Anthony Lozano. Venezuela stormed back just three minutes later through Franklin Lucena's equalizer, before Jhon Murillo scored on his senior debut in the 57th minute following a mix-up in the back for Honduras.
Just one current MLS player was involved in the game, as Sporting Kansas City midfielder Jorge Claros got the start for the Hondurans. But it wasn't a vintage performance from the veteran, as he picked up two yellow cards in quick succession and was ejected in the 32nd minute. The foul that sent Claros to an early shower was a very high boot on a Venezuela player (watch below).
The result gives Honduras consecutive losses to start 2015. Under new coach Jorge Luis Pinto, who led Costa Rica to the quarterfinals of the 2014 World Cup, Los Catrachos will have a key competitive home-and-away series coming up next month against French Guiana to determine the final spot in the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup field.
