MIAMI - Honduras rallied from behind to tie Trinidad & Tobago 1-1 in the second game of a 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup doubleheader held at the Orange Bowl Stadium in Miami on Wednesday night.
Chicago Fire midfielder Ivan Guerrero played a full 90 minutes for Honduras, while New England Revolution defender Avery John went the distance in the stingy Soca Warriors back line, earning a yellow card in the 54th minute.
Trinidad & Tobago grabbed the lead in the 27th minute after Christopher Birchall launched a bullet from the top of the box after receiving the cross from teammate Marvin Andrews to take the advantage.
Moments later, Honduras notched the equalizer after Trinidad & Tobago committed a foul just outside the penalty area. Honduras took the momentum as Maynor Figueroa converted the free kick with less than two minutes left to play in the first half.
"We came here to win, so obviously we are not as content as we would be if we would have won. We did play hard, therefore I have to be happy with that," said T&T head coach Leo Beenhakker.
Both teams continued the battle in the second half, but were unsuccessful as each had to settle with one point a piece, heading into Saturday's play.
"I am very happy with the effort that my team put forth. They created a lot of opportunities and chances, especially in the second half and that's what's most important," said Honduras manager Jose de la Paz.
Making its seventh appearance in the tournament, Honduras finished the match with 18 shots, double that of Trinidad & Tobago. The catrachos also had 10 shots on goal, while Trinidad & Tobago only notched three.
"The key that we worked on was set formations. We kept the same formations as the games we have played before. Honduras caused a few problems with the way their players bunched in midfield and sometimes they got behind us," Birchall said. "We now know what things we have to improve upon for the next game and hopefully we will be able to go out and get some points against Panama."
In the opening match of the twin bill, a header by Panama's Luis Tejada in the 70th minute sealed the game for the canaleros as they hung on to defeat Colombia 1-0. The win was the first for Panama in its Gold Cup history. This year is Panama's first appearance in the Gold Cup in more than a decade after going winless in the 1993 Gold Cup.
After a tightly fought and scoreless first half, Panama broke the deadlock in the 70th minute after Tejada headed a cross from Julio Medina III past the diving Colombian goalkeeper Farid Mondragon, netting it in the bottom left corner to take a 1-0 lead.
Trinidad & Tobago will now move on to face Panama on Saturday, July 9 at 7 p.m. ET at the Orange Bowl Stadium, while Honduras will meet Colombia immediately following.
PANAMA 1, COLOMBIA 0
PAN - Luis Tejada 70
COL: Farid Mondragon, Jose De la Cuesta, Humberto Mendoza, Juan Carlos Ramirez, Wason Renteria, Tressor Moreno (Aldo Ramirez 46), Yulian Anchico, Hector Hurtado (Abel Aguilar 69), Jairo Patino, Martin Arzuaga (Oscar Briceño 80), Oscar Passo.
Coach: Reinaldo RUEDA
PAN: Jaime Penedo, Carlos Rivera, Luis Moreno, Jose Torres, Felipe Baloy, Gabriel Gomez, Julio Cesar Dely Valdes (Jorge Luis Dely Valdes 80), Julio Medina (Gustavo Avila 69), Ricardo Phillips, Luis Tejada, Engin Mitre (Alberto Blanco 46).
Coach: Jose HERNANDEZ
Cautions:
COL - Wason Renteria 38
PAN - Luis Moreno 38
COL - Humberto Mendoza 48
PAN - Jaime Penedo 67
PAN - Carlos Rivera 71
PAN - Julio Medina 73
PAN - Alberto Blanco 80
PAN - Felipe Baloy 90+
TRINIDAD & TOBAGO 1, HONDURAS 1
TRI - Christopher Birchall (Marvin Andrews) 28
HON - Maynor Figueroa 43
TRI: Kelvin Jack, Avery John, Marvin Andrews, Dennis Lawrence, Christopher Birchall, Aurtis Whitley, Jason Scotland (Kenwyne Jones 71), Carlos Rahim, Stern John, Densill Theobald (Colin Samuel 65), Cyd Gray.
Coach: Leo BEENHAKKER
HON: Victor Coello (Junior Morales 86), Asthor Henriquez, Maynor Figueroa, Junior Izaguirre, Jose Francisco Ramirez (Milton Núñez 46), Wilmer Velasquez, Mario Berrios, Oscar Garcia, Elvis Danilo Turcios (Wilson Palacios 65), Erick Vallecilo, Mario Ivan Guerrero.
Coach: Jose DE LA PAZ
Cautions:
TRI - Brent Rahim 23
TRI - Emery John 54
HON - Mario Berrios 90+
Referee: Mauricio Navarro (CAN)
Referee Assistants: Leonel Leal (CRC), Paul Messam (BAH)
Fourth Official: John Wyngaarde (SUR)
Attendance: 10,311
