Sporting Kansas City defender Roger Espinoza will join the Honduras National Team next week in preparation for a friendly against Panama on Saturday, December 18th. Espinoza has appeared 16 times for his country, with half of those appearances coming in 2010.
“I am very happy that I can continue to be called in under the new coach,” Espinoza said on Friday from Honduras. “The Nations Cup is coming up and this is a good opportunity to prepare. I’m always happy to join the Honduras National Team and hopefully I can help them as we try to win the Nations Cup.”
The Central American Nations Cup is held between the seven CONCACAF teams in the Central American Football Union (UNCAF) and will begin in January in Panama. Honduras was placed in Group B during in September’s draw, and will face Costa Rica on January 14th and Guatemala on January 18th in group play.
The top five teams will qualify for the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup, rounding out the twelve participating countries that will compete at venues across the United States in June for the region’s berth in the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup.
Next week’s friendly is a rematch of the two teams’ last meeting in November, with Panama prevailing 2-0 in that encounter held in Panama City. Now Honduras will have home field advantage, as the upcoming match will take place in San Pedro Sula, Honduras at Estadio Olimpico Metropolitano.
Espinoza started two games for Honduras during the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa and started 25 games for Sporting Kansas City last season, his third in MLS. The 2008 first round SuperDraft selection out of Ohio State has now played 65 games, including postseason, in his professional career and graduated from the Generation adidas program at the end of the 2010 season.
