Si se puede

¨Si se puede, si se puede, si se puede.....¨ That´s what the Hondurans chant to cheer on their soccer team every time they play a game. ¨Yes we can, yes we can!¨ The Honduran soccer fans are extremely loyal. As they should be, since this year the Honduran soccer team got into the final round of elimination to go to the World Cup, and had a good chance to go this year, something they have not been able to do since 1982.

I started watching the Honduran team more closely this year, and became a true Honduras soccer fan. The team plays really well, and has some excellent players and it is fun to watch them, especially when they play against the best teams of the league, Mexico and the US. These last two games for them were the most important, and would determine whether Honduras or Costa Rica would go to the World Cup this year. If you are not familiar with soccer, the teams that get into the world cup get in based on a point system. The team gets 3 points if they win a game, 1 point if they tie, and 0 if they lose. The top 3 or 4 teams go to the world cup, depending on the size of the league. In this case, the top 3 teams go. Before last Saturday, the US had 16, Mexico 15, Honduras 13 and Costa Rica 12. That Saturday they played against the US in Honduras. People came into Honduras from all over, including the US to cheer on Honduras. They were really excited for Honduras to win. Unfortunately, although Honduras played an excellent game, they lost in their own stadium to the US. An extremely devastating loss for them, but although they lost and Costa Rica won the game they played and were ahead of them in standing by 2 points, Honduran fans still had hope that on Wednesday they would beat El Salvador and the US would beat or tie against Costa Rica, so Honduras could beat Costa Rica and go to the World Cup.

My sister and I, who had come to visit me this week, went to see the Honduras-El Salvador game at a friend´s house in my town. We were a little weary at the beginning, crossing our fingers that Honduras would win, and the US would beat Costa Rica or tie with them (both games were to be played at the very same time). If Honduras won and Costa Rica tied, both countries would have the same amount of points, 16, but Honduras would beat Costa Rica because they had scored more goals.

So the game started, and everyone in the room had knots in their stomachs. When watching the Honduran players walk onto the field we could see the tension in their eyes, and some were almost shaking from nervousness. This was a big game, and they had to win. The game started off shakey. We could tell the Hondurans were nervous, and El Salvador was dominating the field. They had more shots on goal, and had more control over the ball. At half time, the score was 0-0, but what was worse was the US was losing to Costa Rica 2-0. We had all pretty much lost hope by then. At one point I turned to Sarah and said ¨let´s go home.¨ She wanted to too, but we were both embarassed to leave, so we stayed. So the second half started, and we could tell that the El Salvadorians were getting more tired and that Honduras was getting better. About 15 minutes into the second half, Honduras scored. It was bittersweet, because although it was exciting, we knew that Costa Rica was still beating the US 2-0. The game continued, and about 5 minutes later the commentator announced that the US had scored a goal. Yes! There was a chance still! The US could still do it! Although we were anxious about the Honduras game, I think most people were more anxious about the US game. When the 45 minutes of the second half were over, they went into overtime for time lost from injury and penalties during the game. These minutes were excruciatingly painful for the watchers. We just wanted it to end. But at the same time we didn´t, because we wanted the US to score against Costa Rica. Finally, it was over. Honduras had won, but apparantly the US hadn´t. It was over for the Hondurans. The players were obviously upset, and one even got to his knees and started crying on the field. Then all of a sudden, there was commotion in the stands. The cameras were pointed at the fans, and many of them were cheering. Us who were watching the game exclaimed ¨why are they so excited? There´s no reason to be cheering.¨ But they kept cheering louder and louder, and then the commentators started talking really excitedly and fast, although they obviously didn´t really know what was going on either. One of the men from my town watching the game turned on the radio, to see what was going on. Had the US tied? Had they really scored a goal in the last few minutes of the game? Then he turned off the radio, and all I could hear were the commentators shouting ¨They did it! They made it! Since 1982, Honduras is going to the World Cup!!!!!!!!!!!!!!¨ I looked at Sarah and almost started crying from excitement. Everyone in the room was just astounded, they couldn´t speak. But quickly, the men started hopping up and down in excitement. (Sarah´s note: he grasped the radio plastered to one ear..looked me in the eye frozen in disbelief for a moment and then out of this big man came a high pitched woooo wooooohooohooo wooooooo) One ran outside of the house and shot gunshots in the air. Everyone started dancing around the room in excitement. HOORAY!!!! HOORAY FOR HONDURAS, AND HOORAY FOR THE US!!!!!! It was the most incredible moment for all Hondurans. After such a huge disappointment of thinking they had lost everything they fought for this year, they gained it by one goal from the gringos! The guy who had gotten on his knees and started crying from sadness began crying tears of joy and celebrating with his fellow players.

The next day, on the morning news, they were showing people celebrating in cities all over the country. Half the country didn´t sleep that night because they were celebrating in the streets, in their cars, in their homes, and in bars and restaurants all over the country. For the first time in a long time, I think every Honduran all over the world forgot completely about the political situation and just celebrated together.