Honduras demands more from its soccer team than from its politicians

2009 was a memorable one for Hondurans. Months of social tension escalated with Honduran President Manuel Zelaya's ousted from power, which led to a political limbo that only somewhat stabilized when a new, democratically elected president took office.

While the population seemed divided between those who supported Zelaya and those who didn’t, all Hondurans rallied behind the national soccer team, which seemed increasingly close to making it back to an event for which it had not qualified in the past 28 years, the FIFA World Cup. Hondurans could not believe that just as the whole world refused to recognize their government due to the coup, their small poverty-stricken country had earned a ticket to South Africa 2010.

Disappointingly, it seemed like all the Honduras team did at the 2010 World Cup was show up and not much more, finishing last in their group, and failing to score a single goal.

Growing up, I’ve always known soccer to be the opium of my people. For 90 minutes, soccer is an escape from reality, whether it be the fact that one lives in extreme poverty, is underemployed or lives in a country of high inequality and little development. With a lot of hard work and luck, Honduras qualified for the 2014 World Cup. Many Hondurans maxed out their credit cards to travel to Brazil and support their team. Everyone wanted to be there. The current Honduran president was no exception.

Losing to France 3-0, Ecuador 2-1 and finally defeated by Switzerland 3-0, “La H” was unable to redeem themselves, and once again raised questions as to whether they deserved to be in the World Cup in the first place.

A comic strip in a daily Honduran newspaper captured our collective disappointment best: “The problem with Honduras is that we demand more of our soccer team than of our government officials.”

Our hope for “La H” is shattered once again, but we will continue to cheer on for our team as our trouble stricken nation has made our population addicted to that feeling of oblivion, that 90-minute soccer high. 

*As told to Africasacountry. Andrea Hernandez is a writer who lives in the "Big Easy", otherwise known as the northernmost part of the Caribbean.