TOKYO, Japan – Honduras begin their 2020 Tokyo Olympics campaign with a tough clash against Romania on Thursday at the Kashima Stadium in Kashima, Japan.
Honduras are appearing in their fourth consecutive Olympics and if the trend of their past performances holds, the Catrachos can expect a deep run in the tournament.
After a group stage finish at Beijing 2008, Honduras reached the quarterfinals at London 2012, followed by a semifinal appearance and a fourth-place at Rio 2016.
It remains to be seen if the Final will be on the docket in Tokyo, but what is certain is that Honduras come in with a very skilled squad that includes many of the faces who finished as runners-up in the 2020 Concacaf Men’s Olympic Qualifying Championship last March.
Notably, there is dynamic MF Edwin Rodriguez, who scored a wondergoal for the Catrachos in the 2020 CMOQ Final against Mexico and earned Best XI honors in the 2020 Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League, 2020 CMOQ and 2021 Concacaf Nations League Finals.
Other key pieces include DF Denil Maldonado, MF Jorge Alvarez and FW Luis Palma, giving Honduras a strong squad from back to front.
Romania are playing in their first Olympics since 1964, which ironically took place in Tokyo. In that edition, they finished in fifth place, but after claiming top spot in their group at the 2019 UEFA Under-21 Championships, Romania are back on the grand Olympic stage.
Romania will be featuring a very young squad, however players like MF Tudor Baluta and MF Andrei Ciobanu have ample experience at various youth national team levels and will be important to Romania’s chances for a victory against Honduras.
