Playing away in Honduras is a situation no Canadian team wants to be up against, but it is the prospect facing Toronto FC tomorrow as they play the second leg of their CONCACAF Champions League Preliminary Round tie. After a 1-0 win over C.D. Motagua at BMO Field Toronto FC will be looking to finish off the tie with a result in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
Toronto FC will be hoping to continue the form they showed in the first leg where their off the ball movement was second to none and they posed a solid attacking threat all match. In the end Toronto were unlucky to only score the one goal, and it may prove too little for Toronto to advance past the opening round.
Toronto will take heart in the fact that Honduran international Georgie Welcome will miss the match due to a trial overseas with Rangers. However Honduran captain and ex-Toronto FC midfielder Amado Guevara still should start as well as Sergio Mendoza and Emilio Izaguirre, both coming off World Cup campaigns with Honduras.
Although Toronto goes in with the 1-0 advantage previous Canadian escapades into Central America have not ended well for club or country. A lack of CONCACAF playing experience is often blamed for lackluster Canadian performances away from domestic competition.
Despite the Montreal Impact only losing once away in the group stage of their foray into the Champions League their campaign is still remembered for the horror stories that took place in Mexico when the Impact conceded four second half goals. Which now serves as yet another failure of a Canadian team away in CONCACAF.
Preki will have to hope the occasion does not get to his players, especially possible debutant Doneil Henry (Henry’s only previous competitive outing for Toronto FC came in this year’s dead rubber against the Vancouver Whitecaps after Toronto had already clinched the Voyageurs Cup).
Henry’s inclusion in the squad raises some potential question marks about the strength of squad that Preki will opt for against Motagua and in the Champions League in general. For the most part Preki treated the Voyageurs Cup matches the same way he would any league match, but his squad selection for the match against Motagua at BMO raised a few eyebrows.
Many Toronto supporters considered the match to be the most important of the season to date, but Preki chose to sit Maicon Santos, the club’s second DP Mista, as well as the in form Dan Gargan. Whether he believes the league to be considerably more important than the Champions League or he is just rotating the squad to maximize results in all competitions is yet to be seen, but after last year’s disappointment against Puerto Rico, Toronto FC supporters will be looking for much more in Honduras.
Getting a result in Honduras tomorrow will not be easy for Toronto FC, but they are no doubt capable of what would surely be a massive boost for a Toronto club that has recently hit a patch of poor form.
