Costa Rica and Honduras They tied this Tuesday without goals on the last day of the qualifying rounds of the Concacafin a Group C match, and both consummated failure by being eliminated from the World Cup 2026 and without the possibility of going to the play-offs. Haiti (11 points) won the direct ticket to the World Cup in this group, while Honduras (9), Costa Rica (7) and Nicaragua (4) were eliminated.
Winning by one goal would have been enough for either of the two teams to have obtained the right to go to the intercontinental play-offs as the best second place in the Concacaf qualifying groups, but they were not able to violate the rival goal in a match with a lot of friction and little clarity in the midfield.
With the urgency of victory, both teams tried to go forward during the first half without risking too much and had some chances to score that were contained by the goalkeepers who stood out as figures. First, it was Honduran goalkeeper Edrick Menjívar who prevented the Costa Rican score by deflecting a shot from forward Warren Madrigal into a corner kick, and later he stopped two shots by Manfred Ugalde.
Honduras also came close to opening the scoring with a cross shot by Luis Palma that narrowly missed the mark and at the end of the first stage it was Costa Rican Keylor Navas who responded to deny Andy Najar’s score with a great save.
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In the second half, with Haiti already in possession of the ticket, there was only hope for Ticos and Hondurans to go to the play-offs with the victory that Guatemala obtained over Suriname, which ended up keeping the possibility of going to the World Cup. Costa Rica, under Mexican coach Miguel Herrera, tried by sending the tall defender Kendall Waston as a center forward in the last quarter of an hour of the game, but although he prowled the area he was never able to create a clear chance to score.
TECHNICAL SHEET
0 – Costa Rica: Keylor Navas Haxzell Quirós (Joel Campbell, m.79), Kendall Waston, Juan Pablo Vargas, Francisco Calvo; Orlando Galo (Alexis Gamboa, m.79), Aaron Murillo (Alejandro Bran, m.64), Josimar Alcocer; Álvaro Zamora (Keneth Vargas, m.57), Warren Madrigal (Anthony Hernández, m.64) and Manfred Ugalde. Coach: Miguel Herrera.
0 – Honduras: Edrick Menjivar; Marcelo Santos, Luis Vega, Andy Najar, Joseph Rosales; Romell Quioto (Marvin Ramírez, m.75), Kervin Arriaga, Deybi Flores; Luis Palma (Dereck Moncada, m.59), Yustin Arboleda (Jorge Benguché, m.75) and Jorge Alvarez (Carlos Pineda, m.75). Coach: Reinaldo Rueda.
Referee: Canadian Drew Fischer. He admonished the Costa Ricans Calvo and Vargas, and the Hondurans Arboleda and Ramírez. He expelled the Costa Rican Ugalde and the Honduran Quioto.
Goals: there was not.
Incidents: match corresponding to the last day of Group C of the Concacaf qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup, played at the National Stadium in San José.
Honduras, led by Colombian Reinaldo Rueda, took cover throughout the second half, but at the end they were forced to attack with long balls that were no problem for the Costa Rican team. Costa Rica is left out of the World Cup after attending the last three editions, while Honduras will be absent for the third consecutive time.
