The Mexican national team lost 0-2 in its visit to Honduras in the first leg of the Concacaf Nations League quarterfinal for a second consecutive year, leaving Javier Aguirre's side in need of a big comeback to avoid elimination on Tuesday's second leg.
Just when it looked like El Tri was finally taking control of the game early in the second half, a mistake by César Montes playing out of the back gifted Honduras a shot that Guillermo Ochoa was unable to deal with properly and Luis Palma was jumped on the rebound to score his first goal of the night.
Mexico searched for an equalizer, but in the 83rd minute, Palma doubled Honduras' lead with a long shot to Ochoa's far post. Mexico never fully recovered from the first goal gut punch and things went from bad to worse.
A hard-fought, rocky, foul ridden contest was expected even before the opening whistle blew and that's exactly what we got… and then some. Scoring opportunities were hard to come by as both teams struggled to string together more than five passes in a row. Throughout the night, incessant rain fell on an already sub-par field at the Estadio General Francisco Morazán, making the conditions difficult for any sort of attractive soccer to be on display.
The shine from October's 2–0 victory against the USMNT quickly washed away. El Tri is now obligated to mount a comeback in Toluca, Mexico, to avoid adding another chapter to the continuously growing book of recent embarrassing eliminations from international tournaments.
Here are three takeaways from Mexico's 0–2 defeat vs. Honduras.
