Seeking their first victory in over a year, El Salvador will face Honduras in a friendly on Tuesday at Shell Energy Stadium in Houston.
La Selecta were beaten in a friendly last week, 3-0 by Argentina, while La H lost their CONCACAF Nations League playoff versus Costa Rica by a 3-1 score.
Match preview
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A coaching change to begin 2024 has done little to reverse the fortunes of El Salvador, who have yet to win a match this year and have scored just once.
David Doniga comes into a difficult situation as this team have yet to triumph in a competitive match since a 3-1 win over Grenada in a June 2022 CONCACAF Nations League fixture.
The former Real Madrid youth player saw his side concede after just 16 minutes to the reigning world champions last week, wracking up just 20% of the possession with one effort on target.
It has been over two years since El Salvador defeated a side from Central America, coming away with a 2-0 victory over Honduras in late January 2022.
Their last victory on American soil occurred during the 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup group stage, when they defeated Trinidad and Tobago 2-0.
They have only conceded one goal in their last three meetings against Honduras but only scored in one of those encounters themselves, winning 2-0 in that aforementioned World Cup qualifier in January 2022.
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A second-ever appearance at the Copa America was not to be for the Hondurans, who conceded multiple goals for a third successive match in all competitions on Saturday.
Prior to their second-leg quarter-final encounter with Mexico in the Nations League, Reinaldo Rueda's men had not conceded in four successive matches in all competitions while scoring once themselves over that stretch.
La Bicolor led after 10 minutes in their playoff with the Costa Ricans, but they conceded the equaliser two minutes later and fell apart from there.
It was the first time Honduras lost a match when scoring the opening goal since a 2-1 World Cup qualifying defeat versus Jamaica in March 2022.
Los Catrachos are now winless in their last three matches played in the United States, losing their previous two games by a combined margin of 5-1.
They have earned a result in three of their last four competitive games versus El Salvador but have not won consecutive matches against them since March 2016 and January 2017.
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Team News
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From their 2-0 friendly defeat against Costa Rica in early February to their defeat versus Argentina last week, six new faces were in the El Salvador starting 11, including Bryan Tamacas, Nelson Flores, Narciso Orellana, Darwin Ceren, Jairo Henriquez and Nelson Bonilla.
German Fuentes made his first career appearance for La Selecta on Friday, replacing Henriquez in the second half, while Oscar Pleitez is still seeking his first cap for the national team.
Only three players, Raul Santos, Jorge Alvarez, and Edwin Rodriguez, who began the friendly defeat against Iceland (2-0), were also in the starting 11 for Honduras versus the Costa Ricans.
Michaell Chirinos was one of the many newcomers to the starting 11 for the Hondurans on Saturday, netting the only goal only for Jonathan Rougier to concede three unanswered himself.
El Salvador possible starting lineup:
Romero; Tamacas, Sibrian, J. Cruz, Blanco; Martinez, Cartagena, Orellana, Ceren; Ordaz, Henriquez
Honduras possible starting lineup:
Rougier; Najar, Santos, Melendez, Decas; Flores, J. Alvarez; Ruiz, Rodriguez, Chirinos; Lozano
We say: El Salvador 0-0 Honduras
Both sides have suffered some convincing defeats recently, but we expect a much closer game between these two who like to defend first, so it could be more of a cagey affair given that it is merely a friendly.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Joel Lefevre
