Houston Dynamo midfielder Boniek Garcia made his 100th career appearance for the Honduras national team as Los Catrachos earned a 3-0 friendly win at Venezuela on Friday night.
Garcia also assisted on Erick Andino’s opening goal and played 80 minutes on his centennial. Dynamo midfielder Luis Garrido entered as a substitute in the 78th minute for his 31st cap for Honduras.
It was an important win for Honduras after they exited the CONCACAF Gold Cup at the group stage in July. Jorge Luis Pinto’s team will travel to face Ecuador on Tuesday in a rematch of their meeting in the group stage of the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
Giles Barnes started for Jamaica as the Reggae Boyz suffered a shock 3-2 home defeat to Nicaragua in the first leg of their two-leg 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying series. Nicaragua opened a stunning 3-0 lead by the 48th minute before Jamaica regrouped with second-half goals from Darren Mattocks and Adrian Mariappa. It was Barnes’ seventh-consecutive start for Jamiaca after he started all six games at the Gold Cup.
Jamaica must now overcome the 3-2 aggregate series deficit on Tuesday in Managua to continue their hopes for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The Jamaica-Nicaragua winner and five other third-round winners will progress to the fourth round, joining six already-qualified nations in three groups. The second leg will be held at 8:30 p.m. CT on Tuesday at Estadio Nacional Dennis Martínez.
Dynamo forward Erick Torres did not feature for the Mexico Under-22 national in a 2-1 loss to Liga MX club Pumas UNAM on Friday. Torres could play on Sunday against the Panama U-22s and Tuesday when the Mexico plays Cruz Azul.
The Dynamo are off this weekend for the international break and host Real Salt Lake on Saturday, Sept. 12 at BBVA Compass Stadium (TICKETS).
