Long flights, brief recovery for Honduras, Australia in WC play-off

HONDURAS and Australia were tackling a physically demanding home stretch in their race for a World Cup berth, after drawing the first leg in their play-off 0-0.

Australia boarded a plane to head straight home soon after the end of their game late Friday in San Pedro Sula, and they were expected in Sydney more than 24 hours before their play-off rivals.

The plane was expected to be turned into a “mid-air physiotherapist clinic,” The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

The usual short-term recovery between games that are only a few days apart was compounded in this case by the 17-hour time difference between the stadiums for each leg of the play-off.

The daily noted that Australia had already adopted a similar approach in the play-off they won against Uruguay en route to Germany 2006. Honduras left for Los Angeles soon after the game and were expected to rest and train in the US city before tackling the 16hour flight to Sydney late Saturday, the Honduran daily El Heraldo reported.

“We have one more game left, and we believe we are in the race. Just like Australia came here to do their thing, we will also need to do ours over there,” Honduras’ Colombian-born coach Jorge Luis Pinto said ahead of the trip.

Australia had the better chances in the first leg of the tie. However, the goalless draw left the play-off wide open, and analysts warned that the Socceroos would need to fight overconfidence based on their firstleg performance.

“The job’s not done yet,” Australia captain Mile Jedinak (right) told Fox Sports after the game.

The fact that Honduras managed to keep their slate clean at home was in fact a slight advantage for the Central Americans.

Postecoglou vowed to keep the pressure up next week in order to make it to next year’s finals in Russia.

“We’ll put the pedal down and go as hard as we can for 90, 120 minutes. They’re gonna have to keep up with us,” Postecoglou warned.

Honduras have played three World Cups including the last two, but have never made it past the group stage.

They reached the play-off as the fourth-placed team in the North and Central American and Caribbean region, behind Mexico, Costa Rica and Panama.

Australia are aiming for a fourth straight place at the World Cup and fifth overall. They reached the intercontinental clash after beating Syria in an Asian play-off. – dpa